Google Newspapers

If you haven't used Google News yet, I highly recommend it. Last year I heard Dan Lynch speak about this resource in Connecticut. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled over the back issues of the New London Day! (New London, CT 1880-1990) Although they haven't digitized the complete run I still was able to find over 100 articles on my family. I've learned new things about my grandmother that I never would have known. (Sadly I never knew her-she died before I was born.)

And pictures! I found two new photos of my grandmother's family-one of her brother and another of her cousin. I could definitely see the family resemblance!

The best way to access the search feature is to...
1. Click on "news" on the Google home page.
2. Next to the search box, click "Advanced News Search."
3. Once you are on the page, look for the "News Archive" and click on the link.
4. When the page loads look for "Advanced Archives Search" next to the search box and click that link on.
When I got to the Advance Archives search page, I just typed in my grandmother's maiden name and in the source box, I typed in "The Day."

I did discover one drawback. It doesn't always pick up all the names. In one search, I typed in my grandfather's first and last name. Twice his name was not coming up in searches when clearly his name should have. (I found his name in two articles with my grandmother's name.) Makes you wonder what else they are missing?!

Regardless its a great tool.Play around with it. It's lots of fun!