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Introduction to Canadian Newspapers - International Institute: Difference between revisions
Introduction to Canadian Newspapers - International Institute (view source)
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*Consider where people came from. If they had moved a short distance they might continue to subscribe to the newspaper from the former home. An example of this is a community of people who lived north of Listowel in Perth County, Ontario. Listowel had a healthy newspaper, but these people’s birth and death notices did not appear in it. Instead, they published in the Elora newspaper, to the east. The reason was that they had all come from the Elora-Fergus area initially, and their friends and family lived there, so that paper would have been filled with news of interest to them. Even if they had moved far away, their notices might well continue to appear in the home town newspaper for a while, since they would want to inform people there of events in their lives | *Consider where people came from. If they had moved a short distance they might continue to subscribe to the newspaper from the former home. An example of this is a community of people who lived north of Listowel in Perth County, Ontario. Listowel had a healthy newspaper, but these people’s birth and death notices did not appear in it. Instead, they published in the Elora newspaper, to the east. The reason was that they had all come from the Elora-Fergus area initially, and their friends and family lived there, so that paper would have been filled with news of interest to them. Even if they had moved far away, their notices might well continue to appear in the home town newspaper for a while, since they would want to inform people there of events in their lives | ||
=== | === Studying the Newspaper === | ||
Once a researcher chooses which paper to read, and obtains the microfilm, there is a great deal of material to go through. It is unwise to rush. There is an advantage to doing this research now rather than twenty or thirty years ago, because many newspapers have been microfilmed and are now available on interlibrary loan and it is no longer necessary to travel to the area when the paper originated to look at it. | |||
Some researchers may still regard researching in original newspapers as preferable to microfilm. This is not the case. Old bound newspapers are unwieldy and fragile. Even in the best circumstances, where racks are provided to hold the bound volumes upright, each turned page may sprinkle crumbs of newsprint on the desk. | |||
Whether upright or flat, the volumes are too large to be read comfortably; note-taking is difficult (writing while leaning on the books themselves is forbidden), to say nothing of the smell. Although some people find reading microfilm hard on the eyes, it is certainly better than reading originals. | |||
In the days before most old newspapers were found in libraries or archives, researchers had to go to newspaper offices to see old issues. These were usually kept in a corner of the office or even the printing room, where the reader had to balance the large and heavy books between knees and piles of boxes, and still try to take notes. In the end, there is little romantic in the process. | |||
The only difficulty in reading microfilm occurs if the library concerned has not invested in a modern reader. This has more to do with their budget than anything else. Most libraries will provide competent equipment. | |||
While genealogists may concentrate on the birth, death and marriage announcements, it is wise to remember two things. First, many newspapers do not have a ‘column’ or special place in each issue devoted to these announcements. | |||
If you look only for this column, you will find yourself cranking through whole years of newspaper without stopping. Secondly, there is a great deal of other information which might be useful to you hidden in the news columns or advertisements. | |||
It is dangerous to take the approach of an archivist at one provincial archives, who showed a researcher the cabinets containing newspaper microfilm with the statement, “Pioneer newspapers didn’t contain much genealogical information, anyway.” This narrow view of what constitutes ‘genealogical information’ displays a misunderstanding of family history research as we practise it in the twenty-first century, where all data about a family, not merely birth, death and marriage dates, are viewed as adding to our knowledge. | |||
Having obtained a microfilm on interlibrary loan, the researcher can take as much time as needed to give a cursory look to every page of each issue. It will be clear immediately that a great deal of it is not of interest—the international politics, doings in Ottawa, the weather—but the local news should be examined carefully. In the ads, especially in small-town papers of the past, you will notice that a great many of the ‘professional cards’ repeat themselves exactly week after week. These are the notices from lawyers, doctors, dentists, accountants and various stores. | |||
The same ad could be placed for many weeks at a minimal cost. The reason for this was that the typesetting had only to be done once, so after the initial week, there was no further expense for the printer to add the notice to the paper. Some ads, which changed, might be interesting as background or historical information. | |||
Some events might generate a series of news items, and if your family is involved, you will want to collect them all. Deaths are a good example, and the series of possibilities will be discussed in the coming modules, but other newsworthy events might also be noticed more than once. Weddings generated a series of reports: engagement, bridal showers, the wedding itself, a list of wedding presents, the couple’s return from honeymoon and the bride’s first ‘at home’ might all warrant notice. | |||
In local news columns for small communities, the progress of someone’s illness might take several weeks, and in court cases, the whole process of crime, investigation, arrest, trial and sentencing can be followed. | |||
