ONLINE NEWSPAPERS IN FAMILY HISTORY
©2019 by Donald R. SnowThis page was last updated 2019-02-03.
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ABSTRACT: Newspapers began in the US in 1690 and are a great source of information about our ancestors
and what happened. This class will discuss how to find newspapers for the time and locality
you are interested in, which ones are digitized and online, and how to search them. We will
see examples of family history information in newspapers, including vital records, obituaries,
stories, and history. The Library of Congress and other agencies are funding groups to digitize
newspapers in all the U.S. states and post them online. These start with small-town newspapers
since they contain so much family history. The FamilySearch Department of the LDS Church has a
major program of indexing newspapers, including obituaries and other information in them. Since
newspapers are public, they also have information about living people. The notes for this class
and related articles, all with active Internet links, are posted on my website https://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html .
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION
- Instructor is Donald R. Snow (snowd@math.byu.edu)
of Provo and St. George, Utah.
- See https://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html
for these and other related notes.
- Tips: (1) To put an icon on your desktop for these notes, or any webpage, just drag the icon from in front of the address in your browser onto your desktop. (2) To open a link, but keep your place in these notes, hold down the Control key while clicking the link.
- The problem for today: How to find and use information in online newspapers.
KINDS OF INFORMATION IN NEWSPAPERS
- Newspapers started in the U.S. in 1690 (see Library of Congress website) and
are a rich source of genealogy data.
- Types of information
- Vital records, birth, marriage, divorce, death and obituaries -- some
newspapers published lists of vital records at the end of the year
- News articles and photos -- school, military, current events, both local and
worldwide
- Social and society columns
- Stories about people
- Legal notices and public announcements
- Historical information in newspapers like The New York Times and The London Times
- Classified ads -- e.g. "Search for Missing Friends" Irish ads in The Boston Pilot
--
http://www.americanancestors.org/search.aspx?Ca=098&Da=263
- Humorous example -- Warren Ladd read his own obituary
in the morning newspaper -- The Lowell Sun 30
Dec 1893 -- http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/11220376/
HOW TO SAVE ARTICLES
- Saving and referencing articles
- When you find something, keep track of it and make a copy -- estimated that one-fourth of all websites change every year
- Save the reference, link, and even the webpage itself in a program
like EVERNOTE -- free from https://evernote.com/
- May help to save a screen copy using a screen capture program -- see details below
- Link the website to a person in your genealogy database and on FamilySearch Family Tree
- Do screenshots of part of all of screen -- FastStone Capture is a good screen capture program
- FastStone Capture has many features including copying scrolling windows
and has an option to join images side-by-side, e.g. newspaper columns
- Last freeware version was 5.3, still available from
http://www.aplusfreeware.com/categories/mmedia/FastStoneCapture.html
- Current version 9 is shareware, available from
http://www.faststone.org/FSCaptureDetail.htm
for a one-time license fee of $20
- My system for naming screenshots, document scans, and files so they sort into a timeline
for the person's life
- Name of file -- "SurnameGivenNames(Married name)(birth year-death year)-(Event date
YYYY-MM-DD)-Event-Description--DateOfScreenshortOrScanned.ext"
- Example --
ManwaringDiane(Snow)(1934-2012)-2012-10-10-Obituary-SaltLakeDeseretNews-2012-10-13-Ancestry-com--2014-04-10.pdf
- Including birth and death years shows time period and distinguishes people with same
name, so no need for Jr., Sr, etc., unless that was really part of their name
- Maiden name of woman is at start so everything for her sorts together -- married
name in parentheses helps in identification
- For events and type of record I use one or more keywords in caps like BIRTH, MARRIAGE,
DEATH, NEWS, LDS, DOC, SCHOOL, EDUCATION, CENSUS, LETTER, MEDICAL, MILITARY,
HISTORY, GENEALOGY, TALK, AUDIO, etc. -- this allows showing only certain types of events,
if you want
- Event dates are in International Date Format YYYY-MM-DD after name so the files
sort chronologically for each person -- putting date anywhere else or in another
format makes titles not alphabetize chronologically to form a timeline
- Freeware program EVERYTHING from
http://voidtools.com/ finds and lists all
files for the person chronologically, wherever they are on your computer and by
using keywords you can show only certain types of events or documents
- See more details in my Screen Capture and Freeware Corner notes on
http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html
FREE ONLINE NEWSPAPER WEBSITES
- FamilySearch
- FamilySearch Wiki has more than 14,000
articles with the word "newspapers" in them -- Wiki article about U.S.
