Basics on newspapers
Australia
Newspapers provide a wealth of information for local and family historians - coverage of national, state and local events, official openings, festivals, and natural disasters; births, engagements, marriages, deaths and funerals; businesses and their advertisements; court cases and inquests; and government notices and classified advertisements.
Where to find newspapers
Most state libraries have large newspaper collections that can be consulted on microfilm. Check their catalogue either under the name of the specific newspaper or under the place it was published, such as Newcastle.
SAG has a small collection of newspaper microfilms and a good collection of indexes, many of which have been published by local societies for the genealogist. In particular there are many indexes to birth, death, marriage and obituary & funeral notices from newspapers. Check our library catalogue for details. Examples in the SAG collection include:
- Newspaper subject index compiled by the NSW Parliamentary Library.
This is a valuable name and subject index that has been a well-kept secret. The card index was compiled by librarians in the NSW Parliamentary Library for the use of politicians, their research staff and public servants. The index covers several major Sydney-based newspapers, 1910-1975, including the SMH, and Daily Telegraph. The index has been copied and is available on microfiche at SAG (SAG ref: NSW-NWS-IND: 1&2) - Benjamin William Champion, Hunter Valley Registers 1-4, 1843-1905, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 1973-1978 - covers the Maitland Mercury, Newcastle Chronicle and Cessnock Eagle. (SAG ref: B7/70/1-4)
- Keith Johnson & Malcolm Sainty, Index to Birth, Marriage, Death and Funeral Notices in the Sydney Herald, 1831-1842, Sydney, 1972. (SAG ref: B7/70/5a)
- Keith Johnson & Malcolm Sainty, Index to Birth, Marriage, Death and Funeral Notices in the Sydney Morning Herald, 1842-1853, 3 vols., Sydney, 1973-1975. (SAG ref: B7/70/5b-d)
Newspaper cuttings and scrapbooks
Collecting newspaper cuttings was a popular pastime in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These provide researchers with another (quirky) way into newspapers from a particular period or locality.
SAG has a fine collection of newspaper cuttings. This includes about 50 volumes of genealogical and biographical cuttings for New South Wales, all indexed in either SAG's General Index (cards) or AGCI, the Australasian Genealogical Computer Index. Most of SAG's collection is held in its library at 2/379 Kent Street, while some volumes are part of the Primary Records or manuscript collection.
Overseas
The British Newspaper Library located at Colindale, north-east London, is the main repository for newspapers in the British Isles. Part of the British Library, it has an outstanding collection of newspapers, holding all extant copies of national daily newspapers from 1801 and comprehensive coverage of regional papers from 1699 to the present day. While its focus is on the British Isles, it also has excellent holdings for many other parts of the world, including Australia.
The Colindale library has an on-line catalogue which allows searching by the title of the paper or by an area; thus a researcher can quickly establish which papers were published in a particular town or city and the date range of surviving issues. Digitised copies of many newspapers are now becoming available online.
Periodicals
Don't overlook magazines and other periodicals such as the Gentleman's Magazine. SAG has a run of these from 1730-18 as well as a name index on microfilm. Search on-line catalogues (e.g. the British Library, Library of Congress, SLNSW or NLA) to identify indexes relevant to you. For links to current newspapers, magazines etc in Britain and elsewhere, visit www.newsdirectory.com.