Newspapers
Contemporary newspapers are a valuable resource for tracing ancestors. Sylvia Murphy's article in the FIBIS Journal (details below) provides excellent guidance on using newspapers in your research and gives details of many on and offline sources.
There were dozens of English language newspapers published in India and these often include information such as:
- Domestic Occurrences - published announcements of birth, marriages and deaths
- Military promotions, movements and stations
- Shipping news such as Arrival and Departure notices
- Court reports and police news
- Public notices
All sorts of other information can be found in the newspapers and if nothing else they are an entertaining and informative glimpse of the society in which your ancestors were living.
See also:
FIBIS resources
FIBIS has extensive newspaper transcriptions. Online records taken from newspapers and periodicals can be viewed here.
- Times of India Domestic Occurrences - FIBIS volunteers in Australia are transcribing births, marriages and deaths published in the Times of India. There are already thousands of records online and these can be searched or browsed in the database.
- Sylvia Murphy, "Using Newspapers and Journals to research your family in British India," FIBIS Journal, No 22 (Autumn 2009), pages 30-41. For details of how to access this article, see FIBIS Journals.
Accessing newspapers
United Kingdom
The British Library holds extensive microfilm copies of newspapers. Some are available to view at the Colindale Newspaper Library, whilst others can be read at the APAC reading room in St Pancras. Colindale based titles can be searched on the Newspaper Catalogue, whereas St Pancras based titles can be accessed via a printed list available in the reading room (on top of the card file cabinets near the Enquiry desk).
Newspapers online - external links
- (BL) British Newspapers Online 1800-1900 Mostly pay to view, unless you have free access via a library
- California Digital Newspaper Collection Free content
- Singapore Straits Times (search) Full articles cannot be viewed, but searches can provide results to be explored on microfilm where available (such as at BL Colindale)
- (NLA) Historic Australian Newspapers (1803 to 1954) Free content
- (NLNZ) New Zealand Papers Past (1839 to 1932) Free Content
- New York Times archive index (1851 to date) Index to free and pay articles (or search, changing to the option to NYT Articles 1851-1980).