Updated Newspapers on Chronicling America



News-MinnespolisTwenty-six new and updated collections from Chronicling America Newspapers from the Library of Congress are now available. Ten states / district included: Connecticut, District of Columbia, Idaho, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina and West Virginia. The updates represent additional newspaper issue dates.

Some examples include the weekly The Douglas Independent of Roseburg, Oregon from 1870s-1885; The Union Daily of Washington, D.C. for 1845-1857; and the daily The Bridgeport Times and Evening Farmer of Bridgeport, Conn. for 1918-1924. Keep in mind, these newspapers did have a broader circulation area, which would include neighboring cities and even bordering states.

Newspapers are a very good local source of information about your ancestors, their hometown and the historical events (weather, conflicts, Prohibition, parades, awards, crops, etc) that affected their lives.

Viewing the advertisements of the day, showing the products available to your ancestors and the cost of an item is always fascinating and a good side note for the family history information.

news-1915 farmersSearching for an ancestors’ name could yield all types of unexpected results. In the Nonpartisan Leader of Fargo, N.D. which ran 1915-1921, issue September 23, 1915 had a feature on eight local farmers with a full write-up about them, including a photo of each. Now that would be a gem to secure if that was your relative in North Dakota.

Each digital page of a newspaper in the Library of Congress Chronicling America can be search by a term, keyword, name, or date. Once an article is located you can zoom in to enlarge it and also save a copy of that page to your computer.

These are just the additions to the massive Chronicling America collection. Newspapers run from 1836 to 1922. About 9.7 million newspaper pages are digitized and in the collection with more to be added.

Photos: National Leader in Minnesota – Nov. 1921 and Nonpartisan Leader of Fargo, N.D. issue September 23, 1915-eight farmers.

Related FamilyTree.com genealogical blogs:

Newspapers Online

United States Newspapers

Variety of Hometown Newspapers

 

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