The New York Daily News, officially titled the Daily News, was founded in 1919 and initially known as the Illustrated Daily News. The paper attracted readers by pioneering the tabloid format and the liberal use of photography. For more than seven decades, its slogan was “New York’s Picture Newspaper.” The archives of the Daily News provide a stunning visual history of the 20^th century and beyond and include coverage of city news, scandal, crime and violence, cartoons, and entertainment.

The first issue of the Daily News was printed in June 1919, not long after the end of WWI. The paper reported on the triumphant return of Gen. John J. Pershing and his American Expeditionary Forces in a parade through the city. Marching alongside the soldiers were women who served in the war in capacities like field secretary and canteen service.

The end of WWI brought a flood of new immigrants to the country. The archives of the Daily News provide a glimpse into the conditions they faced upon arrival. In 1920, the Daily News reported 3,319 immigrant arrivals at Ellis Island with accommodations for just 1500. Officials were overwhelmed and immigrants described horrible conditions. By 1921, officials addressed the complaints and conditions overall improved.  

The Daily News archives are full of sensational crimes like a 1964 jewel heist. Jack “Murf the Smurf” Murphy and accomplices cased the J.P. Morgan Hall of Gems inside the American Museum of Natural History. They found lax security and entered the museum at night through a window. They made off with 22 rare and priceless gems including the 563-carat Star of India sapphire and the 100-carat DeLong Star Ruby. The thieves were arrested days later and most of the gems recovered.

In addition to coverage of high-profile New Yorkers, the pages of the Daily News are filled with glimpses into the lives of everyday citizens. For example, in 1923 a young girl named Milly Terzian was visiting relatives in New York and became lost when the subway doors closed locking her aunt and uncle on the platform as the train whisked the child away. She later reunited with her father and uncle at a police station. In 1934, the Madison Square Boys’ Club was a place for boys to gather and learn new hobbies; a record snowstorm in 1947 didn’t sideline wedding plans for a young couple who exchanged vows in the Municipal Building; and this 1970 photo shows two young New Yorkers decorating the office Christmas tree in the newly opened World Trade Center.

Search the Daily News for the death notices, obituaries, and wedding announcements of your New York ancestors.

The pages of the Daily News provide a fascinating glimpse into history. Whether you have ancestors from New York; immigrant ancestors that arrived in New York; or an interest in history – start searching the Daily News today!

Memorial Day is the first long weekend of summer and for many Americans, a chance to kick-off the summer season. The origins of Memorial Day, however, hearken back to a somber time in American history.

As the Civil War came to a close in April 1865, the nation mourned the loss of an estimated 620,000 war dead. Some were hastily buried in unmarked single or mass graves during the heat of battle. Soldiers didn’t carry official identification or dog tags, and many soldiers remained unidentified.

Shortly after the war ended, U.S. Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs ordered an assessment of the condition and location of graves of Union soldiers. Many were reinterred in newly opened national cemeteries. This federal program initially applied only to Union soldiers. Outraged citizens of the South organized a similar private effort, often led by women, to remember the Confederate dead.

As the first anniversary of the end of the war approached in April 1866, some women from the South made plans to honor the Confederate dead by decorating their graves with flowers and greens. The idea caught hold and spread until cities all over the south declared April 26^th as a day to honor the Confederate dead.

In 1868, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), an organization of Union veterans, established May 30th as Decoration Day, or a day to remember the war dead of the nation. The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery. More than 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.

The tradition continued in following years and many northern states designated the day as a state holiday. Southern states continued to honor their dead on a separate day but the divide that separated North from South began to heal. In 1873, a little orphaned girl whose father died fighting the South placed flowers on a Confederate grave. “Would you decorate the grave of a rebel?” exclaimed a bystander. “Yes!” she replied. “Perhaps somebody in the south will drop a flower on papa’s grave.”

After WWI, Decoration Day gradually became known as Memorial Day and was expanded to honor the dead from all of America’s wars. Many cities boasted they were the first to hold Decoration Day observances. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson officially declared that Waterloo, New York, be designated as the “birthplace” of Memorial Day because of early observances held there. In 1971 Congress declared Memorial Day a federal holiday and designated that it be observed the last Monday in May, although some southern states still set aside an additional day of observance for the Confederate dead.