Newspapers is https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/United_States_Newspapers
- FamilySearch Catalog -- https://familysearch.org/
-- keyword search for "newspaper" has more than 15,000 hits; "newspapers st. george utah" has 157 hits
- New FamilySearch pilot program called "Zoning" for indexing -- http://fh.familysearch.org/system/files/team/ait/Indexing/QuickStart.pdf -- has indexers specify which parts of newspaper pages have genealogy data and should be indexed
- Linkpendium -- http://www.linkpendium.com
-- major listing of newspapers in each
state, county, and town, whetber hard copy, filmed, digitized, and if online
- Elephind -- https://www.elephind.com/
-- searches and links to world-wide newspapers; list of Elephind newspapers -- https://elephind.com/?a=p&p=browsepubs
- BYU Library Newspaper Links -- http://sites.lib.byu.edu/familyhistory/
> http://sites.lib.byu.edu/familyhistory/periodicals/
- BYU-I Library Newspaper Links -- http://libguides.byui.edu/content.php?pid=9726&sid=80620
- Utah newspapers
- Utah Digital Newspapers -- http://digitalnewspapers.org/ --
University of Utah has grant from
Library of Congress to digitize all Utah
newspapers; chart of papers and dates currently online -- http://digitalnewspapers.org/public/pdf/timeline.pdf
- Pioneer Library website --
http://pioneer.utah.gov/news/index.html
or Pioneer Library Newspaper Portal --
https://onlinelibrary.utah.gov/news/index.html -- Some require your Utah public library card to access
- Deseret News --
https://www.deseretnews.com/ and Deseret News Archives --
https://www.deseretnews.com/daily-index , and --
https://newspaperarchive.com/us/utah/salt-lake-city/salt-lake-city-deseret-news/ -- https://digitalnewspapers.org/newspaper/?paper=Deseret%20News -- not all back issues have been posted
- For links to early vital records extracted from Utah newspapers see Don's class notes about LDS and Utah Records on http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html
- Obituary searches -- http://www.legacy.com/ns/about/newspapers/
- Library of Congress Digital Collections
-- http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/titles/
, http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/
, and http://www.loc.gov/library/libarch-digital.html
.
- National Digital Newspaper Program
(NDNP) -- http://www.loc.gov/ndnp/
- Wikipedia list of newspapers and links
--
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_online_newspaper_archives
- The Ancestor Hunt -- links, helps, and lessons -- http://www.theancestorhunt.com/newspapers.html
and http://www.theancestorhunt.com/newspaper-research-links.html#.XFet3lxKiM8
- Online Historical Newspapers Website
-- https://sites.google.com/site/onlinenewspapersite/
- GENUKI -- http://www.genuki.org.uk/
-- UK and Ireland
- RootsWeb -- https://wiki.rootsweb.com/wiki/index.php?search=newspapers&title=Special%3ASearch&go=Go
- US GenWeb -- http://www.usgenweb.org/ --
Go to state > county > city
- Cyndislist -- https://www.cyndislist.com/newspapers/ -- more than 1000 links to newspapers
- US Newspaper List -- http://www.usnpl.com/
- Internet Public Library -- http://www.ipl.org/
- 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 using
it
- Small Town Papers -- http://www.smalltownpapers.com/
-- list of several hundred current
small town newspapers with archives
- The Olden Times Historic Newspapers
Online -- http://theoldentimes.com/index.html
- Google Newspapers -- http://news.google.com/newspapers
-- and Google News Archive -- http://www.google.com/archivesearch
(Wait for the search box to open.) --
also see more info about Google
Archives Search at https://support.google.com/news/answer/1638638?hl=en
and Google Newspapers at http://www.davescomputertips.com/huge-archive-of-digitalized-newspapers/
- Michigan State U Guide to
Historical Newspaper Databases -- http://libguides.lib.msu.edu/newspaperguide
- Illinois Newpaper Project (INP) --
https://www.library.illinois.edu/inp/database.php --
has more than just Illinois newspapers
- California Digital Newspaper Collection --
http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc
- Quincy (Illinois) Public Library website --
http://www.quincylibrary.org , then click on Reference and Research tab
- Historical Newspaper Archive
-- many articles about the
Mormons in Nauvoo
- US National Newspaper websites
-- links to many current
national newspapers
- New York Times photos -- http://livelymorgue.tumblr.com
- Ethnic and trade-type newspapers, e.g. Polish language in Chicago, military newspapers,