In the newspaper where the editor prides himself on an intimate style, as mentioned above, there can be allusions in one story to connected events in other parts of the newspaper or in previous issues. For the researcher, these allusions may not be easy to follow, but if the story is of sufficient interest, they can stimulate us to more intensive searching to follow up. As an example, a man’s accidental death in 1894 was described in the local newspaper, the account ending with a reference to the fact that his wife was in jail, which readers would remember from the trial three weeks earlier. The older newspaper had a long account of the woman’s crimes, which might never have been discovered without the allusion in the description of the mortal accident. | |||
=== Some Difficulties in Dealing with Newspapers === | |||
Very early Canadian newspapers were probably printed on high-quality rag-content paper. These newspapers, bound flat, have often survived in good condition. Later in the 19th century and into the 20th, the quality of newsprint was downgraded as print runs became larger. This paper has not aged so well. It has become yellow and brittle, and crumbles when it is handled, especially in its bound format which results in large, heavy volumes. This makes research using the originals awkward. | |||
=== Past Vernacular === | |||
Newspapers are written in the vernacular of their own age. Reading papers from a century ago, we are struck by the ‘quaint’ language, as people who see our papers in 2150 will think the same. Most of the time, we can understand the gist of what is being said, or have quick reference to a dictionary to clarify things. | |||
Certain conventions were used in the BMD columns of newspapers, to save space. In referring to the date of events, we find phrases such as ‘On the 10th inst.’ or ‘On the 30th ultimo’. ‘Inst’ is short for ‘instant’ and means ‘this month’, so the phrase given can be read as ‘On the 10th of this month’. ‘Ultimo’ is Latin and refers to the last month, so the phrase given can be read as ‘On the 30th of last month’. | |||
The nineteenth century habit of shortening names is also common in these announcements. Most of these will still be obvious—Jos. for Joseph, Wm. for William—but the use of Jno. for John (Latin again) may be less comprehensible. If you encounter a word or name of this kind that you cannot translate using a dictionary, ask the librarian or archivist, who should be familiar with them. | |||
Many of these announcements will not contain an actual date. Those that say a couple were married ‘recently’ (as too many do) are very frustrating for genealogists, but many others will state something along the line of ‘on Tuesday last’. It may be possible to count back from the date on the masthead<ref>1 Masthead refers to that part of the top of the first page which includes the newspaper's name, date and publication information, and any other identifying material the publisher wants to place there.</ref> to figure out Tuesday’s date. | |||
Many genealogists find it useful to carry a single-sheet perpetual calendar, of the kind that can be found in some telephone books or in many genealogical newsletters, in their research kits. The library reference desk may have one handy, or look for ''The book of calendars'' or a similar tool. | |||
The ‘intimate tone’ aspect of newspaper writing sometimes results in news items which mean very little. An ''Edmonton Bulletin'' notice of 23 February 1881 read in its entirety: “A meeting of the shareholders of the Edmonton Milling Co. was held on Tues. last.” With no further details, it does not convey much to us now. ''The Alberta Sta''r of 18 April 1908 reported: “Messrs. C. F. Harris and W. C. Ives were in town a couple of days last week. There is scarcely any need to tell you the object of their visit.” For the modern reader, the object of their visit will remain forever a mystery. | |||
=== Newspaper Survival === | |||
The survival rate of the physical newspaper has been affected by the quality of the paper and by the short life of many publications. We expect to find copies of the old newspapers in the office of the ongoing publication, but if the newspaper dies, what happens to the bound volumes? It could be that a succeeding title will keep them for reference, or that an interested local historian or relative of the publisher will store them at home. | |||
However, many early newspapers have vanished. Until the microfilming projects of the 1960s ensured that the single surviving copies of some newspapers were multiplied and made available in a number of institutions, there was a danger that others would also disappear. | |||
This also accounts for the fact that for many publications, only single or scattered issues are left. They were saved by someone because they contained an item of family interest and eventually found their way into a library or archives. | |||
A note of hope is possible even if you find that the publication you most need appears to be missing. The current writer once investigated a missing year of the ''Canada Museum und Allgemeine Zeitung'', published in Berlin [Kitchener, Ontario], 1835-1840. The first two years and the last two were in the Kitchener Public Library collection, but the middle year was missing. | |||
In Herbert Kalbfleisch’s history of German-language newspapers in Ontario, he claimed to have seen all five volumes of the paper in the 1950s. Thinking that if the newspapers had survived for 120 years, they might still be around, the librarian involved found Kalbfleisch and asked if he remembered where they were. He did: a private collector had owned the missing volume. The son of the collector said it had been given to the Université de Montréal library. When they were first approached, the library denied having any German-language newspapers, but they agreed to look. They telephoned back a few days later, astonished, to say the bound volume of the ''Canada Museum'' was indeed in their collection, unknown. | |||
Arrangements were made to have it microfilmed, and the complete run, on film, has now been restored to its original home in Kitchener. | |||
This is probably an unusual story, but it does give hope to any researcher looking for a lost newspaper. | |||
The quality of the microfilm can occasionally cause difficulty. A great deal of filming which took place in the 1950s and 1960s, when microfilming was still a new process, was done in a substandard way from our point of view. | |||
