Searching for Past Lives:

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1 Searching for Past Lives: DLNP & Chronicling America in Genealogical Research Created for the Southwest Louisiana Genealogical Society, Inc. By Laura Charney, Project Manager Digitizing Louisiana Newspapers Project LSU Libraries Special Collections

2 Established in 2009, the Digitizing Louisiana Newspapers Project (DLNP) is dedicated to developing and improving online access to Louisiana s historical newspapers.

3 From collecting, arranging, and archiving

4 to reformatting for long-term preservation on microfilm,

5 DLNP is only the latest effort by LSU Libraries Special Collections to preserve these significant resources.

6 DLNP is made possible by a grant from the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), which is a long-term effort by the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities to develop a searchable online database of digitized U.S. newspapers.

7 That database is Chronicling America.

8 Abbeville Meridional Abbeville Progress Abeille de la Nouvelle-Orléans Acadia Sentinel Acorn Advance Advertiser Alexandria Daily Record Alexandria Daily Town Talk Alexandria Saturday Post Algerine Newsboy Algiers Advertiser Algiers Herald Algiers Press Algiers Weekly News American American American Patriot Amite City Advocate Amite City Democrat Amite City Gazette Amite City Independent Amite City Sun Amite City Times Amite Times Army and Navy Messenger Ascension Advocate Ascension Democrat Ascension Leader Ascension Republican Assumption Chronicle Assumption Eagle Assumption Pioneer Attakapas Gazette, and St. Mary, St. Martin and Lafayette Attakapas Register Attakapas Register Attakapas Sentinel Attakapas Vindicator Avant-Coureur Avenir Avenir Avenir de la-nouvelle- Orleans Avenir du Peuple Avispa de Nueva Orleans Avoyelles Blad Avoyelles Enterprise Avoyelles Pelican Avoyelles Republican Banner of the Ironsides Banner-Democrat Baptist Chronicle Baton Rouge Bulletin Baton Rouge Daily Truth Baton Rouge Gazette Baton Rouge Herald Baton Rouge News Baton Rouge Sunday News Baton Rouge Times Baton Rouge Tri-Weekly Gazette & Comet Baton Rouge Weekly News Baton-Rouge Gazette Bayou Sara Ledger Bayou Sara Ledger Bayou-Sara Sun Bee Bienville Democrat Bienville Messenger Black Republican Blackburn s Homer Iliad Blunderbuss Bogalusa Enterprise Bogalusa Enterprise and American Bon Sens Bossier Sens Bossier Banner Bossier Times Boussole Brasher News Bull Frog Bulletin Bulletin Bulletin-Review Bunkie Blade Caddo Free Press Caddo Gazette Caddo Gazette and De-Soto Intelligencer Caddo News Calcasieu Press Calcasieu Progress Caldwell News Caldwell Watchman Calhoun Echo Call Campte Times Capital Item Capitolian vis-à-vis Carillon Carroll Banner Carroll Conservative Carroll Democrat Carroll Record Carroll Republican Carroll Watchman Carrollton Sentinel Carrollton Star Carrollton Sun Carrollton Times Catahoula News Catholic Advance Catholic Calendar Catholic Standard Caucasian Caucasian Chronicle Chronicle Chronique Citizens Guard Citoyen Naturalise Civic Guard Claiborne Advocate Claiborne Guardian Clarion-Progress Clinton Courier Coast Herald Coast Journals Colfax Chronicle Columbia Herald Columbian Columbian Commercial Bulletin-Price Current and Shipping List Commercial Journal Commercial Comet Compilateur Comrade Concordia Eagle Concordia Intelligencer 2009 Concordia Sentinel Condenser Grant Confederate Banner Cycle Confederate Knapsack Confederate States Constitution 2011 Constitutional Grant Constitutional Advocate Constitutionalist Cycle Correo Atlantico Cosgrove s Weekly Cotton World Country Visitor Coup d oeil Courier Courier Courier Courier of the Teche Courrier de la Louisiane Courrier Francais Coushatta Citizen Coushatta Times Creole Creole de St.-Martinville Crescent City Cricket Critic Crowley Mirror Crowley Signal Crusader Daily Advertiser Daily Advertiser Daily Advocate Daily Advocate Daily Advocate Daily American Daily Call Daily Call Daily Capital Item Daily Capitolian-Advocates Daily Caucasian Daily City Item Daily Clarion Progress Daily Comet Daily Commercial Daily Construction and Industrial News Daily Crescent Daily Crusader Daily Delta Daily Delta Daily Democrat Daily Enterprise-Leader Daily Gazette and Comet Daily Iberian Daily Iberian Daily Independent Daily Item Daily Journal Daily Leader Daily Leader Daily Louisiana Capitolian Daily Morning Herald Daily National Daily News Daily News Daily News Daily Oleanian Daily Picayune Daily Picayune Daily Picayune Daily Press Daily Progress Daily Progress Daily Shipping Guide Daily Shreveport Times Daily Signal Daily Southern Standard Daily Southern Star Daily South-Western Daily South-Western Telegram Daily Spokesman Daily State Daily States Daily State-Times Daily Telegraph Daily Times Daily Times Daily Times Daily Times Daily Town Talk Daily Town Talk Daily Tropic Daily True Delta Daily Truth Previous Daily Truth Daily Wanderer Dalcour News De Ridder Enterprise De No Ridder Enterprise De Ridder Enterprise-Messenger De Ridder News De Soto Columbian Democrat No Democrat