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Finding Microfilmed Newspapers: Difference between revisions
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Newspapers, especially obituaries, are one of my favorite genealogical tools. They are typically filled with family information, sometimes tell is about a person's education and career, tell us what church the person attended and where they are buried. But sometimes finding the newspaper you need can be difficult. There are some on-line resources: Proquest for large cities (New York, Chicago) and NewspaperArchive for many smaller cities. But these only scratch the surface; for the vast majority of cities and towns in the U.S. we must depend on microfilm. <br> And how do we find the microfilm? We typically have (if we are lucky) a place and a date. Library catalogs usually give us options for searching that include Title, Author, Subject, and Keyword; not very useful. But there is a relatively new network of library catalogs called WorldCat, a network of library catalogs. You can read more about it here. It is also the repository for the U.S. Newspaper Program and, as such, contains information about a huge number of microfilmed newspapers.<br> <br> [[Image:Firstsearchhome.jpg|right|400px]]OK, you ask, exactly how do we go about using WorldCat to find newspapers? Back to the local library; almost all provide access either directly to WorldCat or through FirstSearch. If you go into your library’s web site and find only FirstSearch you will get a page that looks like this; click on WorldCat (circled in red). | Newspapers, especially obituaries, are one of my favorite genealogical tools. They are typically filled with family information, sometimes tell is about a person's education and career, tell us what church the person attended and where they are buried. But sometimes finding the newspaper you need can be difficult. There are some on-line resources: Proquest for large cities (New York, Chicago) and NewspaperArchive for many smaller cities. But these only scratch the surface; for the vast majority of cities and towns in the U.S. we must depend on microfilm. <br> And how do we find the microfilm? We typically have (if we are lucky) a place and a date. Library catalogs usually give us options for searching that include Title, Author, Subject, and Keyword; not very useful. But there is a relatively new network of library catalogs called WorldCat, a network of library catalogs. You can read more about it here. It is also the repository for the U.S. Newspaper Program and, as such, contains information about a huge number of microfilmed newspapers.<br> <br> [[Image:Firstsearchhome.jpg|right|400px]]OK, you ask, exactly how do we go about using WorldCat to find newspapers? Back to the local library; almost all provide access either directly to WorldCat or through FirstSearch. If you go into your library’s web site and find only FirstSearch you will get a page that looks like this; click on WorldCat (circled in red). | ||
If your library provides direct access to WorldCat you can skip this and go right to the next step. | |||
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And here is what the result looks like. | And here is what the result looks like. In this case the first three entries are relatively recent newspapers; the fourth one is probably of most interest to genealogists, so we will select it for further examination. | ||
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So what next? My recommendation is that you print this page and take it to your local librarian, where you can request that they get the film via inter-library loan. | So what next? My recommendation is that you print this page and take it to your local librarian, where you can request that they get the film via inter-library loan. You will have to specify an approximate date.<!--StartFragment--><!--EndFragment--> | ||
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WorldCat Screenshots are ©2011 OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. Used with Permission. ArticleFirst, FirstSearch and WorldCat are registered trademarks/service marks of OCLC. | WorldCat Screenshots are ©2011 OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. Used with Permission. ArticleFirst, FirstSearch and WorldCat are registered trademarks/service marks of OCLC. | ||