Newspapers.com Collections FAQ

Newspapers.c​​​om collections include records from over 600 million newspaper pages ranging from the 1700s–2000s.

 

Contents

 

Do I need a membership to view records from Newspapers.c​​om?

Yes. With an Ancestry All Access membership, you can see indexed records from Newspapers.c​om and may receive Newspapers.c​om records as hints in your tree. The Ancestry All Access membership includes access to the Newspapers.c​​​om Publisher's Extra. With a Newspapers.c​​​om Publisher Extra membership, you can see all the actual images of the newspapers. 

If you can see the indexed records but not the newspaper images, contact Member Services to upgrade to Newspapers.c​​​om Publisher Extra membership instead of an Ancestry All Access membership with Newspapers.c​​​om Basic membership.

 

What information can I find in the Newspapers.c​​om collections?

Newspapers.c​om has over 600 million searchable newspaper page images rich in family history details, including obituaries, birth and marriage announcements, social page mentions of family events, news articles, and photos.

 

How can I find Newspapers.c​​om obituaries and marriage records on Ancestry?

Obituaries

Obituaries often include the surviving members and additional family members named in obituaries, so you may see Ancestry Hints in obituaries for people who are still living. From any page on Ancestry, click the Search tab and select Card Catalog.

  1. On the left side of the page under Filter By Category, click Birth, Marriage & Death.
  2. In the Keywords field on the left side of the page, type “obituary” and click Search.
  3. From the search results, click Newspapers.c​​​om Obituary Index. For help searching all obituaries on Ancestry, see Finding Obituary Records.
  4. Enter information and click Search.
  5. From the list of search results, click View Record next to information you want to view.
  6. From the index page, click View image on the newspaper thumbnail. You’ll be brought to Newspapers.c​​​om.
  7. Sign in to Newspapers.c​​​om with the email address or username you use on Ancestry and your Ancestry password. If you’re already signed in, skip this step. If you have an All Access membership and are prompted to link your Ancestry account to your Newspapers.c​​​om account, do that first.
  8. You should now see the newspaper page. If that newspaper is part of a Newspapers.c​​​om membership that you don’t have access to, you’ll see the option instead to start or upgrade to that membership.

Marriage records

  1. From any page on Ancestry, click the Search tab and select Card Catalog.
  2. On the left side of the page under Filter By Category, click Birth, Marriage & Death.
  3. On the left side of the page under Filter By Category again, click Marriage & Divorce.
  4. From the search results, click Newspapers.c​​​om Marriage Index.
  5. Enter information and click Search.
  6. From the list of search results, click View Record next to information you want to view.
  7. From the index page, click View Image on the newspaper thumbnail. You’ll be brought to Newspapers.c​​​om.
  8. Sign in to Newspapers.c​​​om with the email address or username you use on Ancestry and your Ancestry password.
  9. If you’re already signed in, skip this step. If you have an All Access membership and are prompted to link your Ancestry account to your Newspapers.c​​​om account, do that first.
  10. You should now see the newspaper page. If that newspaper is part of a Newspapers.c​​​om membership that you don’t have access to, you’ll see the option instead to start or upgrade to that membership.

 

How can I save Newspapers.c​​om records to my Ancestry tree?

When you find an image on Newspapers.c​om that you want to save to your tree, click on the image. In the menu that appears, click the Ancestry logo Ancestry logo  Sign in to Ancestry Select a family tree and select a person Next Add facts Save.

 

How do I report issues or add correct information?

If you find an error in a newspaper or want to add searchable information, you can add alternate information or report the issue either from Ancestry or from Newspapers.c​​​om.

Adding alternate information

  1. On Newspapers.c​​​om, from the image of a newspaper, click the section you want to add information to.
  2. In the menu that appears, click Add alternate info.
  3. Click a pencil next to a fact to add alternate information, or click Add additional fact to add a new fact.
  4. The alternate fact will appear in green. When you’re finished adding alternate facts, click Done.
  5. To see alternate facts, click a newspaper section, then click the three dots beside a fact.

Reporting issues

  1. On Newspapers.c​​​om, from the image of a newspaper, click the section you want to report an issue for.
  2. In the menu that appears, click Report issue.
  3. Select the problem(s) and click Send.

For help adding alternate information or reporting an issue on Ancestry, see Correcting a Record.

 

How are Newspapers.c​​om records indexed?

To index the content on Newspapers.c​​​om, we use new machine learning technology to look at the pages, section them into individual articles, and then identify which ones are obituaries or marriage announcements. Once identified, this new technology extracts key details including:

  • name(s) of the deceased
  • names of spouses
  • family members
  • relationships
  • important dates
  • location information

This information is then put into a searchable database making it simpler for you to discover the records.

 

How do newspapers become searchable?

To make the content of older newspapers searchable, Newspapers.c​​​​om scans them with optical character recognition (OCR) technology, a type of software that converts printed text into an editable computer file.

OCR technology has transformed the world’s accessibility to printed documents, and for the most part, it’s quite reliable. However, its accuracy depends on the quality of the document being scanned. When a newspaper is faded or damaged, its transcription may contain some errors.


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