Democrate de St. Martin Democrate de St. Martinville Democratic Advocate Democratic Record Democratic Review Democratie Francaise Democrat-Journal Denham Spring News DeQuincy News DeSoto Democrat Deutsche Deutsche Courier Deutsche Kritiker Deutsche Zeitung Deimance Dodson Times Donaldsonville Chief Donalsonville Progress Donaldsonville Times Drapeau Drapeau de l Ascension Dunn Leader East Carroll Democrat East Feliciana Democrat East Feliciana Patriot Echo Echo de la Louisiane Echo National Echo von New Orleans El Hablador El Moro de Paz Elton Progress Emigrant s Register Empire Empire Paroisse Encan Enterprise Enterprise Enterprise Epoque Equite Era Era Era Era-Leader Eros Plaindealer Estafette Estafette du Sud Evangeline Evangeline Banner Evangelist Evening Chronicle Evening Crescent Evening Delta Evening Journal Evening Judge Evening Mercury Evening News Evening News Evening Sentinel Evening Telegram Evening Times Evening Truth Delta Evening Truth Explicateur Americanin Expositor Facts Familien freund Feliciana Democrat Feliciana Herald Feliciana Ledger Feliciana Record Digitization? Feliciana Republican Feliciana Republican Feliciana Republican and Louisiana Literary Messenger Feliciana Sentinel Feliciana Whig Feliciana Whig and People s Press Felicianas Felicianian Figaro Fillmore Ranger Florida Parishes Florida Parishes Times Foyer Creole Franco-Americain, journal politique, commerical et litteraire Franco-Louisianais Franc-Parleur Franklin Republican Franklin Sun Franklinton New Era Free Press Free State Free State of Bossier Gazette Gazette Gazette and City Advertiser Gazette and Sentinel Gazetta Italiana German-American Glenmora Patriot Gonzales Weekly Grand Cane Beacon Grand Era Grant Parish Democrat Gratis, journal du soir Greensburg Gazette Greensburg Journal Grelot Gretna Courier Gretna Sun Guardian-Journal Guepe Guepe de la Nouvelle-Orleans Gulf Daily Shipping Guide Hammond Daily Herald Hammond Herald Hammond Leader Hammond News Hammond Vindicator Head Light Herald Herald Herald Holy Family Home Advocate Homer Guardian Houma Ceres Houma Courier Houma Times Iberia Democrat Iberville Ambassador Iberville Democrat Iberville Gazette Iberville Gazette Iberville South Impartial Independant Independent Independent Independent Independent Democrat Independiente Indicador Industrial News Intelligencer, and Lafourche and Terrebonne Advertiser Interim Issue Italo-Americano Italo-Americano Italo-Americano di Nuova Orleans Jackson Independent Jacksonian Jefferson Democrat Jefferson Echo Jefferson Sentinel Jeffersonian Jeffersonian Jeffersonian Jeffersonian Republican Jeffersonian Weekly Jena Times Jennings Beacon Jennings Daily Record Jennings Daily Times Jennings Daily Times-Record Jennings Reporter Jennings Times Jennings Weekly Times-Record Jewish South Jewish Spectator Jewish Times Journal de tout le monde Journal d Iberie Kentwood Commercial Kinder Copyright? Gazette La Voce Coloniale Labor Record Lafayette Advertiser Lafayette No Chronicle Lafayette City Adverister Lafayette Democrat Lafayette Gazette Lafayette Gazette No and Jefferson & Orleans Advertiser Lafourche Comet Lafourche Gazette Lafourche Reformer Lafourche Republican Lafourche Star Lafourche Union Lake Charles Herald Lake Borgne Outlet Lake Charles American Lake Charle s American-Press Lake Charles American-Press Lake Charles Commercial Lake Charles Daily American Lake Charles Daily American-Press Lake Charles Daily Press Lake Charles Daily Times Lake Charles Democrat Lake Charles Echo Lake Charles Ledger Lake Charles Press Lake Charles Republican Lake Charles Weekly American Lake Charles Weekly American-Press Lake Charles Weekly Press Lake Providence Sentry Lake Republican Lantern LaSalle Ledger Le Tropique Lecompte Drummer Lecompte Messenger Ledger Leesville Leader Les petites announces et le guide de l exposition Letter H Living Way Livingstonian Herald Livingstonian Times Livingstoniana Llano Colonist Lockport Eagle Louisiana Advance Louisiana Advertiser Louisiana Advocate Louisiana Baptist Louisiana Builder and Real Estate Index Louisiana Capitolian Louisiana Chronicle Louisiana Churchman Louisiana Churchman and Industrial News Louisiana Cotton-Bolll Louisiana Democrat Louisiana Floridian Louisiana Intelligencer Louisiana Journal Louisiana Journal, and agricultural and horticultural Louisiana Legal News Louisiana Populist Louisiana Reporter Louisiana Republican Louisiana Review Louisiana Signal Louisiana Spectator Louisiana Staats-Zeitung Louisiana Standard Time Louisiana Star Louisiana Span State Farmer Louisiana State Paper Louisiana State Register Louisiana State Republican Louisiana Statesmen Louisiana Sugar-Bowl Louisiana Sun Louisiana Tax Reformer Louisiana Weekly Journal Louisianais Lousiainais Louisianais State Rights Louisiane Louisianian Louisianian Louisianian and Journal of Commerce Lower Coast Gazette Lumberjack Machen Triumph Madison Journal Madison Times Mansfiel d Enterprise Mansfield Herald Mansfield Journal Mansfield Times Marksville Bulletin Maurepas Gazette Mercantile Advertiser Mercantile Advertiser, and Daily Business Directory