NEWSPAPERS IN FAMILY HISTORY

©Copyright 2012 by Donald R. Snow
Sections of the Class Notes This page was last updated 2012-10-02.
Return to the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group Home Page or Don's Class Listings Page .
    WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

  1. Instructors are Donald R. and Diane M. Snow ( snowd@math.byu.edu and dmsnow34@gmail.com ) of Provo, Utah and St. George, Utah.
  2. These class notes and schedule are and posted on  http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html  where you can click on the links without having to type them in.  You can put an icon on your computer desktop to go to the notes immediately.
  3. Tip: holding down the Control Key while clicking on a link opens the link in a new window so you don't lose your place where you were in the notes.
  4. This will be our last FH Update Class in Provo until next Spring when we come back up from St. George.  We will do an Update Series in St. George this Winter.
  5. Newspapers started in the U.S. in 1690 (see Library of Congress website below) and are a rich source of genealogy data.  This class will discuss some ways of finding and using that information.

    6. WHY NEWSPAPERS ARE IMPORTANT AND EXAMPLES

  6. News articles and photos -- school, military, current events, both local and worldwide  
  7. Vital records, births, marriages, deaths, and obituaries; some newspapers give lists of vital records at end of year
  8. Social and society columns
  9. Legal notices and public announcements 
  10. Local news
  11. Historical information in newspapers like the New York Times
  12. Classified ads -- e.g. "Search for Missing Friends" ads in The Boston Pilot -- http://www.americanancestors.org/search.aspx?Ca=098&Da=263 

    13. NEWSPAPERS ONLINE - FREE

  13. Linkpendium -- http://www.linkpendium.com -- major listing of US newspapers in each state, county, and town
  14. BYU Library Newspaper Links -- http://lib.byu.edu/sites/familyhistory/ > http://lib.byu.edu/sites/familyhistory/periodicals/ -- Scroll down
  15. BYU-I Library Newspaper Links -- http://libguides.byui.edu/content.php?pid=9726&sid=80620
  16. Utah Digital Newspapers -- http://digitalnewspapers.org/ 
  17. Library of Congress Digital Collections -- http://www.loc.gov/library/libarch-digital.html -- and Chronicling America -- http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ 
  18. National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) -- http://www.loc.gov/ndnp/ 
  19. GENUKI -- http://www.genuki.org.uk/ -- UK and Ireland
  20. RootsWeb -- http://userdb.rootsweb.ancestry.com/news/ -- Search all or by newspaper
  21. US GenWeb -- http://www.usgenweb.org/ -- Go to state > county > city
  22. Cyndislist -- http://www.cyndislist.com > Newspapers
  23. US Newspaper List -- http://www.usnpl.com/ 
  24. Internet Public Library -- http://www.ipl.org/
  25. Old New York newspapers -- http://fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html -- can search many old New York newspapers, including the New York Times; read the FAQ before trying it
  26. Small Town Papers -- http://www.smalltownpapers.com/ -- list of several hundred current small town newspapers with archives
  27. FamilySearch Catalog (used to be called the Family History Library Catalog) -- https://familysearch.org/ -- do keyword search for things like "newspapers utah" (without the quotes)
  28. Google Newspapers -- http://news.google.com/newspapers -- and Google News Archive -- http://www.google.com/archivesearch or get to it by going to Google and click on News > Advanced News Search - do a search so you see link to click on Google News Archives Search
  29. Quincy (Illinois) Public Library website -- http://www.quincylibrary.org > Reference and Research tab
    1. Historical Newspaper Archive -- many articles about the Mormons in Nauvoo
    2. US National Newspaper websites -- links to many current national newspapers

      NEWSPAPERS ONLINE  - COMMERCIAL (Some Are Free at FHC's)

  30. Genealogy Bank --www.genealogybank.com -- large collection of historic newspapers - can search and see snippets for free 
  31. Godfrey Memorial Library($) -- http://www.godfrey.org/ -- free at FHC's-- includes the following:
    1. Newspaper Archive($) -- http://newspaperarchive.com/Default.aspx -- claims to be the largest online newspaper archive, includes several New York City newspapers, including the New York Times archive through 1857-1909
    2. London (Digital) Times($) -- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/ -- also on Fold3
    3. World Vital Records($) -- http://worldvitalrecords.com/ 
  32. Gale Digital Collections($) -- http://www.gale.cengage.com/DigitalCollections/ -- search "Products by Name" to see newspapers
  33. Ancestry's Newspaper Collection($) -- http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/default.aspx?rt=38 -- Or through Ancestry's Home page > Search > Stories & Publications > Newspapers & Periodicals -- free at FHC's
  34. Fold3($) -- http://www.fold3.com/ -- was Footnote; owned by Ancestry now; mostly military records, but includes some newspapers -- free at FHC's
  35. World Vital Records($) -- http://worldvitalrecords.com/ -- click on Card Catalog (right-hand side) > Newspaper Archive Collection -- free at FHC's
  36. Personalized Newspaper Gifts($) -- http://www.simplypersonalized.com/newspaper-gifts/ -- sells newspapers of various dates, etc.

    CURRENT NEWSPAPER WEBSITES

  37. Newspaper websites with archives worldwide -- http://www.refdesk.com/paper.html 
  38. New York Times -- http://www.nytimes.com/ -- free registration, but they charge for some articles; starts with first NY Times in 1851; same NY Times article may be free on other websites
  39. Chicago Tribune 1852 - Present -- http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/advancedsearch.html
  40. Toronto Star -- http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/about.html -- free archives only goes back to 1985
  41. Los Angeles Times -- http://www.latimes.com/  -- free registration
  42. Salt Lake Deseret News -- http://deseretnews.com/home -- Click on Archives (upper right side) > Historic archive (lower right side)
  43. Salt Lake Tribune -- http://www.sltrib.com/  
  44. St. George Spectrum -- http://www.thespectrum.com/ 
  45. For links to early vital records in Utah newspapers see Don's class notes on LDS & Utah Records on http://uvtagg.org > Class Outlines > Don Snow's Listings

    46. ARTICLES ABOUT NEWSPAPERS

  46. Many newspapers are not online, only in paper, microfilm, microfiche format, etc. -- search -- http://www.worldcat.org/ -- to see where located
  47. FamilySearch Wiki -- https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Main_Page -- do a search for something like "newspapers idaho" (without the quotes)
  48. Articles by Kimberly Powell and from About.com 
    1. "7 Tips for Searching Digitized Newspapers" -- http://genealogy.about.com/od/newspapers/tp/news_search_tips.htm?nl=1
    2. "Family History in the News" -- http://genealogy.about.com/cs/newspapers/a/news_research_2.htm?nl=1 
    3. http://genealogy.about.com/od/newspapers/Newspapers.htm 
    4. http://genealogy.about.com/od/historic_online/Historic_Newspapers_Online.htm
  49. US Newspaper Program --http://www.neh.gov/projects/usnp.html
  50. Readex Newspaper Archive -- http://www.newsbank.com/readex/index.cfm?content=343 -- Click on Digital Collections (upper left side) for Archive of Americana
  51. British Newspapers 1800-1900
    1. British newspapers 1800-1900 --http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs/
    2. Dick Eastman -- http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2009/05/british-newspapers-18001900-online.html
         CHALLENGE
  1. See if you can find a digitized newspaper online somewhere that has something about one of your ancestors or about the town they lived in.
  2. If you have Utah ancestors, try searching for their names in the Utah Digital Newspapers.
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