Newspapers can be a valuable resource for genealogical research, but finding the right issue of the right paper can be a challenge.  This page provides resources that will help you to locate specific issues of newspapers published through 1936.

     The first step in finding newspapers is knowing where to look.  I frequently answer queries from people who want to know how to find a Boston newspaper that might hold their ancestor's obituary.  Unless your ancestor was a prominent person in the Boston area a city newspaper is not likely to carry their obituary.  You are better off looking for a daily paper in a small city closer to the ancestor's residence, in a weekly paper published in their town, or possibly a specialized large city weekly devoted to that ancestor's ethnic background.

     Begin with an atlas - become familiar with which cities and towns are near your ancestor's town.  Then you can check to see which of those cities and towns published newspapers at the time of your ancestor's death.  There are two standard reference works on American newspapers published through 1936, and many large libraries have them.  They are:

     Clarence Saunders Brigham, History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820, 2 Volumes (Worcester, MA: American Antiquarian Society, 1947; Reprinted Hamden, CT: Archon Press, 1962; Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1976).  See also Clarence Saunders Brigham, "Additions and Corrections to History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820" (Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 71 (April, 1961) 15-62).

     Winifred Gregory, American Newspapers, 1821-1936: A Union List of Files Available in the United States and Canada (New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 1937; Reprinted Millwood, NY: Kraus Reprint Corporation, 1967).  A small number of libraries hold microfilm copies of Avis Gertrude Clarke and Winifred Gregory Gerould, An Alphabetical Index to the Titles in "American Newspapers, 1821-1936: A Union List of Files Available in the United States and Canada" (Oxford, MA: Typescript, 1958).

     One additional resource that might be of help is Edward Connery Latham, Chronological Tables of American Newspapers, 1690-1820; Being a Tabular Guide to Holdings of Newspapers Published in America Through the Year 1820 (Worcester, MA: American Antiquarian Society, 1972).

     The first two reference works list all known American newspapers published in the years that each one covers.  Each is organized by state and then by cities and towns, and shows which newspapers were published, when and where they were published, and which libraries throughout the country have holdings of each title.  Each also shows the range of issues of that title held by each library at the time that reference was published.

     Pay particular attention to the weekly papers published in your ancestor's town, as they are more likely to carry an obituary than big city papers, although a small city daily nearby might be worth checking.   If your ancestor was a member of an ethnic group look for weeklies in nearby cities that catered to that group.  Most of those ethnic weeklies, however, were published in the language used by that group (such as Lowell, MA, French-lanquage weeklies for immigrant Quebec families, or New Bedford, MA, Portugese-language weeklies for immigrant Portugese families).

     In addition to the library holdings of newspapers listed in those references there are other places to find old issues of newspapers.  A major source of newspapers on microfilm is the United States Newspaper Program.  It has projects in each of the states, and each state has a repository of microfilmed newspapers at a library which is often in the state capital or the state's largest city.  The repository for Massachusetts, for example, is located in the microtext department at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square.  Some of the repository libraries have online listings of the newspapers that they hold - the BPL excels in this regard, as they provide PDF files listing their microfilm holdings of newspapers (see below).  Here are links to the United States Newspaper Program and its six New England state projects:

     Another way to discover which microfilmed newspapers of interest are held by a local repository is to check with your local library.  If they have access to the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) you can check the database of newspaper holdings maintained there by the United States Newspaper Program.  Note that you need not visit a repository to examine a microfilmed newspaper - most films are also available through interlibrary loan so that you can view them at your local library.  Some smaller libraries also provide interlibrary loan of films of local newspapers - the Brockton Public Library, for example, loans film of its holdings of Brockton and North Bridgewater, MA, newspapers.  Check with the libraries in and near your ancestor's town to see if they have film available through interlibrary loan.

     A major national repository of newspapers is the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.  Check the Library of Congress Directory of Newspapers for their holdings.

     If you can get to Worcester, MA, you might visit the nation's earliest major collection of newspapers, initially built by Isaiah Thomas, the late-eighteenth and early nineteenth century publisher of newspapers in Boston and Worcester.  His collection forms the core of the newspaper holdings of the American Antiquarian Society, which Thomas founded in 1812.

     In recent years many collections of old newspapers have become available online, though access to them is generally by subscription or through libraries.  Chech with the reference desk at your local library to see if they offer access to any of them, such as "19th Century U.S. Newspapers" and "Early American Newspapers" (both of which are available online to NEHGS members).