Merchants Transcript and New-Orleans price current Merchants Transcript of news and New-Orleans price current Meridional Meschacebe Messager Messenger Minden Democrat Minden Democrat Minden Herald Modern Sugar Planter Moniteur du Sud Monroe Bulletin Monroe Bulletin Monroe Daily Star Monroe Herald Monroe News Monroe News-Star Monroe Olive Branch Monroe Times Montgomery Mail Morehouse Clarion Morehouse Conservative Morehouse Enterprise Morgan City Daily Review Morgan City Free Press Morgan City Outlook and Rural Topics Morgan City Review Morgan City Voice Morning Advertiser Morning Chronicle Morning Comet Morning Herald Morning Intelligencer Morning Progress Morning Star Morning Star and Catholic Messenger Morning World Natchitoches Chronicle Natchitoches Enterprise Natchitoches Herald Natchitoches Populist Natchitoches Reporter Natchitoches Spectator Natchitoches Times Natchitoches Union Natchitoches Weekly Times National National Advocate National Forecast National Republican Native American Neue Deutsche Zeitung New Advocate New Delta New Delta New Delta New Enterprise New Era New Era New Era New Era New Era New Iberia Democrat New Iberia Enterprise New Iberia Content Enterprise and Independent Observer New Orleans Advocate New English Orleans America New Orleans American New Orleans Baptist Chronicle New Orleans Bulleting New English, Orleans Bulletin New Orleans Commercial French, New Orleans Crescent New Orleans Daily Creole New Orleans Daily Crescent New Orleans Daily Delta New Orleans Daily Democrat New Orleans Daily Independent New Orleans Daily Shipping Guide New Orleans Delta New Orleans Democrat New Orleans Democrat New Orleans Deutsche Presse New Orleans Deutsche Zeitung New Orleans Evening Democrat New Orleans Herald New Orleans Item New Orleans Journal New Orleans Journal New Orleans Mitrailleuse New Orleans Observer New Orleans Observer New Orleans Protestant New Orleans Republican New Orleans Republican New Orleans Semi- Weekly Bulletin New Orleans States New Orleans Telegram New Orleans Telegraph New Orleans Tribune New Orleans Tribune New Orleans Truth New Orleans Weekly Bulletin New Orleans Weekly Crescent New Orleans Weekly Delta New Orleans Weekly Democrat New Orleans Weekly Republican New Orleans Weekly True Delta New Orleans Deutsche Zeitung New South New-Orleans Bee New Orleans Bee, for the country New-Orleans Commercial Bulletin New-Orleans Commercial Times New-Orleans Commercial Times New-Orleans News- Letter Language and Journal Weekly Review New-Orleans price-current and commercial intelligencer New-Orleans Republican New-Orleans Tagliche deutsche Zeitung New-Orleans Times Spanish, New-Orleans times New-Orleans Weekly German, Times North Louisiana Journal Oakdale or Journal Oberlin News Observateur Observer Officially Daily Court Record Omnibus Opelousas Courier Opelousas Enterprise Opelousas Gazette Opelousas Journal Opelousas Patriot Opinion Orleanais Orleanian Orleans American Ouachita Democrat Ouachita Register Ouachita Telegraph Ouachitta Banner Ouchitta Standard Our Home Journal and Rural Southland Patria Patriot Patriot of Lafourche-Interior and of the Parish of Terrebonne Patriot-Democrat Patriote Patriote Patterson Echo Patterson Tribune Pelayo Pelican Pelican State People People People s Demand People s Friend People s Paper People s Tribune People s Vindicator Phenix and St. Francisville and Bayou Sara Advertiser Phoenix Ledger Picayune Pioneer of Assumption Pionnier de l Assomption Planters Banner Planters banner, and Louisiana Agriculturalist Planters Gazette Planters Intelligencer, and Rapide, and Catahoula Advertiser Plaquemines Protector Pointe Coupee Banner Pointe Coupee Democrat Pointe Coupee Democrat Pointe Coupee Echo Pointe Coupee Republican Pollock Progress Port Hudson Freemen Port Vincent Triune Porvenir Post Prairie Star and official gazette of the parish Presse des deux Mondes Progress Progress Progressive Age Propagateur Catholique Italian Protectionist Radical Standard Rapides Gazette Rayne Signal Rayne Tribune Red River Alluvion Red River News Red River Patriot and Shreveport Literary Register Red River Republican Red River Whig Reference Journal Reforme Register Renaissance Renaissance Renaissance Louisianaise Republicain Republican de St. Jacques Republican Republican Courier Republican Idea Republican Standard Republique Reveil Review Blade Review Bulletin Rice Belt Journal Rice Belt News Rice Planter Richland Beacon Richland Beacon-News Richland News Richmond News Richmond Compiler Rising Star Roseland Herald Royal Herald Rural South Land Rural times Rural Topics Ruston Caligraph Ruston Daily Leader Ruston Leader Sabine Banner Sabine Democrat Sabine Free State Sabine Index Saint Landry Progress Saint Michel Semaine de la Nouvelle-Orleans Semi-Weekly Courier Semi-Weekly Creole Semi-Weekly Item Semi-Weekly Louisianian Semi-Weekly Natchitoches Times Semi-Weekly News Semi-Weekly Patriot-Democrat Semi-Weekly Republican Semi-Weekly Shreveport News Semi-Weekly States Semi-Weekly Times-Democrat Sentinel Sentinelle de Thibodaux Sentry Sgt. Dalton s Weekly Shreveport