Here, we’re going to look at the value of newspapers. This insightful record set can give us details of our ancestors not found elsewhere. Newspapers are often overlooked, perhaps because beginning genealogists mistakenly think that if their ancestors weren’t famous, they wouldn’t be in the publications.
However, most (not all) of our ancestors and relatives appeared in newsprint at least once in their life, regardless of how “ordinary” they were. They didn’t have to be a criminal or celebrity to be written about.
Most of us may remember that newspapers used to have “social columns” or “society pages.” What would be considered mundane events today, were reported, especially for women. Birthday celebrations, dances, bridge games, Hadassah meetings, engagement parties, baby showers — many were recorded, and there’s a pretty good chance your ancestor was mentioned. They could also appear in classified ads, selling or buying property, accidents, awards, and of course brushes with the law.
These are the kinds of stories and information that help us know and understand our ancestors better, and “put flesh on the bone” of their lives. It also proves their residence in a particular place at a specific time.
Where do you find newspapers that may be over a century old? As with all record sets, availability of newspapers depends on time and location.
More and more newspapers are digitizing their own back issues into online archives, so that’s one place to check, if you know where to look. You can generally search those archives for free, but to read and download the articles, there’s often a paywall.
Other than that, there are two main categories of newspaper collection websites: free and not free.
The biggest online source of free US newspapers is Chronicling America, created by the Library of Congress. They have more than 3700 newspapers, published 1777-1963. There are a number of gaps in the years, and locations, but it’s a great place to start.
Newspapers that disappeared long ago can be found there. They also have a directory of all known news- papers ever published in the US, whether or not they have digital copies.
They even have 10 Jewish newspapers, including two from Denver. Those Denver papers are actually the predecessors of the newspaper you’re now reading, the Intermountain Jewish News. The earliest editions of the IJN, 1915-1925, as well as the entirety of its predecessor, The Jewish Outlook, can be found on Chronicling America. Back issues of the IJN, 1927-1969, are available on the Colorado Historic Newspaper.
Another great free newspaper source is Old Fulton New York Post Cards. It does have postcards, but more importantly to genealogists, it has more than 51 million pages of US and Canadian newspapers, especially from New York and surrounding states. It’s not the most user-friendly site, but you’ll be missing out if you don’t use it.
The three largest US subscription newspaper sites are Genealogy Bank, Newspapers.com (Newspapers.com) and Newspaper Archives. Each company have papers from dif- ferent regions of the country, so you can explore the ones from your ancestral homeland. They often have free trial subscriptions.
Whether free or paid, all newspapers sites are constantly adding more papers and editions, just like the major online genealogy databases — so check out all the sites, and check back later.
When our ancestors immigrated, they likely would have read — and be found — in Yiddish newspapers, which were far more prevalent than today. The largest Yiddish language publication was and still is the Forward (digital only).
It was originally the Jewish Daily Forward, and is known as Forverts in Yiddish.
Based in New York City, it started in 1897, and was very popular with our ancestors, regardless of where they lived. It was published in Yiddish, and written in Hebrew — so for most of us, it would seem inaccessible. Thanks to translation tools (i.e. Google Translate) which can translate Hebrew and Yiddish, they are now more accessible.
The Forward started publishing bilingually starting in the 1980s, and now publishes two digital editions — one in English, one in Yiddish.
Like the IJN, there were often Jewish newspapers in larger urban areas, so look for those also.
Journalists and genealogists have a motto: “Trust but verify.” Just because it’s published, doesn’t mean it’s true. Use other sources to fact- check what was being reported. Articles can often lead to other records and resources.
I concentrated on US newspapers, but there are many more newspapers outside of the US, and for Jewish genealogists that means Eastern European newspapers. But that’s for another day.
Copyright © 2022 by the Intermountain Jewish News
