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Chronicling America: Using Historic Newspapers
for Genealogy Research
Erenst Anip, Project LibrarianKaryn Norwood, Digital Support Specialist
Quick Poll:
1. Have you heard of or used Chronicling America before?
2. Have you used it for genealogy research?
What is Chronicling America?
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
Vermont Digital
Newspaper Project
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!!!
IN-STATE PARTNERS
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
• Advise on title selection
• Provide outreach connections
• Meet once a year
EQUIPMENT
WORKFLOW
Title selection Microfilm:
positives & negatives Metadata
creationScan
image, OCR, &
XML files QRDelivery to
LC Searchable pages online
CATALOG UPDATE
TITLE ESSAY @ 500 WORDS
DUPLICATE MICROFIL
MREELS
100,000 PAGES
DIGITIZED
DELIVERABLES
Why is this a useful tool for
genealogy?
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
Good place to start: library.uvm.edu/vtnp
or search:VTDNP or
Vermont Digital Newspaper Project
Ways to Access Chronicling
America
Vermont-specific Content:
Vermont Digital Newspaper Project Website:
library.uvm.edu/vtnp
Chronicling America:
Chroniclingamerica.loc.gov
or
ChroniclingAmerica.comSearch titles by county
and town!
We have an interactive Google
Map!
VTDNP’s Resources tab!
library.uvm.edu/vtnp/
General Tutorials For Educators For Genealogists Presentations
Other Online
Tools byVTDNP
flickr.com/vtdp
pinterest.com/vtdnp
library.uvm.edu/vtnp
facebook.com/vtdnp
slideshare.net
Interactive map with newspaper mastheads!
Let’s take a look at the resource:
chroniclingamerica.loc.gov
or search: Chronicling America
The Basics of Chronicling America:
Keyword searches Simple search Advanced
search
All Digitized Newspapers
100 years ago Recommended
Topics
chroniclingamerica.loc.gov
How to search?
We’ll learn two ways:
Simple Search Advanced Search
Important: The search technology searches the newspaper text,
so think about historical language!
Search Pages Tab
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.
Let’s try a simple search!
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
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.”
Page Results
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.
Let’s try the clipping tool!
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
Let’s see how the Advanced Search works!
Hold down Ctrl to select multiple states or
newspapers!
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.
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.
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.
Tips & TricksTry 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 yearsthen, try out the advanced search
Technology then and now: not perfect
Typos or errors
Microfilm quality
OCR rarely 100%
accurate
Diversify your search terms!
Name variations
Affiliated organizations, businesses,
or schools
Historical vocabularyFor events, try including the term, such as: marriage, nuptial, obituary, death
Narrow (or Expand) Search Parameters
Limit location by state(s)
Narrow search by years or specific
dates
Narrow search by newspapers(s)
Limit using the search text options
Let’s test out a genealogy example!
Example: Thurbers of Corinth, Vermont
A simple search of:Francis Thurber & Vermont
Found: Obituaries of Francisand his wife, Amelia
A simple search for Hiram Thurber yielded this from 1895:
Keeping Track of Your Finds
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.
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
Questions?
This PowerPoint
will be posted on our website and available for download.
Contact us:library.uvm.edu/vtnp
Erenst Anip, Project Librarian: [email protected]
Karyn Norwood, Digital Support:
Phone: 802-656-0819