Bulletin Shreveport Daily Democrat Shreveport Daily News Shreveport Daily Standard Shreveport Daily Times Shreveport Evening Journal Shreveport Evening Journal Shrveport Evening Journal Shreveport Evening Judge Shreveport Evening Standard Shreveport Intelligencer and Caddo Beacon Shreveport Journal Shreveport Journal Shreveport News Shreveport Semi-Weekly News Shreveport Semi-Weekly News Shreveport Sentinel Shreveport Times Shreveport Times Shreveport Weekly Journal Shreveport Weekly Judge Shreveport Weekly News Shreveport Weekly Times Signal-Democrat Son of the Soil South Southern advocate and Catahoula register Southern Democrat Southern economist and trade unionist Southern Free Press Southern Industry Southern Mirror Southern Pilot Southern Record Southern Republican Southern Sentinel Southern Sentinel Southern Standard Southern Times Southern Traveller Southern Vindicator Southern Watchman Southerner Southron of Sabine South-western South-Western Baptist Chronicle South-Western Presbyterian Sparta Times Speaking Leaf Spirit of the Age Spirit of the South Sporting South Springfield Ledger Sprinville Star Square Deal St. Bernard Eagle St. Bernard Voice St. Bernard Weekly Eagle St. Charles Herald St. Charles Weekly Mirror St. Helena Echo St. James Courier St. James Sentinel St. James Voice St. Landry Clarion St. Landry Commoner St. Landry Democrat St. Landry Progress St. Landry Republican St. Landry Whig St. Martin Banner St. Martin Reveille St. Martin Review St. Martin Times St. Mary Banner St. Mary Herald St. Mary Optic St. Mary Union Bell St. Tammany Farmer Star and Journal Star-Progress Stars and Stripes State Journal State Times Advocates Sud Sud Sudliche Pionier Sugar Planter Sugar Planters Journal Sugar-bowl and farm journal Sunday Delta Each two-year grant awarded to DLNP allows for the digitization of 100,000 newspaper pages. Sunday Delta Sunday Figaro Sunday Free Press Sunday Illustrated Sunday Morning News Sunday Sun Sunday Wanderer Tagliche Deutsche Zeitung Tagliche Deutsche Zeitung Tangipahoa Advocate Tangipahoa Democrat Tax Payers Organ and Journal of Reform Telegraph- Bulletin Tensas Gazette Terrebonne Patriot Terrebonne Republican Terrebonne Republican Terrebonne Times Thibodaux Commercial Journal Thibodaux Minerva Thibodaux Sentinel Thunderbolt Times Times-Democrat Times-Democrat, the Daily Picayune Times-Democrat Times-Picayune Times-Picayune in trench and camp Toiler Town Talk Town-Progress Trait d Union Trench and camp Trinity Gazette Trinity Herald Triune Triune-Democrat Tri-Weekly Advocate Tri-Weekly Gazette-Comet Tri-Weekly Wanderer Trojan True American Newspaper selection begins by first determining which newspapers meet the NDNP True Democrat True Democrat True Democrat True Republican True Witness True Witness and Sentinel Truth Twenty-Sixth Twice-a-Week New Orleans Picayune Twice-a-Week Times Unconditional S. Grant Union Union Union Union Advocate Union de Pont Breaux Union Record Universe Unser Kaseblattchen Valley of the Teche Vermillion Star Vernon News Vernon Parish Democrat Vidalia Herald Vienna Sentinel Vigilant Vigilant Villager Vinton Booster Vinton Booster Vinton Booster-Enterprise Vinton Enterprise Vivian Times Voice of Louisiana Voice of the People Vrai Republican Wanderer Washington Argus Washington Enterprise Washington Enterprise Washington Herald Washington Post Waterproof Enterprise Webster Signal Webster Signal Webster Tribune Weekly Advocate Weekly digitization specifications. Out of 1,052 historical Louisiana newspapers, approximately 937 Advocate Weekly Argus Weekly Budget Weekly Calcaseiu Gazette Weekly Capital Item Weekly Capitolian advocate Weekly Caucasian Weekly Comet Weekly Courier Weekly Crescent Weekly Crescent Weekly Crescent City Weekly Delta Weekly Delta Weekly Democrat Weekly Dispatch Weekly Echo Weekly Extra Weekly Feliciana Republican Weekly Gazette Weekly Gazette and Comet Weekly Iberia Star Weekly Iberian Weekly Iberville South Weekly Junior Register Weekly Louisiana Review Weekly Louisianian Weekly Mercury Weekly Messenger Weekly Mirror Weekly morning Comet Weekly National Republican Weekly Native American Weekly New Iberian Weekly News Weekly News Weekly News-Star Weekly Observer Weekly Pelican Weekly Picayune Weekly Press Weekly Register Weekly were eligible for digitization in either the 2009 or 2011 grant cycle. Republican Weekly Shreveport Times Weekly South-Western Weekly South-Western-Telegram Weekly Star and Journal Weekly States Weekly Telegraph Weekly Thibodaux Sentinel Weekly Thibodaux Sentinel and Journal of the 8 th Senatorial District Weekly Times Weekly Times-Democrat Weekly Times-Democrat Weekly Times-Democrat New Orleans Picayune Weekly Times-Picayune Weekly Town Talk Weekly Tropic Weekly Truth Weekly Wanderer Weekly watchman and Vindicator-News Welsh Crescent Welsh Monitor West Carroll Gazette West Feliciana Sentinel West Monroe Plowboy West Monroe Union Wilson Sun Winn Parish Democrat Winnfield Sentinel Winnfield Times Wochenblatt des New Orleans Journal Wochentliche deutsche Zeitung Wochentliche New Orleans Deutsche Presse Wochentliche

