(Photo: New York Times, July 10, 1863 – Note the “Retreat of Lee” sidebar, referring to Confederate general Robert E. Lee’s retreat from Gettysburg.)
Back in my library visiting days, I used to read old newspapers on microfilm. Not for research. For pleasure. I liked reading old stories and looking at corny print ads. Sometimes I’d go as far back as the early 1900s to read about the day-to-day concerns of local people.
Thanks to Google (and numerous other databases), a trip to the library for research is practically obsolete (though I highly recommend the occasional pleasure trip). Yesterday the search engine giant introduced a news archive search feature. You can search as far back as the 1700s. The search is free, but you may have to pay to read the publications that turn up.
I experimented to see how far back I could go for Thomas Edison, Booker T. Washington, and Queen Victoria.
If I wanted to read about Washington’s education lecture at the Colored Young Men’s Christian Association in Washington, D.C., on March 30, 1894, I’d have to pay. If I were writing a book or research article about him, I definitely would.
Many newspapers already have archive searches, but Google’s feature aggregates results from multiple newspapers. Instead of going to 20 different sites to search, Google does the hunting for you, compiling a list in seconds.
I think it’s groovy.
Other archive databases:
Addendum: I forgot to mention another cool Google feature: the book search. You can download books in PDF in the public domain. For books still under copyright, you’ll get citations and excerpts. Several months ago, some publishers got their knickers in a wad because of the excerpts. Google countered with “fair use.”
Google is on a mission to digitize as many books as it can. This satire piece from The Onion is funny. Sort of.
As with newspaper archive searches, there are several free electronic book sites, including Project Gutenberg, ETEXT archives, and Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
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I, too, love to read old newspapers. The writing style and tone was much different 100-plus years ago — much more leisurely and genteel.
AC
“For pleasure. I liked reading old stories and looking at corny print ads. Sometimes I’d go as far back as the early 1900s to read about the day-to-day concerns of local people.”
~It’s so good to know I’m not alone!
Aside from the problem some authors are having with Google’s offerring of their books, I think the worst aspect of this new feature is that fewer people will get out of the house and visit the library. Libraries are really hurting for support as it is, and this won’t help.
Besides, folks need to socialize more as it is, not less. reading online, dating online, shopping online… too many “hidden people” these days.
I’m sure Google Books will make research easier and will exponentially expand the free market of ideas.
Still, nothing is ever going to replace the wonderful feeling of searching through the library and bookstore shelves for that one novel you’ve been dying to read, and then sitting down with it over a nice cup of coffee. (Yes, I do that and I know it looks pretentious, sue me
)
One of the family heirlooms which has been passed down is a page of actual newspaper from 1800 telling of the death of George Washington. I saw it as a kid, but have no idea where it is now.
Isn’t it passing strange that the room that contains all the old newspapers and research notes is called “the morgue”?
Rest assured that most “historians” only repeat what they have read from historians who preceded them. Going to the newspapers of the time and cross-checking the data is all but a lost art.
Soon Wikipedia will be as good as gospel.
Wow, imagine if that were today’s NYT the headlines would read: “15,000 more dead and 30,000 wounded in a questionable war”.
Cool! I’m going to bookmark this post since you have such good links.
I used to read old stuff on microfilm at the library too sometimes. I love old news articles and books.
Thanks for the tips La Shawn.
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