United State Newspapers

The Wall Street Journal once advertised itself as the "daily diary of the American dream." That statement, like much advertising copy, may have been somewhat overblown, but it does encapsulate much of the importance of newspapers to the genealogical researcher. Newspapers are, for those who become proficient in their use, the day-to-day (or week-to-week) diaries of local community events. They are thus excellent sources for family history, giving accounts of events from a contemporary point of view and often including details recorded nowhere else. The genealogist who overlooks newspapers misses a great mass of potentially valuable material.

Newspapers are intended for general readers, usually serve a geographic region, and may also be oriented toward a particular ethnic, cultural, social, or political group. Because newspapers preserve the collected thoughts of many minds, they reflect moral, cultural, educational, and political development more broadly than do the isolated thoughts of an individual's correspondence or diary. Nowhere can a clearer idea be gained of public sentiment than in the American newspaper.

While records of birth, marriage, and death are the most commonly sought and the most consistently helpful, only the genealogist's imagination and resourcefulness limit the newspaper's usefulness in supplying clues about historical events, local news items, probate court and legal notices, real estate transactions, political biographies, announcements, notices of new and terminated partnerships, business advertisements, and notices for settling debts.

Source: Szucs and Luebking, The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy
Purchase: The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy

• Kentucky Newspapers

• Newspapers Help Guide

  • Ancestry Historical Newspaper Collection Launches $
    Ancestry.com is now making it easier than ever to access newspapers from the past with the launch of the Ancestry Historical Newspaper Collection.

    • Using the Historical Newspapers Collection
      Reader shares two newspaper collections that she might have overlooked, but instead found a wealth of information.

  • Gleaning Information from Newspapers
    After spending several years reading and indexing over forty years worth of old newspapers (for genealogical purposes), I offer the following comments and suggestions.

  • Religious and Ethnic Newspapers
    Newspapers are important sources of information, especially in cases where an individual was actively involved in a religious or ethnic organization.

  • Searching Old Newspapers
    One reader adds to a growing list of tips about searching old newspapers.

  • More Than One Newspaper?
    If you don't find an obit in one paper, check to see if the area where your ancestors lived has more than one paper. One reader did, and she found a wealth of information.