How do you plan to celebrate Memorial Day? To learn more about the history of Decoration Day, and what later became known as Memorial Day, search Newspapers.com today! Do you have ancestors that served in the Armed Forces? Honor their service this Memorial Day by creating a Fold3 Memorial or search the Honor Wall to learn more about those who have sacrificed for our freedom.

Do you have ancestors from New Jersey? We’re happy to announce that our New Jersey archives are expanding! We have 46 New Jersey papers from the Gannett Company that contain over eight million pages of content. Here are just a few of the titles:

The Record: Our issues date back to 1898 in the midst of the Spanish-American War. The Record covers news from Bergen, Hudson, Essex, and Passaic counties in New Jersey. You can also check for news from nearby New York counties like Rockland County.  The Record was initially published six days a week, but a Sunday edition was added in 1968. The Record archive also includes The Chronicle, a community weekly newspaper that started in 2005. The Record reported on one of the largest acts of foreign sabotage ever committed in the country when German spies attacked a huge munition depot in Kingsland (later renamed Lyndhurst) in 1917. The attack caused a massive explosion and contributed to America entering World War I.  

The Herald-News: With issues dating back to 1893, the Herald-News focuses on Passaic County. Our collection contains the archives of the Passaic Sunday Eagle, Daily News, Daily Herald, and The Item. Many of the county’s early residents worked in the metalwork industry and textile factories. The 1926 Passaic textile strike resulted in a work stoppage by more than 15,000 mill workers and lasted more than a year. At one point, the Workers (Communist) Party helped workers organize a “United Front Committee” to negotiate with mill owners. When the strike ended in 1927 it was the first Communist-led work stoppage in the United States.

The Montclair Times: We have issues of the Montclair Times that go all the way back to 1877, just a few years after the Montclair township was formed. This archive also includes issues of The Saturday Gazette from 1872-1873. Montclair became known as a desirable place for New York businessmen and their families to build a home outside the city. In the 1870s, as many as six-thousand Montclair commuters traveled to the city each day. In 1878, a huge fire destroyed an entire city block including the Jacobus Building that housed the press for the Montclair Times, but the paper managed still managed to publish the next edition. If you have ancestors from Montclair, search columns like Notes About Town for their names.

The News: Based in Paterson, New Jersey, our archives for The News go back to 1890 and include issues from The Morning Call and the Morning News. Paterson was the nation’s first planned industrial city, laid out in part by Alexander Hamilton in 1792. A 77-foot high waterfall called Great Falls provided power for mills and factories and helped Paterson become an important industrial center. Edward B. Haines founded The News and chronicled the city’s headlines including the great fire of 1902. The fire destroyed more than 450 buildings. Many of the town’s important court records survived because they were kept in a vault.

Get started searching these and other New Jersey newspapers today!

Do you have ancestors from the New England area? We’re excited to announce that we’ve added new papers from Massachusetts and Vermont to our archives!

The Berkshire Eagle: Pittsfield, Massachusetts incorporated as a city in 1891, and we have issues of the Berkshire Eagle dating back to May 1892. The Berkshire Eagle chronicled the early growth of Pittsfield including the burgeoning business of electricity. William Stanley, the founder of the Electric Manufacturing Company, produced the first electric transformer and later sold his business to General Electric. The Berkshire Eagle also covered news from several nearby New York communities including New Lebanon, Stephentown, and Canaan. Pittsfield made national headlines in 1902 when President Theodore Roosevelt’s horse-drawn carriage was hit by a trolley car resulting in the first death of Secret Service agent while on presidential protection detail.

North Adams Transcript: About 40 miles from Pittsfield is the city of North Adams, home to the North Adams Transcript. Our archives date back to 1895 and document, among other things, the history of the mill industry in North Adams. Thousands of citizens worked in the mills and manufacturing was a big part of the economy. The Transcript covered mill accidents, work disputes, and the changing economy as the mills closed down. If you had ancestors that lived in North Adams, the society pages are a great resource for community news including announcements for weddings, births, and events.  

