Newspaper Research Overview & Newspaper Finder

Our last Roundtable discussion topic was Newspaper Research. Here is a recap of our discussion and a new site I just learned about. 

• Newspaper Finder is a Database for Digitized Newspapers https://newspaperfinder.com/
• Newspapers offer a window into the lives of our ancestors. Suggestions for things to look for in newspapers:
• Obituary
• Professional Notices and Advertisements for Ancestor's business
• Announcements for engagements, weddings, divorces, births
• Stories about parties like wedding showers, birthday parties
• Court Dockets
• Organization Meetings - 4H, card clubs, garden clubs, quilting group, women's organizations, Business Men's Association, fraternal organizations like Odd Fellows, Masons, Elks, etc. 
• School - grades, attendance awards, spelling bees, annual school picnic
• Politics - elections, conventions
• Land - real estate, homestead land advertisements, homestead awards, delinquent tax lists
• Shipping News - ships arriving and departing from port cities
• Cemeteries - burial notices, cemetery association meetings
• Religion - church services, tithing, and functions
• Digitized newspapers are searchable using technology like Optical Character Recognition and Artificial Intelligence. The accuracy of the search feature depends on:
• The quality of the newspaper image
• Newspapers made spelling mistakes, search using alternate spellings
• Words were split between lines due to space requirements, search using the first few characters of the word or name
• Titles were used - search on Mrs. John Smith or terms like Dr. or Doctor, Mayor, etc. 
• Search on addresses, occupations, business names, or cemetery names
• Keep a list of alternate spellings for Surnames and search on all of them.
• Use wildcards if they are available on the site. 
• Alternative Newspapers
• Look for newspapers printed in an immigrants mother tongue. 
• Other sources - religious newspapers, school newspapers, business newspapers, organization newspapers. 
• Finding Newspapers
• Don't forget not everything is digitized. Search the Library of Congress Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries https://www.loc.gov/collections/directory-of-us-newspapers-in-american-libraries/about-this-collection/ 
• Use Interlibrary Loan if the newspaper you need hasn't been digitized. 
• Google the name of the newspaper. 
• U.S. Newspaper Program - beginning in 1982 the National Endowment for the Humanities provided grants to preserve newspapers on microfilm. This website has a list of the institutions that participated from all 50 states. https://www.neh.gov/us-newspaper-program 
• National Digital Newspaper Program replaced the U.S. Newspaper Program and now focuses on digital preservation. https://www.loc.gov/ndnp/
• Check Universities, local libraries, local genealogical and historical societies to find newspapers, both online and offline. 
• Check the FamilySearch Research Wiki for the location. 
• Portal to Texas History https://texashistory.unt.edu/
• Digitized Collections:
• Library of Congress Chronicling America https://www.loc.gov/collections/chronicling-america/about-this-collection/
• Ancestor Hunt https://theancestorhunt.com/
• Elephind https://www.elephind.com/
• Old Fulton History https://www.fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html 
• Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_online_newspaper_archives
• Google Newspaper Archive https://news.google.com/newspapers
• FamilySearch Newspaper Search https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/newspapers/
• Smalltown Papers Archive https://www.stparchive.com/landing.php?home=y
• Newspapers.com $ https://www.newspapers.com/
• GenealogyBank $ https://www.genealogybank.com/
• Old News $ https://www.oldnews.com/en
• Newspaper Archive $ (Free access Dallas Public Libraries or the National Genealogical Society Membership) https://newspaperarchive.com/