Newspapers

*Woman's Journal and Suffrage News.* March 8, 1913. Library of Congress Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

Historical context for businesses, churches, schools, social events, and so much more can be found in community newspapers. Yes, you want obituaries and marriage announcements, but if you want the real day-to-day life of your ancestors or their community – read the news.

Never assume an ancestor was not headline material. Newsworthy items range widely, especially in columns of personal mentions and rural correspondents. Look not only for family names, but also for affiliations that may include your ancestor, even if they are not specifically identified.

As in all genealogical research, we must remember that family history is human history – and humans are not, nor have they ever been, perfect. Newspapers thrived on scandal and outrageousness in the past just as in the present. So we must go into our search ready for anything and prepared to follow through on any new discoveries with honest, accurate, and exhaustive research. Consider the content of each article and where else you may find records to confirm or deny details and expound upon the subject.

For our female ancestors who are less prominently represented in so many other types of records, the mere mentions of her social calls, travel plans, or recent illness may pull at a thread that unravels a whole string of events in her life or provides a tale that puts personality back into her profile.

Selected Resources

Library of Congress subject specialists have created Blogs that provide background and resources for further study.

Tripped the Light Fantastic: When Ancestors Make the News
Headlines & Heroes: Newspapers, Comics, & More Fine Print. 22 June 2022.
The youthful beginnings of a female ancestor are revealed and reanimated by the social columns of her hometown newspaper.

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Family Tree Historical Newspapers Guide: How to Find Your Ancestors in Archived Newspapers by J. Beidler
Call Number: CS21 .B395 2018
ISBN: 9781440350627
Published/Created: 2018-03-20
When researched properly, no other type of record can beat historical newspapers in "taking the pulse" of their times and places, recording not just the names, but also information important to the community. This comprehensive how-to guide will show you how to harvest the "social media" of centuries past to learn about your ancestors and the times and places they lived in. With step-by-step examples, case studies, templates, worksheets, and screenshots, this book shows you what you can find in online (and offline) historical newspapers.
How to Find Your Family History in Newspapers by Lisa Louise Cook
Call Number: CS21 .C66 2012 OVERFLOWJ34
Published/Created: 2012
This book provides a proven newspaper research process and is stuffed with everything you need for genealogical success: step-by-step instructions, worksheets, and checklists, tons of online resources and websites, and a case study that puts it all to the test.
Searching for Your Ancestors in Historic Newspapers by Claudia Breland
Call Number: CS21 .B73 2014 OVERFLOWJ34
ISBN: 9781500407094
Published/Created: 2014-09-19
Family stories of all kinds, not just obituaries, can be found in newspapers. While major metropolitan newspapers are being digitized and placed online, many more are available for viewing on microfilm. Learn about the free newspaper databases, and discover which newspapers are covered in subscription databases. Also included is the first-ever state-by-state listing of libraries and genealogical societies that have indexed local newspapers, along with state digitized collections not found elsewhere, and microfilm collections for each state.

The Library of Congress provides free access to Chronicling America, which is a word-searchable collection of historic newspapers. You can search this database to lookup area newspapers and search for articles related to your community and the people who lived in your house.

If the newspapers for your area have not been digitized yet, use the Directory of U.S. Newspapers to see which repositories house the archives.

Access further resources about available publications through the Library of Congress Newspapers and Periodicals Division.

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
Chronicling America contains more than 16 million word-searchable newspaper pages from 1777-1963, covering 48 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The headlines, articles, and advertisements capture the life and times of the American people, shining new light on historic events as they unfolded. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries
Use the Directory of U.S. Newspapers to find information about American newspapers published from 1690-present.

To search the Directory, click the "Collection Item" tab and then choose "Advanced Search." Once you generate the search results, click on each entry to learn more. Go to the "Libraries That Have It" tab to discover which repositories house the archives.

Library of Congress subject specialists have created Research Guides that provide background and resources for further study.

American Women: Resources from the Serial & Government Publications Collections
Part of the American Women series, this guide highlights the Library's collections of current and retrospective newspapers, current periodicals, government publications, and several special holdings of a serial nature, such as comic books.
Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room: A Guide for Researchers
This guide provides an overview of the newspaper, comic book, current periodical, and government document collections at the Library of Congress, as well as what to expect when you arrive at this research center, and how to request and handle materials.

The digitization and optical-character-recognition (OCR) scanning of historic newspapers enables us to quickly search across thousands of newsprint pages in less time than we might have spent loading the reel on a microfilm machine. There are many such projects underway, so in addition to the popular national databases featured below, be sure to ask about initiatives in your ancestor's state and community. And, of course, digitization is a slow process, so be sure to seek out physical archives of newspaper issues and microfilm collections as well.

The subscription resources marked with a padlock are available to researchers on-site at the Library of Congress. If you are unable to visit the Library, you may be able to access these resources through your local public or academic library.

Accessible Archives External This link opens in a new window
Important women's history newspapers that are a part of this database include The Lily (1849-1856) External, published for women involved in the temperance movement, and The Woman's Tribune (1883-1909) External, one of the suffrage publications. You can also find other influential periodicals like Godey’s Lady’s Book (1830-1898) External and more.
African American Newspapers External This link opens in a new window
African American Newspapers provides online access to more than 350 U.S. newspapers chronicling a century and a half of the African-American experience across more than 35 states.
Ethnic American Newspapers, 1799-1971 External This link opens in a new window
Featuring more than 130 fully searchable newspapers in 10 languages from 25 states—including many rare 19th-century titles—this online collection provides extensive coverage of many of the most influential ethnic groups in U.S. history, with an emphasis on Americans of Czech, French, German, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Jewish, Lithuanian, Polish, Slovak and Welsh descent.
Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980 External This link opens in a new window
Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980, represents the single largest compilation of Spanish-language newspapers printed in the U.S. during the 19th and 20th centuries. It is based on the “Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project,” a national research effort directed by Nicolás Kanellos, Brown Foundation Professor of Hispanic Studies at the University of Houston.
NewspaperARCHIVE External This link opens in a new window
NewspaperARCHIVE.com is the world's largest online newspaper archive, featuring billions of articles from historical newspapers around the U.S. and the world. All of the historical newspapers are full-page and fully searchable.
ProQuest Historical American Jewish Newspapers External This link opens in a new window
American Jewish Newspapers is comprised of four historical U.S. Jewish newspapers: The American Hebrew & Jewish Messenger (1857-1922); The Jewish Advocate (1905-1990); The American Israelite (1854-1922); and Jewish Exponent (1887-1990).
ProQuest Historical Black Newspapers External This link opens in a new window
ProQuest Historical Newspapers-Black Newspapers offers primary source material essential to the study of American history and African-American culture, history, politics, and the arts. Examine major movements from the Harlem Renaissance to Civil Rights, and explore everyday life as written in over a half dozen historical African-American newspapers.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers & Periodicals External This link opens in a new window
ProQuest Historical Newspapers is the definitive newspaper digital archive offering full-text and full-image articles for significant newspapers dating back to the 18th Century.

Female Ancestors: Finding Women in Local History and Genealogy

Local History & Genealogy: Ask a Librarian

Newspapers

Selected Resources