Newspapers bring added value to research

Many researchers appreciate and understand the value of old newspapers for finding obituaries, birth , marriage and death notices, but certainly there is more to be found. In her article, "The Value of the Newspaper: A Unique Window on the Past," Judy Rosella Edwards suggests many ways old newspapers can be used to provide clues and information, not the least of which might be those advertisements. In the past, researching newspapers has been a very tedious task, whether on microfilm or flipping through the physical pages in some darkened corner of a local archive. Today, as the article points out, more and more newspapers are online and many newspaper projects are working to increase the number, some with full text search capability, making it much more convenient and rewarding to browse local newspapers.