This document discusses strategies for finding genealogical information in historical newspapers. It notes that newspapers can provide valuable family information over time for a specific location. It provides details on newspapers published in Rochester and other areas from the 1800s. It lists various online databases and archives that provide digitized historical newspapers that can be searched free or for a fee. Physical microfilm collections in local libraries are also discussed. Strategies are presented for selecting a time period and location to search and identifying potential newspaper sources.

1. Newspapers for Genealogy
Presentation for the
Genesee Area Genealogists
August 2012

2. I had to put this in….

3. A truth --->
• Newspapers can be extremely valuable in
finding information about your family over a
period of time and in a specific location. And
they may well show movements, married
names, and much other information.

4. • There are many newspaper that exist which
have not been digitized and put online yet.
• The Central Library in Rochester has large
cabinets of the city newspapers on
microfilm, but they are online only in bits
and pieces - think of sources such as
www.fultonhistory.com. That web site has
many Democrat and Chronicles, and a few
Union and Advertisers. It also has a
downloadable Excel spreadsheet of all the
papers on that site.

5. Caveat…
Taken directly from the D and C of 17 March 2012:
“Our current business model — based primarily on
print distribution — is essentially the same as it
was in 1833…That does not make sense and it is
not sustainable. Non-subscribers will have access
to a limited number of free articles before they are
required to subscribe.”
As of May 3rd, that is the case.

6. Then there is this local info:
• Newspapers published in the 1800’s
• Rochester Telegraph 1818 – 1828
• The Album November 1825 – 1828
• Rochester Observer February 1827 – 1833
– Name changes
• Rochester Daily Advertiser April 1827 - 1996
• Rochester Daily Union
• Rochester Daily Union & Advertiser
• Times Union
• Rochester Republican December 1829 – December 1849
• Anti Masonic Enquirer September – December 1833

7. Which continues– Name changes
• Rochester Daily Democrat February 1834 - current
• Rochester Daily Chronicle
• Democrat & Chronicle
• Daily Sun June 1839 – December 1839
• Rochester Daily American 1844 - 1929
• North Star December 1847 - April 1851
• Frederick Douglass June 1851 – December 1853
• Douglass Monthly January 1859 – August 1863
– Name changes
• Rochester Evening Express January 1859 - 1936
• Rochester Evening & Post Express
• Rochester Herald August 1879 – 1926
• Daily Evening Times November 1888 - 1889

8. • But there are many more which are not yet
in the Fulton web site.The D and C and the
TU papers from Rochester are included in a
massive newspaper clipping file at the
Central Library. That file has 7500 subjects
and 500,000 clips in it, covering ca 1936 to
the present. There is a hard copy guide to
the subjects, but that is not online. Nor is
that guide an index.

9. • The Batavia library is a Familysearch affiliate; and there
are online ways to search local newspapers such as:
http://userdb.rootsweb.ancestry.com/news/

10. What papers were published
where and when?
• French’s Gazetteer of NY (1860) has a great series of
footnotes that go in to detail about the papers and their
publishers.
• See:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nymonroe/french.htm

12. Sample from French’s:

13. French’s for Genesee County -

14. • Where can you find them?
• You can start by looking here, although it was unfunded
by NY state in 2007, and papers have been moved from
the locations listed in this web page:
• http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/nysnp/

16. Our neighbors:
• The Buffalo NY public library downtown
does have a large 300,000 item card file,
but that is not yet online, although there are
papers from Buffalo in Fultonhistory. There
is also a large number of 3 x 5 cards of a
newspaper index at the Buffalo and Erie
County Historical Society in Delaware Park
in North Buffalo. Nope, not online.

17. • The Onondaga County library (Syracuse)
also has a great genealogy collection, but
their web site does not show directories or
newspaper indexes. There are links to
various commercial newspaper databases.

18. “Hidden collections”
• A few years ago, the LeRoy historian retired. In
his attic he had a large number of clips on various
families going back 100 years or more. He gave
me many copies on the families that I was
researching on that area.
• Which goes to show that any individual office
may have a great collection, but it must be used in
person. And you are dependent on it not
getting tossed out!

