Last week I read a notice about the New York Times opening up their archives. They are every name search able from 1851 to the present, but some you can not view online due to the copyright. (Note: The Spokane downtown library has the ones not online on microfilm). While you probably will not find your ancestor in the Times, you can search for the ship they came on. I searched for my grandfather's ship, the SS Nevada, and about 20 hits came up, several close to when he came to the USA. Another tip is to search for your ancestors hometown. I searched for my grandfather's town in Minnesota (Wadena), and got a few hits. Searching for Spokane brought up coverage of the Spokane Fire in 1889.
When on the Times homepage, near the middle is a drop-down menu with search times; click there and change to 1851-1980 and then type in the name you are looking for. Here is the URL for the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/
2 comments:
Hi, Charles,
Here is some clarification on the dates the New York Times's archives are available.
According to Kimberly Powell at About.com: Genealogy, "Access to articles (including obituaries, wedding announcements, etc.) will now be free from 1987 forward, as well as everything prior to 1923 (1851-1922) which is in the public domain. Access to the rest of the NY Times archives [1923 - 1986], unfortunately, will still have to be purchased. The New York Times is also offering free access through the end of the year to the entire archives to its current Times Select customers."
Don't forget the Spokane Library has the New York Times on microfilm so instead of purchasing the article from the Times you can go to the library with the site from the index and make a copy of that article.
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