A to Z Challenge: 3 Tips for Researching NYS Historic Newspapers

The NYS Historic Newspapers project provides FREE online access to a wide range of newspapers chosen to reflect New York’s unique history.

Researching NYS Historic Newspapers

Tip #1. Try Variations of your Ancestors’ Name

When researching my family’s surname of PREFUME I found that often that search keyword would bring up ‘perfume’ so I tried researching “Perfume” with a secondary search term such as a first name or specifying a specific city.

Similarly, I recommend variations of the first name too. For example, if you’re searching “John” how about also trying “Jno.” or “Jon”?

Also, remember that often in the older newspapers you’re interested in — grandma might be listed as Mrs. GRANDPA’s NAME.

Another way of accounting for variations in spelling is to use “?” instead of the letter in your search field.

Tip #2. Piece Together Your Ancestors’ Movements

In historic newspapers, many of the local “social news” tidbits are similar to what you’d currently find on Facebook. For instance, in the newspapers I found articles putting together my mom’s whereabouts from Easter celebrations to birthday parties to Sunday dinners.

Tip #3. Other Ways to Find Your Ancestors

In the past, I have been surprised that a search for an ancestor’s name will not come up but if I look up an event or use someone else’s name, I will find the article mentioning my ancestor.

Lesson: Researching historical newspapers is like rummaging through a clearance sale at TJMaxx. It requires the 3 T’s:

TIME

TACT

TENACITY

If you have the time – you would likely not be wasting your time searching the headlines manually of a local newspaper that is known to have articles about your ancestors. For instance, I tend to focus my research primarily on the Ogdensburg Advance and The Cobleskill Index. This is especially useful if your ancestors are from a smaller village or town versus the bigger cities like New York and Brooklyn.

Other ways to research your ancestors is to look for them through their connection to:

• friends
• place of worship
• place of employment
• place of education

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I hope this has been the slightest bit helpful as you embark on your research! Good luck and please let me know if you have any other questions I can help you with!