Federation Of Family History Societies

British Newspapers 1800-1900 Online

The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of the author. Information about the newsletter is available at http://www.eogn.com.

"British Newspapers is a joint effort between the British Library and Gale, Cengage Learning to make available digitised versions of key nineteenth-century British newspapers. The online collection presently contains several million articles from forty-nine local and national newspapers. This database offers online access to a key set of primary sources for the study of nineteenth-century history.

"For the forty-nine titles selected, every front page, editorial, birth and death notice, advertisement and classified ad that appeared within their pages for the time period available is now accessible from what is a virtual chronicle of history for this period. Users of the database are able to search every word on every page.

"The aim was to select a number of London and regional titles, covering as much of the UK as possible. London titles include The Morning Chronicle, The Illustrated Police News and a number of Chartism newspapers. Regional newspapers include: The Northern Echo, Western Mail, The Newcastle Courant, The Ipswich Journal, and The Bristol Mercury. In all, forty-nine titles from the nineteenth century are included. Of those titles, The Penny Illustrated Paper and The Graphic are made available as titles that can be viewed freely without any subscription.

"To access the millions of articles in this database, you will need to first register as a user and then purchase either:

• A 24-hour pass for £6.99 that provides you access to 100 articles over that period.
• A 7-day pass for £9.99 that provides you access to 200 articles over that period.

"You can view complete articles from the Penny Illustrated Paper and The Graphic free of charge."

You can find British Newspapers Online at: http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs/ and you can find a list of the 49 titles at http://www.gale.cengage.com/tlist/Blcs_Titles.html.

PS
Many libraries in the UK will allow their residents free access to this and other collections provided they have a valid library ticket. It is well worth making enquiries at your local library before considering whether to take out a subscription.

Roger Lewry
FFHS Archives Liaison

5 May 2009

(PS added 9 May 2009)