USING NEWSPAPERS
USING NEWSPAPERS
1
Lists of Newspapers: .................................................................................................. 2
Indexes: ...................................................................................................................... 2
Newspapers on film: .................................................................................................. 3
Newspapers in Digital format: ................................................................................... 3
Overseas Newspapers: ............................................................................................... 3
Great Britain; ............................................................................................................. 3
Australia: .................................................................................................................... 5
USA: .......................................................................................................................... 5
Summary:
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After finding information about our ancestors from birth, marriage and death records,
wills, school records and other official records we need to look elsewhere to find
details about the lives, lifestyles, and experiences to make a fuller picture of our
ancestors. Genealogists call this process “putting flesh on the bones”. Outside of
official records, one of the most important resources to research is newspapers and
magazines.
For instance, I found the following advertisement in an Auckland newspaper which
gave an indication of the health problems that my ancestor, William Coutts, faced:
Before the introduction of telephone, radio, television, and the internet, newspapers
played a very important part in people’s lives by keeping them informed about local,
national and international events. All newspapers, but especially those with a
comparatively small circulation, contained a great deal of information about people.1
In New Zealand the first newspaper was published in the Bay of Islands in 1840, and
since then newspapers have been continuously been in circulation for various periods
of times. It is worth remembering that before 1840, New Zealand was part of New
South Wales and consequently Sydney newspapers (as well as London newspapers)
contained news of New Zealand events.
Think about the world of newspapers. They are published to inform their readers, but
publishing needs to be paid for and so circulation drives newspaper reporting.The
more sensational the articles, the more copies of the newspaper were sold: with more
than one newspaper in an area competition becomes a dominant feature of their
existence and hence sensationalism increases.
Regional newspapers had less competition and thus could afford to take more interest
in local news and events such as local agricultural shows, school news, theatrical
productions, the weather, social events and other gossipy columns. On the other hand
“city” newspapers had wide readership and covered a much wider region. They
generally had more competition from rival newspapers and thus sensationalism
became a stronger factor.
In Auckland in the 1860s there were three newspapers in circulation. Thus, in the
court case of my ancestor, Joseph Nash, when he faced charges of stealing a boat,
there were three versions of the court case. Studying all three reports gave me a fuller
picture of the events together with incidental descriptions of Joseph Nash and his
previous history. Incidentally all three articles had factual errors. Putting all versions
together and researching court records etc, I was able to produce much of the
evidence given at that trial.
Therefore, just like today, newspaper reports were not totally correct but at least a
“version of the truth”. As always, the researcher needs to substantiate the facts using
other resources. The mantra “do not believe everything you see in a newspaper” is
true.
Lists of Newspapers:
I am unable to find a publication that lists all the newspapers published in New
Zealand other than the “Union List of Newspapers preserved in libraries, newspaper
offices, local authority offices and museums in New Zealand” by D R Harvey. This
publication is out of print and generally not available on library shelves. Ask at your
library because a copy may be stored in a safe area for preservation reasons. It will
give an indication of what newspapers were published, their area of circulation, what
issues still exist and where they are kept.
Indexes:
Over the years many people and organisations have indexed newspapers. Your local
library, museum, historical society and genealogy group may have indexes or access
to indexes of local and other newspaper articles and advertisements.
1
Tracing Family History in New Zealand by Anne Bromell, 1996 ISBN 0 908877 85 4, page 100
Newspapers on film:
National Library of New Zealand and other organisations have filmed a large number
of newspapers. Copies of films of local newspapers may be held in their area of
circulation, in the local library, museum etc. Otherwise, the interloan system of
libraries makes these films readily available.
Newspapers in Digital format:
National Library has a wonderful website, known as Papers Past, at:
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/Paperspast
Papers Past contains more than one million pages of digitised New Zealand
newspapers and periodicals. The collection covers the years 1839 to 1945 and
includes 61 publications from all regions of New Zealand and is free to search and
retrieve articles etc.
When using the search facility the first step should be to read the “search help”
section, which has some very helpful tips. Remember that limiting your search to
newspapers to the region of interest may limit the possibilities of finding interesting
articles etc. I have been very successful searching all newspapers with the Hawera &
Normanby Star producing news from Auckland and Northland that has been
particularly interesting.
Overseas Newspapers:
Great Britain;
There are many websites where British newspapers and journals may be searched. A
few for your research are:
Gale Newspaper Collection: Some of the major libraries and the NZ Society of
Genealogists have free access for their members to this major British newspaper
archive which contains digital copies of British newspapers from the 18th, 19th and
20th centuries.
Times Archive: Digitised copies of the Times, from 1785 to 1985, are at:
http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/archive
This is a pay per view site.
Guardian and Observer Digital Archive: This is a pay per view site which has the
Guardian 1821 – 2000 and the Observer 1791-2000
http://archive.guardian.co.uk
UKpressonline: This is a pay per view site with copies of The Daily Mirror 1903 –
now
www.ukpressonline.co.uk/ukpressonline
British Library 19th Century Newspapers: This pay per view collection has mainly
local newspapers. The penny Illustrated Paper and The Graphic are free to search.
http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs
British Library Pilot Scheme: Prior to the launch of its 19th Century Newspaper
Collection, the British Library set up a free pilot system at
www.uk.olivesoftware.com/Default/welcome.asp?skin=BL&QS+Skin%3DBL
%26enter%3Dtrue
This website includes the Manchester Guardian, Weekly Dispatch, Daily News and
News of the World in some years.
NCSE – Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition: This free archive includes the
Northern Star, Monthly Repository, Unitarian Chronicle, Leader, English Woman’s
Journal, Tomahawk and Publishers’ Circular of short periods.
www.ncse.ac.uk
Internet Library of Early Journals: This collection is a university sponsored free
digital archive of Gentleman’s Magazine, The Annual Register and Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society of the 18th century and Notes and Queries, The
Builder and Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine of the 19th century.
www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/ilej
Scotsman Digital Archive: This is a pay per view site that has the Scotsman from
1817 to 1950
http://archive.scotsman.com
Irish Times Archive: This pay per view site has The Irish Times from 1859 to the
present
www.irishtimes.com/search/index
Irish Newspaper Archive: this digital archive provides access to about 2 million
pages from 23 Irish newspapers from 1763 to now. It is a pay per view site.
www.irishnewsarchive.com
Welsh Journals Online: this free site is maintained by the National Library of Wales
and has copies of various journals (in English).
http://welshjournals.llgc.org.uk
London, Edinburgh and Belfast Gazettes: This free website is at:
www.gazettes-online.co.uk
My recommendation is that, if you have access to the Gale Newspaper Collection, use
it first because that archive will have free access to some of the other sites I have
mentioned.
Australia:
National Library of Australia has a website similar to our Paperspast at:
http://newspapers.nla.gov.au
USA:
The Library of Congress maintains a free website at
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov
This website has a large number of local American newspapers from 1880 to 1922.
Ancestry.com, World Vital Records and Footnote also have large numbers of
American newspapers in digital format for searching.
Summary:
Your ancestors are more than a birth date, marriage date, death date, children’s names
and dates. Each of your ancestors had a personality that was unique. Each ancestor
lived a life under all sorts of conditions and experienced all sorts of world events e.g.
earthquakes, wars, invasions, famines, plagues etc. Newspapers can broaden your
understanding of the reasons why they did the things they did. If you are lucky you
may find information that makes your ancestor’s story come alive.
Use newspapers to put “flesh on the bones” of your ancestors.