1 Start with free—but don’t stop there.
All US newspaper sleuthing should start with Chronicling America’s U.S. Newspaper Directory, where you can find newspapers that covered your ancestral hometowns. Drill down to the time periods and locales of interest, then click on entries of individual papers to learn what libraries have copies.
In some cases, you’ll learn that a hometown never published its own newspaper. That’s still helpful information, as you can change your focus to nearby cities and niche papers that may have covered your family’s community.
Chronicling America’s own digital collections are relatively small, but still worth a look. Start with the All Digitized Newspapers tab to see what coverage there is for your ancestral region. Narrow to your desired location and
