Newspaper archives

ficam · Post by **ficam** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:08 pm

Hello everyone - I have noticed a few references to newspaper archives in posts, eg Scotsman; Glasgow Herald, Aberdeen Press and Journal, etc.

How do you access these newspapers online?

I have tried accessing the newspapers sites themselves but can't seem to find archives on there - or the archives are only for recent issues.

The only other one I found a while ago seemed to be for schools and was prohibitively expensive...

Thanks

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:46 pm

Hi Ficam
Scotsman is at http://archive.scotsman.com/
A Pay-per-view site

Some ofthe others may be accessed through your local library depending on what subscriptions they have or through "Ancestry" , either pay per view or possibly free in your local library.
Others you need to be student or staff at a University to gain free access.

Best wishes
Lesley

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 4:10 am

Hello Ficam,

There’s a list of online newspaper archives here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_on ... r_archives

The Google News Archive search is here although I’ve never really tried it out.
http://news.google.com/archivesearch/ad ... d=uk&hl=en

The 19th Century British Library Newspapers database can be freely accessed by HE and FE students in the UK. If anyone in the UK cannot access this resource the best thing they can do about it may be to put pressure on their local library to subscribe. http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestyp ... index.html

Probably less than 10% of UK Public Libraries are currently advertising access to the 19th Century collection. The only Scottish one that springs to mind is Aberdeen and that’s only available in the library. (The collection may become accessible via a pay site later on.)

Ancestry has a great collection of newspapers in their Newspapers and Periodicals collection. Mainly of the regional US variety but there are some others. Coverage is very limited in some cases and it’s best to check before searching. http://search.ancestry.com/search/CardC ... spx?cat=38

Compared to the London Times pay site the Scotsman is very expensive, almost 2x for a daily and 3x for a monthly subscription and the range of years is much less. Anyone planning to access the Scotsman for a short period should plan ahead, practice on the free search so you know exactly how it works and have a prepared list of every conceivable thing you may want to look up before you pay your money and the timer starts.

Occasionally there are free trials of some newspapers databases and hopefully we get to hear about them on the forum.

If there’s something in particular you want looked up you could always drop a hint on the forum. Someone with access may see it. You never know your luck.

Hope that’s useful,
Alan

P.S. Not to forget the Straits Times from Sally, which isn’t online but the search results are pretty good. http://newspapers.nl.sg/Default.aspx
Alan

Ann In the UK · Post by **Ann In the UK** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 6:53 am

Many articles in the New York Times are free, although you are limited to how many items you can download per visit (I think it's 5 per day - just go back the next day

)

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/nytarchive.html

You have to pay for 'Premium' articles though - but I've never found any of those I want, so I couldn't tell you how much they are!

(The New York Times is very useful if you're searching about ships, shipping, mariners....and if any of your ancestors were involved with big stories which grabbed headlines around the world).

daj · Post by **daj** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:50 am

The Mitchell Library in Glasgow have copies of Glasgow based newspapers and also the Scotsman - mostly Edinburgh based news. All for free.

I searched the Scotman archive online (for free) which then invites you to download the article for a small fortune, however I simply noted the edition I needed, went the the Mitchell Library and requested the archive of the newspaper. It was at my table within about 10 minutes and it was the original paper from 1863.

Lindsay · Post by **Lindsay** » Sat May 02, 2009 7:46 pm

If you don't have an institutional subscription, there is a pay version of the British library site:

http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs/

It's not cheap - £6.99 for 24 hours and 100 views or £9.99 for 7 days/200 views.

ficam · Post by **ficam** » Sat May 02, 2009 8:18 pm

Thanks everyone - plenty of options for me to try.....

Ann In the UK · Post by **Ann In the UK** » Sat May 02, 2009 10:51 pm

Just came across this US historical newspaper site (subscription) :

http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/newspapers/

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Sun May 03, 2009 10:14 am

Hello Ann,

That looks interesting. I’ll add it to my US bookmarks and take it for an occasional walk. The search may be useful even without paying.

Hello Lindsay,

The availability of the 19th Century British Library newspaper collection on this site is definitely headline news and deserves a separate posting in Research Sources or elsewhere where more people will see it. I’ll copy your post to there if that’s okay.

All the best,
Alan

Dennis · Post by **Dennis** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 1:53 am

Hi. There used to be one for the London Times where you could do a boolean search or search by dates. I can recall part of the means of reading sections of various issues. Anybody else recall that one?

dennis