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historical newspapers

I have a real weakness for old newspapers. A newspaper from 1814 is like a time machine. I jump in and I'm walking the streets of Manhattan, looking at shops, listening to people talk.

It's not easy to find really old newspapers. For some cities during certain time periods, it's next to impossible. New Orleans in late 1814, for example, because of the war and marshal law and general mayhem.

I have a small collection of historical papers because while I have no urge to own them, sometimes that's the only way to get what I need. I do search regularly for new digital databases. And here's one I found just recently made available by The British Library called ActivePaper.

You do need a fast internet connection to use this database, which is fully searchable. You can bring up a list of articles that contain the word "orphan" for example, and then click on the one that interests you and see the image of the article itself, in a very clear scan. You can also look at whole newspapers. For example, the June 21 1851 edition of the Daily News (of London) provides an index of exhibitors at the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace (see the ad below). Also below, from a bit from a regular feature called "Fashionable News" on the Victorian novelist Margaret Oliphant's chat with the Queen about her latest work.

All in all, a great resource.

June 21, 2005 11:33 AM

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