Lulled into a false sense of security, Titanic passengers continue their lively parties and return to their beds after an iceberg deals a fatal blow to the "unsinkable" ship. Hours later, panic rushes through the more than 2,000 passengers as the ship begins sinking and the few life boats fill. More than 1,300 people die from drowning and freezing in the early hours of April 15th, 1912, in one of the worst maritime disasters in history. Read more about it!

The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.

The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.