Presentation on how to use Chronicling America for genealogy research, including search strategies and examples, with an emphasis on the Vermont Digital Newspaper Project's resources.

1. Erenst Anip, Project Librarian
Karyn Norwood, Digital Support Specialist

3. Online tool to search
historic newspapers
from across the country.
9 million pages from
1836-1922 available to
search by text.
You can search, save,
download, print, and
clip articles for free.
chroniclingamerica.loc.gov

4.  Part of the National
Digital Newspaper
Program
 Digitizing historic
Vermont newspapers
between 1836-1922
Vermont Content Online:
• 59 Vermont titles
• 260,000 pages
• Every county
represented (except
Grand Isle)
• ….and more to come!!!

6. • Advise on title
selection
• Provide outreach
connections
• Meet once a year

9. CATALOG UPDATE
TITLE ESSAY @ 500 WORDS
DUPLICATE
MICROFILM
REELS
100,000 PAGES
DIGITIZED

10.  Easy to use!
 Searches the
newspaper text using
OCR technology
 Newspapers included:
local news, marriages
and deaths, participant
lists, advertisements,
social and political
functions, local
individual updates, and
legal notices

11. library.uvm.edu/vtnp
VTDNP or
Vermont Digital
Newspaper Project

12. Vermont-specific Content:
Vermont Digital Newspaper
Project Website:
library.uvm.edu/vtnp
Chronicling America:
Chroniclingamerica.loc.gov
or
ChroniclingAmerica.com
Search titles by county
and town!
We have an
interactive Google
Map!

13. library.uvm.edu/vtnp/
 General Tutorials
 For Educators
 For Genealogists
 Presentations

14. flickr.com/vtdp
pinterest.com/vtdnp
library.uvm.edu/vtnp
facebook.com/vtdnp
slideshare.net
Interactive map with
newspaper mastheads!

15. chroniclingamerica.loc.gov
Chronicling America

16.  Keyword searches
 Simple search
 Advanced
search
 All Digitized
Newspapers
 100 years ago
 Recommended
Topics
chroniclingamerica.loc.gov

17. We’ll learn two ways:
 Simple Search
 Advanced Search
Important: The search
technology searches
the newspaper text, so
think about historical
language!

18. Pick a state or
search all states
Pick a year range
or specific year.
Remember, years
are between
1836-1922.
Enter a search word(s) here.

19. The Search Pages tool
will scan the newspaper
text to find results.
1. Scroll down to
find Vermont
2. Keep the
year range
as it is
3. Type in a word of your choice 4. Click on Go

20. c
Tons of
results!
“Library”
highlighted
in red on the
newspaper
page.
The search tool searches the text to find the word/phrase you entered. In this case, “library.”

21. Click on these two
buttons to zoom in and
out. Or, scroll with your
mouse or fingers.
Click on this to go
to full screen.
This shows which page
of the newspaper is
shown. Shown here is
page 3. Use the arrows
to go from page to
page.
Use these arrows to browse
surrounding newspaper issues.

22. 1.Zoom in to something you are
interested in clipping.
2.Click on the scissor tool.
3.You can then print or save the image.
The red box shows
what will be
clipped.
Note: clipped
image are not of
the highest quality

23. Hold down Ctrl to select
multiple states or newspapers!

24. Case Study: Viro Small, A.K.A. “Black Sam”
Burlington Weekly Free Press,
January 3, 1879, page 4.
www.blackamericaweb.com
Only 1 result, but a new discovery!
What is known about him?
• Born in 1854 in Buford, South
Carolina into slavery.
• One of the first black wrestlers
in the country.
• Lived in and fought out of
Rutland & St. Albans, Vermont
for a time.
• A champion collar-and-elbow
wrestler. Won Vermont’s collar-
and-elbow championship
twice. Won at least 63 matches
in ten years.
• Last known match was in 1885.

25. Other Search
Parameters:
• All States and a Basic
Search for “Viro Small”
• Advanced Search for
Phrases: “Viro Small”
and “Black Sam” and
Years 1870-1890
• Advanced Search:
Trying alternate names
of “Samuel Hackett”
and “Samuel Hadley”
with wrestling.
• Advanced Search:
Including any words:
wrestling, black, collar,
wrestling, match.

26. The Evening World, NYC, December
15, 1888, page 2.
The Sun, NYC, September 4, 1882, page 1.
The Sun, NYC, April 24, 1883, page 1
Another
new
discovery!
Recovered
and fighting
again in less
than a year.
New York Tribune, February 18, 1883, page 12.

27. Try a basic search first, using a name
and limiting it by state.
If you get no results, try:
abbreviating the first name or just
using the last name
then, try out the advanced search
If you get thousands of results, try:
limiting years
then, try out the advanced search

28. Typos or errors
Microfilm quality
OCR rarely 100%
accurate

29. Name variations
Affiliated organizations, businesses, or
schools
Historical vocabulary
For events, try including the term, such
as: marriage, nuptial, obituary, death

30. Limit location by state(s)
Narrow search by years or specific dates
Narrow search by newspapers(s)
Limit using the search text options

31. Let’s test out a genealogy
example!

36.  Save page as PDF with date and title of paper.
 Print screen and save articles in a Word
document.
 Save page in the Bookmark Bar.
 Use “Pin it” bar to pin pages on Pinterest.
 Copy and paste the bottom citation for each
page into a Word document.

37. Phase III Titles:
Sneak
Preview!
• Orleans County Monitor (1913-1922)
• Rutland Herald (1855-1873)
• Brattleboro Reformer family (1879-1922)
• Londonderry Sifter (1884-1921)
• Manchester Journal (1861-1922)
• Herald and News (1888-1910) (West
Randolph, Orange County)
• Barre Daily Times (1903-1922)
• Bellows Falls Times (1855-1903)
=110,000 + pages of Vt. newspapers

38. This PowerPoint
will be posted
on our website
and available
for download.
Contact us:
library.uvm.edu/vtnp
Erenst Anip, Project Librarian:
eanip@uvm.edu
Karyn Norwood, Digital Support:
knorwood@uvm.edu
Phone: 802-656-0819