19. A comment on the local RRLC newspaper project
and some other sources -
• For the rrlcnewspapers.org project, they have been using
the New York State Newspaper Survey
(http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/nysnp/) to identify pre-1923
microfilm holdings in our service area.
• RPL and some of its associated branches do have quite a
bit of microfilm listed on the survey that they are
interested in digitizing. The plan currently is to wait for
funds and to do it in a big batch if possible. The work is
hired out to local contractors.
• RPL’s Digitizing Dept. did scan digital versions of late-
issues of the Gates Chili News. They are discussing how
to make these available.

20. Finding your ancestors in old newspapers
Strategies:
1) Select a place and time of interest for one or more ancestors
2) Determine what newspapers were published when and where
3) Identify which ones, if any, are searchable online or locally
4) Search for your ancestor’s information…
a. via free/low-cost on-line or local sources
b. with free/low-cost help from others
c. via more expensive high-probable-yield sources
5) Visit remote newspaper archive, if necessary
6) Call, write, or submit a query via their ask-a-librarian services.

21. MEDIA
METHODS on-line telephone microfilm paper
1) News search engines x
2) Request library help x x
3) Browse newspapers x x x
Also, many times papers are loanable from a particular library
or the state library for a modest fee, and you can look in them
yourselves.

22. Finding old newspapers - more sources
Library of Congress Newspapers
Chronicling America: Newspaper Directory
DIRECTORY
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers FULL TEXT
NewsBank Obituaries $ FULL TEXT
NewsLibrary Newspapers (1977-2001) $
FULL TEXT
GenealogyBank Historical Newspapers (1690-2007) $
FULL TEXT

23. Chronicling America

25. Some other sources
Google News Archives (1758-2011)
FULL TEXT
Footnote's Historic Newspaper Archives (1785-2011) $
FULL
TEXT

26. Google, of course.

27. And more -
Selected Newspaper Archives:
AJC Historic Archives (1868-1945)
FULL TEXT
(AJC is the Atlanta Journal Constitution.)
NY Times Archives (1851-2011) FULL
TEXT
Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1841-1902) FULL
TEXT
Fitchburg (MA) Sentinel & Enterprise (1998-2011)FULL
TEXT
Irish Newspaper Archive (1763-2011) FULL
TEXT

28. Other sources
Ancestry.com Newspapers $ FULL TEXT
Family History Center Catalog free - CATALOG
FreeNewspaperArchives
www.FreeNewspaperArchives.us
Highbeam $ www.highbeam.com
Lexis-Nexis $ www.lexisnexis.com
WorldVitalRecords $
www.WorldVitalRecords.com

29. A possibly useful link -
• http://www.libraryweb.org/~digitized/

30. Which continues

31. FreeNewspaperArchives.us and
fultonhistory

32. Sample from the Rochester
library’s website -

33. http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/newspapers/sourcelist/full/#New%20York

34. Help! Where can I find
other papers?
The United States Newspaper Program
www.neh.gov/projects/usnp.html
A cooperative national effort among the states and the federal
government to locate, catalog, and preserve on microfilm
newspapers published in the United States from the
eighteenth century to the present.

35. Don’t forget

36. References:
www.byub.org/ancestors/records/newspapers/intro.html
How to Find Your Ancestor in an Old Newspaper
Brigham Young University Broadcasting
http://genealogy.about.com/cs/newspapers/a/news_rese
arch.htm
Family History in the News
How to Find & Use Newspapers for Genealogical
Research
Kimberly Powell, About.com Guide

37. A free source

38. A pay source

42. Their Batavia newspapers

43. See the bibliography for more
sources!
• When I think about how we did
genealogy 30-plus years ago, I can't
imagine that many newspapers were
used regularly. We didn't use them not
because they lacked importance but
because we would have had limited
access to them in the pre-Internet
years.

44. To restate:
• Be systematic & plan your search step-by-step
• Search free and low-cost datasets first
• Search online, call, or visit distant local & specialty libraries
• Explore online lists & discussion groups for newspaper sources and
help
• Incorporate quotes, stories, poems, lyrics, pictures in your histories
• Cite relevant sources in your work
• Enjoy the hunt!!! You’re going to find something very interesting