There are a number of reasons for these difficulties. The already aged newspapers which were filmed may be slightly out of focus. The poor original print may not translate well to our modern readers’ screens, if the much-used hand-set type was chipped, or did not print clearly. The newspaper itself may be in bad condition. More often, the microfilm reel we are using has been doing its duty for a couple of decades and is reaching the end of its useful life. It may be scratched or faded. | |||
=== Ways to Handle Problems with Films === | |||
Is there anything the reader can do under these circumstances? | |||
*Ensure that the marks you see are on the film, not dirt on the lens of the machine. Lenses can be cleaned. If the film itself is dirty, it too can be cleaned, with great care. Cleaning of both lens and film must be done by the archives staff. <br> | |||
*Ask the librarian or archivist if there is another copy of the reel that can be used. <br> | |||
*Look at the film in another institution, whose films may not receive as much use. A local newspaper will be used often in its own public library, while a university library’s copy may be more pristine. Other institutions may also have acquired their reels recently, and the newer reels will be easier to read, having been produced using modern processes of developing.<br> | |||
*Enquire if the paper has been filmed a second time since that original work. Many inadequate early films have been replaced by later filmings of a higher quality. | |||
=== Flaws in Newspapers === | |||
There are times when the newspaper itself is at fault. If there was a flaw in the original printing, this will result in difficulties in reading the film. If the page was wrinkled at the time of filming, a line of type may be illegible, and this is inevitably the line that contains the date you need. | |||
Sometimes the newspaper which has been filmed is defective itself. The founder of Oshawa, Ontario was Akius Moody Farewell and his memory is much honoured there. He had a brother who also settled in the area. One of the brother’s descendants worked for the local newspaper in the mid-20th century, and she made it her aim to try to eradicate the memory of Akius Moody, so that her own branch of the Farewell family would seem more prominent. | |||
To help this aim, she went through all the back issues of the newspaper in its library, snipping out references to Moody’s family, including his own half-page obituary of 1869. These are the copies which were used for the filming, which does affect any research Farewell family members might want to do in the paper. | |||
If the fault in the microfilm lies with the original newspaper, try to find an alternative version of the original. This may be difficult. If the flaw can be helped by access to the original—the wrinkle in the page could be smoothed, or the defective type made clear by closer examination—use a directory of historical newspapers to find out what library or archive owns original copies, and then approach them to solve the problem. | |||
=== Libraries and Archives === | |||
Most libraries and archives who own original newspapers make them available only in microfilm form. Handling the originals leads to their further deterioration, aside from the fact that it is very messy (from the crumbling pages), and the books are large and heavy to handle. | |||
You will find that many libraries keep the newspapers in deep storage, perhaps wrapped in acid-free paper. Presenting the problem of the wrinkled page courteously and allowing the archives time to access the original and consult it, should lead to satisfaction all around. | |||
{{Note|It is unwise to expect that original newspapers can be produced without previous notice and explanations, however.}} | |||
=== Current Newspaper Offices === | |||
As mentioned above, many earlier researchers did their newspaper work in the offices of the paper itself. The ‘morgue’ or collection of past issues was stored in the office and, in the interest of public relations, outside researchers might use them if they weren’t in the way of the reporters. | |||
This has changed. Most newspapers no longer store paper copies of their old issues on site, or use them much in their work. Like the rest of us, they use the microfilm copies, or online resources they have created themselves. | |||
In addition, the explosion in genealogical research since the 1970s means that newspaper offices were swamped with requests either to view the back issues or to look things up for people who were far away. | |||
These businesses are not in the position to provide research facilities or to do searches themselves, and even before the switch to online creation of the papers, they had stopped welcoming people to look at their morgues. | |||
*The local public library or archives is the place to look for old newspapers. The largest collections of these back issues can be found there, and it is easy to determine where they are from the published bibliographies of newspapers which exist for most provinces. | |||
Another approach which many researchers take to current newspapers is to write asking them for assistance in finding someone or answering a question. In the case of larger, urban papers, this is a waste of time, as they have no interest in publishing these requests. | |||
Most of them may well emphasise a larger view at the expense of local information. The publisher of ''The Kitchener-Waterloo Record'' in 1981 dismissed the suggestion that his paper, which serves part of southwestern Ontario, was a regional paper. “We consider ourselves a national newspaper,” he said, and so the material published would reflect this. | |||
=== Small Town Newspaper Queries === | |||
Small-town newspapers, on the other hand, might welcome a local query, and might print it, considering its news value. The smaller the town, the more likely this will be. If a researcher chooses to approach a small newspaper with a query, it would be wise to remember: | |||
*Keep the query short, omitting any extraneous explanations. <br> | |||
*The whole letter with the request should not occupy more than one page.<br> | |||
*Type the letter, do not hand write it. Sending it electronically (via email) is better, because it does not require retyping at the other end. Most newspapers have websites, which can be located after a simple search using Google, Yahoo! or similar search engines, and a ‘contact us’ email form is often available there. <br> | |||
*Be sure to include your own name, postal address and email. | |||
=== References === | === References === | ||