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An exciting feature of the new British Newspaper Archive will be the advanced search capabilities that are coming to the site.Searching historic newspapers has always been a balancing actSearching historic newspapers has always been a bit of a tightrope walk. Search too narrowly and you miss the articles you need. Cast the net too wide and you’re wading through pages of irrelevant results. Throw in inconsistent spelling, occasionally damaged print, and the inevitable quirks of Optical Character Recognition…

So far this November we’ve been celebrating all things local history, and earlier this month we brought you a guide on how to discover more about the history of your street. But now we turn from urban to rural, as we take a look at how to uncover the history of those places where there might only be one street, the hamlets and the villages of the United Kingdom.This blog, therefore, will show you how to uncover local history…

Hopefully, you were able to join us live for our local history webinar, presented by Michala Hulme. However, if you weren’t able to catch it live or want a refresher, watch it on our YouTube channel here!In reviewing the lively and engaging Q&A that took place during the webinar, we’ve pulled out a few questions that we wanted to highlight and expand upon.Search tip 1Can The British Newspaper Archive distinguish between buildings, ships, towns, and surnames? Every time…

With summer well underway and a new month dawning, we take a look at the month of July with the help of The British Newspaper Archive. What events and holidays of significance took place in July? How have our newspapers covered such happenings? Join us as we explore the history and newspaper coverage of Canada Day, the Battle of the Somme, and Independence Day.Canada DayThe national holiday celebrates the anniversary of the enactment of the Constitution Act, which…

During our first ever webinar, we have over 600 questions from more than 3,500 registered viewers. It was incredible to get so much feedback and interaction from our viewers.  Here we will share a sample of the questions from our webinar event.Didn’t get a chance to see the webinar?  Watch the event now.(The discount offer is no longer valid)QuestionsSometimes I try to find a name in the newspaper archive and it says there are no matches. Why and…

“I won’t be embarrassed by what I discover, bring it on! Let’s have an adventure.” – Warwick DavisIn last night’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? we joined Warwick Davis, best known for his acting career, as he uncovered a few family secrets including bigamy and multiple marriages on his mother’s side of the family, as well as tragedy and another successful performer on his father’s side.Searching for a Local PubWarwick wanted to find out about…

We followed Amanda Holden’s journey of genealogy in last night’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are?. She kick-started her research by searching for one of her ancestors on The British Newspaper Archive.Amanda’s mum, Judy, who had been working on their family tree, had been having difficulties finding out the last name of Collin’s wife, Radgoude, Amanda’s 5th great-grandmother. But, thanks to Amanda’s discovery on The British Newspaper Archive, she now had a new trail of clues to…

Suzie Grogan used The British Newspaper Archive extensively while researching her book, Shell Shocked Britain: The First World War’s legacy for Britain’s mental health. She got in touch to show us the heart-breaking story she found about her own ancestors and some of the terrible accounts about life during World War One.**************My book is the product of two years of intensive research into the trauma of the Great War and its aftermath. But it was a chance find during…

Just a month after hitting the 9.5 million page milestone, we’re very pleased to announce that there are now 10 million historic newspaper pages available at The British Newspaper Archive.The website launched with 4 million pages in November 2011, which means there’s now 150% more to explore. If you’ve not searched the collection for a while, it’s definitely time to try again.Search the newspapers –>More to search and a great-value subscriptionIt’s not just our coverage that has improved over the last few…

Newspaper articles can provide incredible detail about peoples’ lives, whether you’re looking for your ancestors or researching a particular character from history.Search for a person’s name –>Searching newspaper articles for an ancestor or person from historyEnter the name of the person you’re looking for in the search bar at the top of the homepage. Put a double quote mark on each side of the name and click the ‘search’ button.The quote marks will make your search results more…