Filling in the Blanks with Historical Newspapers

One of my favorite resources for genealogical information is historic newspapers. I'm fortunate to live near the largest collection of historic Missouri newspapers on microfilm, the Newspaper Library at the State Historical Society of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. Although I usually have some specific articles on my list to look for when I visit the Newspaper Library, I can still spend hours just browsing the pages on microfilm.

Not only do newspapers contain birth, marriage and death information -- the facts and figures that are the bones our databases are built on -- but they give us much more. Newspaper articles add so much color to the otherwise drab facts and figures of our research. Reading about the various travels, births, sales of property, scuffles in the town square, reports of local men at war, etc. transforms my project from strictly "genealogy" to "family history."

Having easy access to all of these Missouri newspapers just whets my appetite for similar information on the ancestors who lived other states. And although it's great to be able to view them on microfilm, this is the digital age -- I want to be able to view pages from old newspapers on my computer from the comfort of home! I'm not asking much, am I? (She smiles.)

Well obviously, I'm not the first to wish for such convenience. Ancestry.com includes an historic newspaper collection in their subscription, and both GenealogyBank and NewspaperArchive also give you access (for a fee)to various newspapers from the past. It turns out that there are numerous other websites that give free digital access to historic newspapers. Still thinking about Missouri, one of my favorites is the Missouri Historical Newspaper Project.

I did a quick google-search (using the terms: historic newspapers free digital images) and found a few websites that contain lists of places that you can find such digital treasures:

• Historical Newspapers and Indexes on the Internet - USA
• Wikipedia's list of Online Newspaper Archives
• About.com:Genealogy's "Historic Newspapers Online"

There is definitely some overlap on the lists, and they are by no means comprehensive. My google-search provided several websites that focused on the historic newspapers of one state. I hope you'll find a link to the newspaper that will have you doing your own "genealogy happy dance!"

Unexpected Benefit

Over the years I've put my family trees "out there" on various websites...mostly on Rootsweb, but I have a Family Tree Maker website, and I think some of my information is available on Genealogy.com's World Family Trees. I've also been pretty diligent about putting queries on as many county and surname message boards as I can -- trying to reach lots of potential connections.

I'm a big fan of this type of networking -- I really believe that it pays off, and my own experience is that it does. The shortest time that I ever heard from another researcher/cousin was 30 minutes after I posted (WOW!), but often it's been months, and sometimes years until I hear from someone.

Over the last two weeks, I've been fortunate to hear from three "new" cousins, researching some of the same family lines that I am. I'm always excited to hear from anyone who is looking for the same ancestors I am...to hear from three is pretty unbelievable.

After we exchange "how do you dos," we usually agree to share information. Inevitably, as I look over my information, I find that I have gaps that need filling: census data that needs to be added or information from my files that never was inputted. While I'm taking care of this "clean up," I usually do a search on Heritage Quest Online to see if any "new" data is available on this family line -- and if so, I get that information added as well. Pretty soon, the family file in question is as complete as I have sources for, and I'm ready to create a report to share.

It's not unusual for some of the new information (or maybe just my fresh eyes looking at it) to reveal a new clue to be followed, and that's always exciting. Meeting a new cousin and getting a new "research buddy" is great -- the unexpected benefit is that it gives me a good reason to get an old family file back in "new and improved" shape!

Easter Calculator

With Easter coming up this Sunday, it seems like a good time to mention this web page: Holidays On the Net. This site has dates and lots of fun information about all the different holidays throughout the year. But the feature I like best is it's Easter Calculator. You plug in the year, and it responds with the date that Easter fell on that year.

This is handy when trying to figure out the date of old photos, or references to Easter in newspaper clippings, church newsletters, etc. I was given a snapshot of my husband as a child, lined up with his sisters on what was obviously Easter morning -- they were decked out in the Easter finest. The photo developing company had stamped 1965 on the bottom of the print...but the Easter calculator gave me the actual date: April 18, 1965.

As I mentioned before, they have fun information and activities for holidays all throughout the year -- so browse for a while, and enjoy. I hope the Easter calculator is as useful for you as it was for me!