Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

I thought I would query everyone about the best service to use for doing research using archival newspapers. I have only limited experience in this area and was wondering if there was one service that encompassed a wide range of newspapers and didn't require a monthly subscription charge? Specifically I am interested in accessing papers from the 1960s and 1970s like the Cincinnati Enquirer, New Orleans Times-Picayune, the Denver Post, the San Diego Union-Tribune, and the San Francisco Chronicle. I am aware of Newspapers.com but are they the best way to go?

I found by getting a library e-card from the Boston Public Library I was able to access the archives of the Boston Globe, but some of the libraries in the other above cities don't have this option available. Any tips or advice would be most welcome.

I belong to Newspapers.com, which is really good. I also belong to Geneologybank.com, which has a nice selection of large and smaller newspapers. Another possibility is Newspaperarchive.com, which carries smaller newspapers generally but a lot of them. Newspapers.com does carry Cincinnati Enquirer 1841-2018, and the San Francisco Examiner (1865-2007) but not the others. GeneologyBank carries the NO Times-PIcayune (1837-1991) and Denver Post (1894-1986), San Diego Union (1871-1983). No one site is going to have all the papers you are looking for; your best bet is to see if you can get free or short subscriptions (one week or one month) and do all your research and then move on to the other site. I take it you already went thru the free google newspapers and they were no help.

Many thanks!! That's exactly the primer I needed!!

Interesting coincidence. I was dealing with this very question myself today.

If you an get access to a nearby university library you can cruise their database subscriptions, which is another option. My university librarian confirmed for me today that there really isn't one service that covers everything and she said smaller newspapers in the Midwest, especially, are difficult track down.

Microfilm through inter-library loan is another options, but it's not searchable. I did learn that my university has a newer machine that lets you scan a page from microfilm onto a USB drive, which is progress.

I don't have a subscription to anything currently, but I'll probably jump onto newspapers.com.

It would be cool if the PFRA could obtain a membership discount to some of these services like newspapers.com, etc., if that's even possible.

Newsbank also has some papers, like the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Dallas Morning News.

I don't know if Proquest has as much exclusive as they used to. They have the Baltimore Sun.

An obscure site called Fulton Postcards has some Buffalo papers, not a complete run, but through the 1960s.

Some of the individual papers have better archives available through their own sites. Always worth checking out.

The most under served pro football market in this area is Houston. I don't believe any of their major papers are available.

I've read bad things about newspapers.com online in terms of nonexistent customer service, difficult to cancel the monthly auto charge, winding up having to upgrade because the "standard" or whatever its called level doesn't provide much access etc.

One thing I've never understood is why libraries can't subscribe and allow their members access. That would be nice, but I guess it would kill the business model. Seems like an odd way to make money - I was to a conference in Utah once and learned that Mormons research their ancestors for religious reasons, so it seems to me to be a business that is mostly supported by Mormons and researchers - wish the historical newspapers could have wound up in hands that weren't using them for profit.

Does anyone know why Google gave up on their effort to put newspapers online?

TanksAndSpartans wrote:I've read bad things about newspapers.com online in terms of nonexistent customer service, difficult to cancel the monthly auto charge, winding up having to upgrade because the "standard" or whatever its called level doesn't provide much access etc.

One thing I've never understood is why libraries can't subscribe and allow their members access. That would be nice, but I guess it would kill the business model. Seems like an odd way to make money - I was to a conference in Utah once and learned that Mormons research their ancestors for religious reasons, so it seems to me to be a business that is mostly supported by Mormons and researchers - wish the historical newspapers could have wound up in hands that weren't using them for profit.

Does anyone know why Google gave up on their effort to put newspapers online?

I have been having problems navigating googlenewsarchives lately. Does Newsbank offer a free trial?

Anyone subscribe to the Paper of Record or have a SABR membership? I'm curious how easy that is to navigate; I've been reading old issues of The Sporting News from cover to cover on my Paper of Record iPad app but they cancelled that app recently.

Newspapers.com is by far the best-- I'd recommend that you check with your local library about NewsBank, because a lot of them carry it as part of their services available to patrons and list it on their website. Even my small town public library makes NewsBank available to anyone with a library card, and it's worth checking out. NewsBank was invaluable to me when I was working on a book, and on many newspapers, it goes back to the early 1980s.

Jay Z wrote:An obscure site called Fulton Postcards has some Buffalo papers, not a complete run, but through the 1960s.

This site is free, but is difficult to navigate. In order to search issues, or go from one page to the next, you have to alter the code in the web address (which is like 200 characters long) and it is worse than getting a root canal. It does, however, have the Buffalo daily newspapers for the 1960's, for which I am grateful.

http://www.fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html

TanksAndSpartans wrote:Does anyone know why Google gave up on their effort to put newspapers online?

This was an article about it at the time:

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/ ... ct/239239/