Bennington Banner: Bennington, Vermont has a rich military history that dates back to Revolutionary War times when a local militia headed by Ethan Allen took part in the Battle of Bennington. The battle led to the success of the Revolution. The Bennington Banner was established in 1841 and our archives go back to 1842. In 1887, the Bennington Banner reported on the opening of the Vermont Bennington Soldiers’ Home. The home cared for veterans from throughout the state, so the paper’s archives are a great place to search for your veteran ancestors. If you had ancestors from communities outside of Bennington like Rupert, Pownal, or Shaftsbury, be sure to check the Bennington Banner’s Local Intelligence column.

Brattleboro Reformer: Established as a weekly Democratic alternative to Republican-dominated papers, the archives for the Brattleboro Reformer date back to 1884. The Reformer prided itself on local news and advertised that it had correspondents in every county. Check the archives for news updates from Rutland, Franklin, and other counties. Brattleboro is home to the Brattleboro Retreat, an asylum founded in 1834 to treat the mentally ill from across the state. The hospital operated under standards considered progressive at the time. Patients were well-treated with modern therapies, though they were still considered inmates and sometimes held against their will. Author Rudyard Kipling wrote his famous book Jungle Book in Brattleboro and proving that little boys are the same in every generation, the Reformer advocated for restricted sales of bean-blowers used by boys in Brattleboro to terrorize the girls! If you are searching for your ancestors from Brattleboro, be sure to search the Society Page.

Get started searching our updated archives for Massachusetts and Vermont today on Newspapers.com!

To celebrate Black History Month, we’re pleased to add The Atlanta Voice to our newspaper archives. Founded in 1966, the paper originated with a goal to provide fair and credible coverage to the growing Civil Rights Movement. According to the paper’s motto: “A People Without A Voice Cannot Be Heard.” The Atlanta Voice is the largest audited African-American community newspaper in Georgia. It is a weekly publication, and our archives contain issues that date back to 1969.

The Civil Rights Movement took root in the fertile ground of Atlanta. As it did, The Atlanta Voice used its editorial voice to shine a light on injustice. For example, in this clipping, a local taxi company refused to hire African-American drivers simply because they just “hadn’t thought about it.” In another instance, the paper reported on realtors who discriminated against African-American home buyers that were suddenly told that a potential home was either no longer on the market or had suddenly jumped in price. In this 1969 clipping, a 40-year-old Atlanta man was fired from his job at a hospital after hospital officials learned his wife was black.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement and a native Atlantan. His legacy is deeply intertwined with the history of the city. His assassination in 1968 created shock waves that rippled through Atlanta and across the world. On the 10^th anniversary of his death, The Atlanta Voice poignantly noted that the most precious gift he left to African-Americans was a change in their minds and spirits.

That dramatic shift was manifest in 1973 when Atlanta elected its first black mayor. The Atlanta Voice chronicled Mayor Maynard Jackson’s sometimes uphill battle to govern the city even as he and other elected black officials faced harassment. In an effort to overhaul the police department which stood accused of discriminatory behavior towards black citizens, Mayor Jackson ousted police chief John Inman. A number of black citizens had been killed or injured under questionable circumstances during Inman’s watch, and many accused him of racism. The Atlanta Voice reported on the police department’s “Gestapo-type unit” that spied on politicians. In an effort to determine the source providing inflammatory information to the paper, Inman sent an undercover officer to work as a typesetter at The Voice. This infuriated many, particularly the black community. Mayor Jackson continued to press forward and was a force in changing racist behaviors. When Maynard Jackson died in 2003, he was eulogized as a trailblazer in a ceremony the likes of which Atlanta had not seen since the death of Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Atlanta Voice archives are a great place to search for clippings that pertain to your family tree. Did your family member sing in the church choir or serve in the military? News Briefs and society pages are another great place to see birth announcements, wedding announcements and learn about community events your family may have been a part of.

Dive into our archives today* to learn more about the people of Atlanta and the part they played in the historic Civil Rights Movement. Search Newspapers.com to learn more about the Civil Rights Movement today! 

