Newspaper Archives Online

How are newspaper archives collected?

We've chosen Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology for building our comprehensive newspaper archives. The technology "reads" the pages and creates a text version of whatever a certain page contains. OCR is a technology that keeps developing, and professionals are continuously working on refining it to build archives of old newspapers that show a page’s accurate content. Each page is scanned and "read" separately so you can search specific information through old newspaper articles to find out about a particular event or person.

Once the text index is built for each page using sophisticated OCR technology, we feed all that information into our search system. You may then search through over two billion articles from all 50 states, dated from 1960 to today. The search options allow you to enter various details so you can get specific results.

What can we learn from historical newspapers?

Old newspapers make a powerful tool for genealogical research. Very often, when we research our ancestors, we dwell over the fact that we're unable to trace a birth certificate or some other personal record. Many people give up the research altogether at this point, thinking they will never find any information about their family history. However, by searching through an archive of old newspapers online, you may discover significant details about your relatives or ancestors, without ever seeing a birth certificate.

While newspapers always covered the major world and national news, they also contained a bulk of articles about local events and local people. Obituaries found in old newspapers can be a valuable resource of information. In addition to death notes, you can also find announcements for various life events, including personal events and gatherings such as marriage ceremonies, or marriage milestone celebrations. Engagement announcements also used to be very popular in the past, as well as birth announcements.

In these announcements, you can find relevant information about your ancestors and their family members. You can learn about the places where their most important ceremonies took place, the dates of their important milestones in life, as well as the names of the special guests and people of importance to your ancestors.

How does a newspaper archive search work?

Searching through our archives of newspapers isn't complicated. All you need is a little imagination and several facts to look up something from the past that interests you.

If you're looking for a specific person, you should keep in mind that not all old newspaper articles include the full names of the people they mention. First names are sometimes not included at all. Therefore, it recommended you start searching by the last name and various last name variations. The ancestor you want to know about may be mentioned in an article under their initials.

Sometimes, your direct ancestor won't be named at all, but you will be able to find something published about their children, parents, spouses, or siblings. Searching the names of family members often reveals important clues that give you a direction to follow in your search. It's also important to search newspapers from surrounding towns or counties too because they often publish stories about people from nearby places. When it comes to obituaries, they are often published in several town's newspapers: the previous town where the deceased used to live, the town where their surviving family members live, their hometown, etc.

Include as many details as you can in your newspaper search so you can get valuable results.

Why are these archives important?

Newspaper archives reveal your ancestor's daily lives and they represent a unique portal into the past. Local newspapers include much more than just important announcements. Very often, local articles from archives include town visitors, details about the settler's land and estate sales, and various advertisements.

They also allow you to explore major national and world events from the perspective of the local community. Old newspaper articles allow you to read about history first-hand, and get a glimpse of the way your ancestors lived through various times.

Local newspapers covered many significant events and devastating tragedies. They present you with an open window into the past so you can learn how the people of your ancestor's community lived through challenging times, and what role your ancestors had in the community. Newspapers cover events like WW1 and the civil war or the worldwide flu epidemic that lasted from 1917-1919. You will get a direct insight into history through the lens of your ancestor's local community.

Newspaper archives can be very useful for those looking for information on adoptees. Adoptions were often announced in the past and a local newspaper may hold the names of the biological parents and the date the adoption took place. In many cases, going through newspaper archives may be the only way you can get a clue about a certain adoption from the past.