9 High Research Value Representative of the Diversity of Louisiana To further narrow down options for digitization, an advisory board composed of historians, teachers, archivists, journalists, and genealogists ranked each of the newspapers based on research value and diversity. The highest ranking titles were selected.

10 DLNP Grant Cycle Titles English Only Abbeville Progress The Banner-Democrat The Bienville Democrat Bogalusa Enterprise The Caldwell Watchman The Carrollton Sun Claiborne Guardian Colfax Chronicle: 1876 Colfax Chronicle: 1877 Comrade Concordia Eagle Concordia Sentinel Constitutional Daily Gazette and Comet Daily Telegraph The Era-leader Feliciana Sentinel Gazette and Sentinel The Herald Homer Guardian The Jennings Daily Record The Lafayette Gazette Louisiana Capitolian Louisiana Democrat The Louisiana Populist Louisianian Lower Coast Gazette Lumberjack The Madison Journal Madison Times The Morning Star and Catholic Messenger Natchitoches Populist Natchitoches Spectator The New Orleans Crescent Ouachita Telegraph People s Vindicator Progress Rapides Gazette The Rice Belt Journal Richland Beacon The Semi-Weekly Louisianian The Semi-weekly Natchitoches Times Semi-weekly News The Semi-weekly Shreveport News Shreveport Daily News Shreveport News Shreveport Semi-Weekly News: 1861 Shreveport Semi-Weekly News: 1865 Shreveport Weekly News: 1861 Shreveport Weekly News: 1862 Shreveport Weekly News: 1866 Tensas Gazette True Democrat Voice of the People The Weekly Messenger Weekly Thibodaux Sentinel West Feliciana Sentinel Woman s Enterprise In the grant cycle, 58 titles from 25 parishes were digitized.