*The Atlanta Voice requires a Publisher Extra subscription to search their archive

To celebrate Black History Month, we’re pleased to add The Atlanta Voice to our newspaper archives. Founded in 1966, the paper originated with a goal to provide fair and credible coverage to the growing Civil Rights Movement. According to the paper’s motto: “A People Without A Voice Cannot Be Heard.” The Atlanta Voice is the largest audited African-American community newspaper in Georgia. It is a weekly publication, and our archives contain issues that date back to 1969.

The Civil Rights Movement took root in the fertile ground of Atlanta. As it did, The Atlanta Voice used its editorial voice to shine a light on injustice. For example, in this clipping, a local taxi company refused to hire African-American drivers simply because they just “hadn’t thought about it.” In another instance, the paper reported on realtors who discriminated against African-American home buyers that were suddenly told that a potential home was either no longer on the market or had suddenly jumped in price. In this 1969 clipping, a 40-year-old Atlanta man was fired from his job at a hospital after hospital officials learned his wife was black.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement and a native Atlantan. His legacy is deeply intertwined with the history of the city. His assassination in 1968 created shock waves that rippled through Atlanta and across the world. On the 10^th anniversary of his death, The Atlanta Voice poignantly noted that the most precious gift he left to African-Americans was a change in their minds and spirits.

That dramatic shift was manifest in 1973 when Atlanta elected its first black mayor. The Atlanta Voice chronicled Mayor Maynard Jackson’s sometimes uphill battle to govern the city even as he and other elected black officials faced harassment. In an effort to overhaul the police department which stood accused of discriminatory behavior towards black citizens, Mayor Jackson ousted police chief John Inman. A number of black citizens had been killed or injured under questionable circumstances during Inman’s watch, and many accused him of racism. The Atlanta Voice reported on the police department’s “Gestapo-type unit” that spied on politicians. In an effort to determine the source providing inflammatory information to the paper, Inman sent an undercover officer to work as a typesetter at The Voice. This infuriated many, particularly the black community. Mayor Jackson continued to press forward and was a force in changing racist behaviors. When Maynard Jackson died in 2003, he was eulogized as a trailblazer in a ceremony the likes of which Atlanta had not seen since the death of Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Atlanta Voice archives are a great place to search for clippings that pertain to your family tree. Did your family member sing in the church choir or serve in the military? News Briefs and society pages are a great place to see birth announcements, wedding announcements and learn about community events your family may have been a part of.

Dive into our archives today to learn more about the people of Atlanta and the part they played in the historic Civil Rights Movement. Start searching The Atlanta Voice archives today!

Do you have ancestors from Kentucky or Pennsylvania? We’re thrilled to announce our newspaper archives from these states are expanding!

The Paducah Sun: Paducah, Kentucky is located just past the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers and is home to The Paducah Sun. Our archives date back to 1896 and contain more than 1.5 million pages from The Sun and related titles including The Sunday Chat; the Paducah Weekly Sun; the News-Democrat; the Weekly News-Democrat; and the Paducah-Sun Democrat.

These papers covered important developments in the history of Paducah including steamboat commerce and railroad growth. One historic event that made Paducah headlines was the flood of 1937. Weeks of steady rain followed by sleet caused the Ohio River to crest at 60.8 feet. Flood waters consumed the city and some 27,000 citizens were evacuated. Many residents were trapped in their homes or stranded on the upper floors of downtown buildings. Following the disaster, the US Army Corps of Engineers constructed a 14-foot high floodwall. In the early 1990s, in an effort to beautify downtown Paducah, one citizen suggested painting murals along the floodwall. In 1996, the city hired an artist to paint more than 50 murals that depict the history of Paducah.

If you have ancestors from Paducah, society columns are a great place to piece together your family story. They often mention travels, and births and deaths.

The Daily Item: Based in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, The Daily Item archives go back to 1894. Thomas Edison made a mark in Sunbury in 1883 when he installed and successfully tested the first three-wire electric lighting system in a local Sunbury hotel. The hotel’s name was later changed to the Edison Hotel in his honor. Electricity in Sunbury led to one of the first electric streetcar systems in the country. In 1906, the State of Pennsylvania established a bureau to record all the state’s births and deaths. Before then, newspapers like The Daily Item published birth announcements and obituaries.

