Thursday 21 August 2014

Newspapers: A family album of stories

Finding your family in the news

Newspapers are a wonderful source of information for the family historian. In Australia we are so fortunate to have free access to hundreds of digitised newspapers through Trove dated from early white settlement until recent times. 
Below is a presentation about these newspaper sources. The notes that follow were prepared for the participants in the National Family History Month workshop at Noosaville Library.

Types of information found

Sale of farms and equipment
Land selection details
Newspaper article of husband seeking letters of administration after wife’s death
Probate notices
Engagement, Marriage, Silver and Golden wedding celebrations
Birth and death notices
Tragic accidents
Ownership of businesses
Social events
Details of jobs held
Prizes won and performances given
School concert details


Tips for thinking about search terms

Name variations

Think of the time - the war not WW1. Search  an event instead of name.
Search for husband to see referrals to wife search for Mrs. Horgan, Mrs J M Galvin sometimes with intials included, sometimes no initials.

View whole page to get other ideas related stories. Single name search “johanna horgan” what else can I learn when I view the whole page from 1880                                
· cost of loaf of bread, price of a pair of shoes, entertainment of the day - Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Think of combinations from known data e.g. name and ship
“o’leary dugdale” search led to 90th birthday article detailing arrival of couple with 3 children, then working in Adelaide, purchase of land at Salisbury and subsequent family of 12 children
Name search: ‘Andrew O’Leary’ signature of petition against introduction of convicts to SA
Surname and Town: O'Leary’s were big into ploughing matches around Salisbury and Dry Creek perhaps this is how Honora O'Leary met John Horgan (my great grandparents) in the early 1860s.

Best use practices

Use of limiters: whole country or state, dates, type of information
Saving articles – PDF, Image, Citing
Making lists
Tagging 
Text correction – improve search, leave a legacy pay it forward
notifications of new material
Choice of how to save, always include citation. Enlarge on page for jpg, PDF
Screen clipping tools

You may also be interested in these articles
Adding citations to images
Trove's tools

This post first appeared on Library Currants

2 comments:

  1. Exclellent sslideshare - particularly like your opening catchy graphics. Thanks for sharing Carmel.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you,must change my Blogger settings, only just spotted this!

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