11 DLNP Grant Cycle Titles English Only French Content Spanish Content The Caucasian The Donaldsonville Chief The Feliciana Democrat New Orleans Daily Crescent The New Orleans Daily Democrat The Southern Sentinel The South-western St. Tammany Farmer Sugar Planter True American Houma Ceres The Lafayette Advertiser The Meridional Le Meschacébé Le Messager The Opelousas Courier Pioneer of Assumption The Planters Banner St. Landry Clarion El Pelayo The grant cycle, included 20 additional titles from 14 parishes. By the end of 2013, 78 titles from 34 parishes will be available on Chronicling America.

12 In addition to offering searchable digitized newspapers, the Chronicling America site offers a number of other resources for researchers.

13 Researchers can access information About Chronicling America, About the Site and API, Recommended Topics for research, and Help via the links in the sidebar.

14 It is highly recommended that new users read the Chronicling America Help page before beginning their search. Users will find specific information on this page for Basic Searching, Advanced Searching, Search and Browsing Tips, Searching by Language, and Searching the U.S. Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present.

15 The US Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present provides a comprehensive descriptive bibliography of newspapers published in the U.S. and information for locating copies.

16 The US Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present can be browsed alphabetically or searched using the limiters provided. For example, this search will retrieve newspapers identified as having been published in the city of Lake Charles, county of Calcasieu, and in the state of Louisiana.

17 This example search generated 27 results. Selecting any of the titles will retrieve its bibliographic record.

18 Each bibliographic record details information about the place of publication, geographic coverage, publishers, dates of publication, a description of the newspaper, and information on preceding/succeeding titles. To locate a copy of the newspaper, select the Libraries that Have It link for a detailed listing of holding institutions.

19 The Libraries that Have It page details not only which institutions own copies of a particular newspaper, but also which newspaper issues and formats are available. (Issues are listed in the format <yyyy:mm:dd>.)

20 For users interested in only those digitized newspapers available on Chronicling America, the All Digitized Newspapers, tab offers a complete list of titles in HTML and PDF. Users can also search for digitized newspapers by limiting their search by State, Ethnicity, or Language. In this example, Louisiana and French have been selected as the search limiters.

21 The search for French language papers from Louisiana retrieved six results. Results detail the State, Newspaper title, Number of Issues, Earliest Issue, Latest Issue, and the option of finding out More Info. It should be noted that whenever a newspaper s title link, a Yes for More Info, or an About link is selected, the user will always be taken to the bibliographic record for that newspaper.

22 The only difference between the bibliographic record of a non-digitized and digitized title is the inclusion of a contextual essay and links to browse issues. Selecting any Browse Issues link or the Calendar View will always retrieve the calendar view of digitized issues.

23 The calendar view offers a visual representation of issue availability. Clicking on any of the linked dates will retrieve the full issue for that particular date.

24 In Chronicling America, all pages of an issue are displayed in a gallery view. From the gallery view, users can return Back to Browse All Available Issues, move between the Previous Issue and Next Issue, or opt to Show all front pages of a particular title.