and Carpenters Union newspapers in various places
COMMERCIAL ONLINE NEWSPAPER WEBSITES (Some are Free for LDS and at
FHC's)
- Genealogy Bank ($) -- https://www.genealogybank.com/
-- large collection of historic
newspapers; can search and see
snippets for free; claims that 95%
of its newspapers are only on this
website and not elsewhere
- Godfrey Memorial Library ($) -- https://www.godfrey.org/ --
free at FHC's -- includes the
following:
- Newspaper Archive ($) -- https://newspaperarchive.com/
-- claims to be the largest
online newspaper archive,
includes several New York City
newspapers and New York Times
archive through 1857-1909
- London (Digital) Times ($) -- https://www.thetimes.co.uk/
- Newspaper Archive and 19th Century British newspapers available
in FHCs through the FHC Portal
-- see Wiki article
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Family_History_Center_Portal
- Gale Digital Collections ($) -- http://www.gale.cengage.com/DigitalCollections/
-- search "Products by Name" to see
newspapers
- Newspapers.com ($) -- http://www.newspapers.com
-- owned by Ancestry
- Ancestry's Newspaper Collection
($) -- https://www.newspapers.com/ and http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/default.aspx?rt=38
-- free to LDS and at FHCs
- The British Newspaper Archive ($)
-- http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
-- commercial, but you get a few
pages free
- Last Chance To Read ($) -- http://www.lastchancetoread.com
-- 18th and 19th Century British
newspapers
- Fold3 ($) -- http://www.fold3.com/
-- owned by Ancestry; mostly
military records, but includes some
newspapers -- free at FHC's
- MyHeritage Newspaper Collection -- https://www.myheritage.com/ -- then Research > Newspapers -- free to LDS and at
FHC's
- Personalized Newspaper Gifts ($)
-- https://www.simplypersonalized.com/newspaper-gifts/
-- sells newspapers of various
dates, etc.
CURRENT NEWSPAPER WEBSITES - MOSTLY COMMERCIAL
- Newspaper websites with archives
worldwide -- http://www.refdesk.com/paper.html
- New York Times -- http://www.nytimes.com/ --
free registration, but they charge
for some articles; starts with first
NY Times in 1851 -- knowing the date
and title you may be able to find
the same article for free on other
websites
- Chicago Tribune Archives -- https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/
- Toronto Star -- https://www.thestar.com/archive.html
- Los Angeles Times -- https://www.latimes.com/ -- free registration
- Salt Lake Deseret News -- https://www.deseretnews.com/ Try
- Salt Lake Tribune -- https://www.sltrib.com/
-- Salt Lake Tribune Archives back
to 1991 -- http://archive.sltrib.com/index.php?searchtab=archive
-- charge for each article, but may
be able to get it free elsewhere
- St. George Spectrum -- https://www.thespectrum.com/
ARTICLES ABOUT NEWSPAPERS IN FAMILY HISTORY
- Many newspapers are only in paper, microfilm, or microfiche
format -- search http://www.linkpendium.com/ and https://www.worldcat.org/
to see where located
- FamilySearch Wiki (see above) -- https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Main_Page
-- do a search for something like
"newspapers idaho" (without the
quotes)
- Kimberly Powell -- Search The Google News Archive --
https://www.thoughtco.com/search-tips-for-google-news-archive-1422213
- US Newspaper Program --http://www.neh.gov/projects/usnp.html
- Readex Newspaper Archive -- http://www.newsbank.com/readex/index.cfm?content=343
-- Click on Digital Collections
(upper left side) for Archive of
Americana
- Discover Your Ancestors in Historic Newspapers -- https://go.newspapers.com/welcome
- Tips For Newspaper Research For Genealogy -- https://mmgs.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/newspaper_research.pdf
- Learn More About Using Old Newspapers for Genealogical Research -- http://theoldentimes.com/learnmore.html
- Dick Eastman on digitizing
small town newspapers --
http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2011/11/savingourscom-dedicated-to-digitizing-small-town-newspapers.html
- British Newspapers 1800-1900 -- http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs/
- Silicon Valley Computer Genealogy Group article -- http://svcgg.org/documents/NewspaperHandout.pdf
CONCLUSIONS
- Newspaper articles written at the time are a good
source of primary information, stories,
and data about our ancestors.
- More and more newspapers are
being digitized and posted online,
so check back often.
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