Just 13 miles from Sunbury is the town of Danville. We have archives from the Danville Morning News and the Danville News that date back to 1898. In the 19^th century, Danville became an important stop along the early transportation routes that included railroads, the Susquehanna River, and roads. Does your family tree contain an orphan from the Danville area? These newspapers are a great resource for information about institutions like the Mother House of Christian Charity and the Odd Fellows’ Orphans Home.

In 1919, during the early days of aviation, Danville residents poured into the streets to see an airplane. For many, it was their first time! The government plane circled the town dropping leaflets advertising Victory Liberty Loans (war bonds) to fund the war effort.

These stories are just a sampling of many fun and historical stories in these newspapers. Get started searching our Kentucky and Pennsylvania archives today at Newspapers.com!

Happy New Year! We’re so excited for what’s to come in 2019, but we wanted to pause a moment and reflect on all we accomplished in 2018. Last year we:

• • Added more than 5,000 new papers
  • More than doubled the number of titles in our archive
  • Added more than 120 million pages
  • We’re adding 10-13 million pages each month
  • We now have nearly a half a billion searchable pages – making us the largest online historical newspaper archive

In 2018 we continued to increase our international newspaper titles from Canada, England, Scotland, and Wales. We’ve also added Puerto Rico. Plus, we added new papers from the following states:

• Alabama
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• District of Columbia
• Florida
• Georgia
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Montana
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• New York
• North Carolina
• North Dakota
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Utah
• Vermont
• Virginia
• Washington
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin

Our archives have unlocked roadblocks in family history research and provided a unique tool for those searching for historical and academic data. Did you make an incredible discovery this year using Newspapers.com? Tell us about it! From our team to you, Happy New Years!

Do you have ancestors from New Jersey or Kentucky? This month we’re excited to announce additions to our archives from these states!

The Coast Star is a weekly paper from the beachside community of Manasquan, New Jersey. Our archives date back to 1899 when the paper was known as The Coast Democrat. The population of Manasquan was just 1,500 back then – small enough that when a local mother wanted to visit a neighbor while her baby napped, she simply called the operator and left the line open so the operator could notify her if the baby cried.

After the turn of the century, beach cottages, many belonging to residents of nearby New York City, began springing up along the New Jersey coast. In 1930, plans were made to dredge the Manasquan inlet and open the waterway for boat traffic. Residents soon found that bootleggers were using the waterway to transport booze (it was the middle of prohibition) and stepped up patrols.

The Ocean Star is published weekly in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, just a couple of miles away from Manasquan and serves the northern Ocean County area. It launched in 1998 and among other news, chronicled heavy damage along the New Jersey coast from Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

The Franklin Favorite hails from Franklin, Kentucky. Our archives date back to 1887 and are a valuable resource for research in Franklin and surrounding communities like Russellville, Richland, Price’s Mill, and Stevenson; and Northern Tennessee towns like Springfield and Orlinda.

The paper reported on local landmark Octagon Hall. The octagon-shaped home was built in 1859 by Andrew Jackson Caldwell and served as a refuge for Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. Caldwell’s son remembered Confederate soldiers camping in the yard. He also recalled the time a weary soldier needed a place to sleep for the night. The family took him in and soon discovered the soldier was Caldwell’s long, lost nephew! 

The Messenger-Inquirer is published in Owensboro, Kentucky. Our archives go back to 1890 when the paper was known as The Messenger. In 1929, The Messenger was sold to the owners of The Owensboro Inquirer. The two papers merged and became known as The Messenger-Inquirer. Now owned by Paxton Media Group, the paper has a rich history in Owensboro.

Like other Kentucky communities, Owensboro’s history is closely tied to the area’s distilleries, and Owensboro has recently been named part of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. The Messenger-Inquirer also covers surrounding communities like Pleasant Ridge, Cleopatra, and Nuckols. The Neighborhood News column is a great place to search for relatives from nearby towns.

Get started searching our updated New Jersey and Kentucky archives today!