25 Whether viewing all pages or only front pages, to view a specific page more closely click on the desired page.

26 In the single page view, users can adjust the zoom and placement of the page by dragging with their mouse or selecting from the navigation buttons in the upper left corner of the viewer. The features on the top bar also allows users to drop-down to particular pages, page forward, view all pages, browse to previous or next issues, view all issues, view the text, download a PDF, download a JPG, or clip an image to download.

27 When it comes to genealogy most users aren t browsing; indeed, they are searching and they are searching for something or someone in particular.

28 Chronicling America offers two options for searching the historical newspapers. The first is the basic search found right on the homepage. While it appears Google-esque in its simplicity and minimalism, it is an inefficient and imprecise means of running a search.

29 Users should always choose the second option for searching the Advanced Search.

30 Quotes around terms for exact searching Operators: AND, NOT, OR Diacritic marks and special characters Capitalization to identify proper nouns (e.g., Civil War vs. civil war) Common words: THE, A, AN Experienced researchers may already regularly employ some tricks when searching other sites and databases such as placing quotes around search terms for exact searching; using AND, NOT, or OR operators; including diacritic marks and special characters for foreign language search terms; or using capitalization or common words such as THE, A, or AN to designate proper nouns. These tricks will not work with Chronicling America.

31 Instead users should utilize the limiters provided and a combination of the search boxes available to construct their searches. Users may select specific states, newspapers, or years from the limiters available. Users may also designate their search date ranges, while keeping in mind that events that happened on a specific day may not be reported in these historical papers for days or weeks afterwards. Finally, users may wish to select from available languages or limit their search to a particular page of a newspaper.

32 Before attempting to limit a search to a particular page, users should keep in mind that the format of historical newspapers has changed greatly over the past two centuries (see the DLNP page on Louisiana Journalism, for a more detailed account of the development of Louisiana newspapers). This feature is best saved for users who are familiar with the particular layout and content of a specific newspaper they want to search.

33 There are four search options that can be used individually or in combination to query Chronicling America.

34 Yellow Fever To demonstrate the differences between the search options, all of the example searches will be looking for information on yellow fever.

35 For all of these example searches, the limiter for the state will be Louisiana ; no specific newspapers will be selected; and, the date range will be set from The only changes in search will be which search box option is utilized.

36 In the with any of the words search, Chronicling America will retrieve newspaper pages that have either of the terms you are searching for, but not necessarily both. In this instance it will retrieve any newspaper page that contains the word yellow or fever.

37 This type of search will produce a high yield of search results, but this often happens at the cost of precision. Because of this high-yield-imprecision, it is recommended that the any search be reserved for searching similar terms as opposed to phrases.

38 The with all of the words search is slightly more precise than the any of the words option.

39 This search will retrieve only those pages that have both of the terms yellow and fever. Unfortunately, Chronicling America pulls results if the terms are on the same page even if they are not necessarily in the same sentence, paragraph, article, or even column. This type of search is still more precise than the any search but will probably contain many false hits.

40 An even better tool for searching for phrases is the with the phrase search. This type of search will retrieve only those results that have all of the search terms in the order they are listed in the search box. In this case it will retrieve those pages that have the words yellow and then the word fever but no pages that have fever and then yellow.

41 Again, this particular search is more precise but there still could be some false hits, especially since, much like the all of the words search, the..with the phrase search is simply retrieving pages with the terms yellow and fever in that order anywhere on the page.

42 To ensure that the search terms are within proximity to each other on the page, the with the words within X words of each other search should be utilized. Users can designate whether they want the search terms to be within 5, 10, 50, or 100 words of each other.

43 This search can be more or less precise than the with the phrase search as it will allow users to designate how close the search terms need to be but will not ensure the order they appear on the page.

44 A well-constructed search will combine limiters and search options for optimal precision and relevancy. In this example, we are still searching for newspapers from Louisiana published between 1853 and 1922, but we are also searching for pages that have either Algiers or Orleans and the terms yellow and fever in that order.

45 This search results in the fewest number of hits yet, but it should also contain results of higher relevancy than previous searches.

46 It should be noted that in addition to strategically building searches, users will also have to be very careful about their search terms. For example, misspellings or typos such as yellw fever will result in

47 0 results. This is yet another way that Chronicling America differs from traditional search engines and databases.

48 Unlike with Google, users will never be prompted to correct spellings nor be offered additional recommended search terms. Savvy users will incorporate information like this from Google and other resources when building their searches.

49 Wikipedia is an excellent resource for a quick summary of a particular topic and also for cultivating potential search terms, dates, and locations to build searches around. It should also be noted that Wikipedia regularly cites newspapers from Chronicling America in the References section of many of its historical entries, making it another point of access to these historical newspapers.

50 Because language has evolved over the centuries, a historical thesaurus such as the one provided online by the Oxford English Dictionary can assist in developing search terms using anachronistic language.

51 In addition to developing well-constructed searches, knowing how to manage search results can also ease the research process. The Sort by limiter offers the options to sort by Relevance, State, Title, and Date.

52 Results are usually defaulted to sort by Relevance but this can be misleading.

53 Relevance = # of times search terms appear on page # of words on the page For Chronicling America, relevance is currently defined as the number of times a search term appears on the page versus how many words are on a page. If a user has a newspaper that has fewer words on a page due to formatting, large advertisements, or illustrations, will require fewer search term hits to make it more relevant than a page that has many more words and even more search term hits.

54 Which has greater relevance? So which has greater relevancy? For Chronicling America, the September 18, 1897 issue of The Progress has greater relevancy than the October 16, 1897 issue of The Meridional, even though we can clearly see a greater number of search term hits and closer proximity between terms in The Progress than The Meridional.

55 As such when search results are sorted by Relevance, the September 18, 1897 issue of The Progress will be listed before the October 16, 1897 issue of The Meridional.

56 Sorting by Title is preferred as it will arrange the results alphabetically by title, then chronologically by date, and then in order of page number.

57 This arrangement will place multiple pages from the same issue featuring the search terms next to each other, an arrangement that is often lost in Relevance sorting.

58 While not necessarily the most intuitive site for searching, Chronicling America should prove a worthy tool for users willing to invest the time and gain the experience necessary to reap the greatest reward from its historical newspaper holdings.

59 To complement the resources found on Chronicling America, the DLNP site has developed many resources for users interested in topics and digitized newspapers specific to Louisiana.

60 Users can browse Louisiana-specific digitized newspapers by selecting a browsing option from under Newspaper Titles.

61 Users can browse Titles by Name,

62 Titles by Parish,

63 and Titles by Specialty. Specialty categories include Historically Black Titles, Multi-Language Titles, and Civil War Era Titles.

64 As with Chronicling America, every linked title will take a user directly to the title s About page.

65

66 Every Browse Issues link will take the user directly to the calendar view.

67

68 Some titles will not be linked but will instead be described as Coming in These are titles that are currently being processed and should be online by the end of the year

69 The Newspaper Histories page is a centralized listing of contextual essays available for newspapers currently on Chronicling America. Clicking the Read History link will take you directly to the history of the newspaper.

70 Each contextual essay provides background information on the history of publication including biographies on editors, discussions of significant themes, and identification of major events covered in the newspaper.

71 The Louisiana Journalism page provides a more General Overview on the history of newspaper publication in the state. Additional information such as a Timeline of Significant Events Reported, a link to a page on the evolution of the Front Page of the Louisiana Newspaper, and a page on Editorial Cartoons, can also be found here.

72 DLNP has also worked with the Louisiana State University Laboratory School to develop curriculum packets full of activities that are compatible with Louisiana s Curriculum Standards. Packets are available for viewing or download in PDF on the K-12 Resources page.

73 Users can also find illustrated instructions for searching Chronicling America on the Search Tips & Help page. (Live video demonstration of Advanced Search coming soon!)

74 The Outreach Events page serves a dual-purpose of notifying users of upcoming events while also making available past presentations for viewing. Selecting any of the hyperlinked presentation titles should retrieve past presentation slides in a PDF document.

75 For newspaper coverage of the project and its development, the DLNP in the Press page showcases an online gallery of past write-ups and public relations announcements.

76 Detailed information about DLNP can be found in the About DLNP page.

77 DLNP also provides a number of topic guides related to events and themes documented in digitized Louisiana newspapers. Each Topic Guide has a listing of Significant Dates, Suggested Search Terms, and Sample Articles to help a researchers kick start their project.

78 Finally, in the Related Resources section, users will find a direct link to Chronicling America; the Directory of Digitized Newspapers (seen here) which is a listing of other free newspaper resources by state; and a link to Newspaper Family Trees, which allows users to trace the cessation, succession, and creation of related newspaper titles.

79 The efforts of the Digitizing Louisiana Newspapers Project have not yet reached their final conclusion. We hope that the resources made possible by the National Digital Newspaper Program, Chronicling America, and DLNP will in some small way help users in their research endeavors. Please continue check back for updates on this and related projects.

80 Questions or Comments? Laura Charney, Project Manager Digitizing Louisiana Newspapers Project LSU Libraries Special Collections Baton Rouge, LA