If you have ancestors from Wisconsin or an interest in Wisconsin history, we are excited about the addition of new papers from the cities of Kenosha, Lake Geneva and Viroqua, Wisconsin!

Kenosha is in southeastern Wisconsin, on the shore of Lake Michigan, and just north of the Illinois state line. We have issues from the Kenosha News, the Kenosha News Courier and the Sunday News that date back to 1895. Originally a Native American settlement, Kenosha’s access to transportation lines brought white settlers in the 1830s. Later immigrants from Italy, Denmark, Germany, Poland, and Ireland came to the area.  

In the early 1900s, silent movies were a favorite form of entertainment. In 1914, the Burke Theatre opened on Market Street. When the film The Silver Horde opened in 1920, managers launched a treasure hunt to publicize the film. They hid 10 boxes of silver around Kenosha. The promotion created a stir as residents hunted the treasure. Four years later, the Burke was the scene of another kind when a skunk decided to visit the theater causing pandemonium with the audience.

About 30 miles away from Kenosha is Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and home of the Lake Geneva Herald and the Lake Geneva Regional News. Today Lake Geneva is a vacation destination, but when the Lake Geneva Herald began publishing in 1872, the population was just over 2,000 and the town had one school, a few churches and a smattering of small-town businesses. After the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, Lake Geneva attracted wealthy business moguls who moved to the area while Chicago rebuilt. Beautiful mansions like Stone Manor, Glanworth Gardens and the Wrigley estate line the shore and helped the area earn the nickname “Newport of the West”.

Residents living around the lake receive their mail by boat, a tradition that began in 1916 when roads were very primitive. The boat travels at a steady 5 mph, while a “mail jumper” jumps from the boat, races up the dock and swaps the incoming mail with the outgoing mail before the boat has traveled out of reach.

The Vernon County Censor is based in Viroqua and we have issues dating back to 1856. The paper was published weekly, however, on June 28, 1865, a deadly tornado swept through town destroying the printing office and leaving the town devastated. Two weeks later, the paper published an account of the damage. “Large houses were sucked into the air like a feather and tossed about like a wisp of hay in the air.” If you had ancestors from nearby communities like Harmony, Chaseburg, Newton or Westby, search the Vernon County Censor for updates from those towns.

Start searching our new Wisconsin papers today on Newspapers.com!

Are you interested in the history of Rio Arriba County in New Mexico? We are pleased to announce the addition of the Rio Grande Sun to our archives. Based in the city of Espanola, the Sun is a weekly that began publishing in 1956. The paper competed with the Espanola Valley News until the Sun purchased the Valley News and shut it down. The Sun is known for its fearless old-school journalism and focus on local politics and issues.

The history of Espanola dates back to 1598 when it was founded as the capital of Nuevo Mexico. Some of the valley’s historic buildings remain, including La Iglesia de Santa Cruz de la Canada, a church built in 1733 that is still in use today.

In 1880, after the railroad expanded to northern New Mexico, the town took on the name Espanola. Early settlers described the town as “really wild and wooly, having eighteen saloons…” In 1943, the Los Alamos National Laboratory, located about 18 miles from Espanola, was founded as part of the Manhattan Project. The lab remained top-secret during the war and has provided many jobs in Espanola.

When the Sun published its first edition in the 1950s, the population of Espanola was about 3,000. The first issues were printed on an old press that required single sheets of newsprint to be hand-fed into the press one at a time. The population of the valley continued to grow and in 1957, local churches coordinated a door-to-door church census intending to document every resident.

As Espanola grew, some of the city’s historic buildings were torn down. In 1957, the city purchased a home that belonged to one of the valley’s early settlers and turned it into City Hall. Known as the Bond House, the historic home served as the city offices until 1979. After it was vacated, vandals broke in and did extensive damage. The Historical Society started a grassroots preservation effort and encouraged residents to donate $10 for repairs. In March 1982, the home was reopened as the Bond House Museum and celebrates the transition of Espanola from a frontier outpost to a modern city.

If you are researching ancestors that lived in Espanola, columns like Eavesdropping and the

Grapevine provides news on Espanola’s residents. You’ll also find birth announcements and obituaries like this one for one of Espanola’s oldest residents born in 1869!

Start searching the pages of the Rio Grande Sun today on Newspapers.com!

If you have an interest in the history of Spokane or ancestors from that area, we’re happy to announce the digitization of The Spokesman-Review 1968-2019; and other related newspapers including The Semi-Weekly Spokesman-Review 1883-1981; the Spokane Chronicle 1890-1992; the Spokane Daily Chronicle 1890; the Spokane Evening Review 1884-1885; the Spokane Falls Review 1885-1891; The Spokane Review 1891-1894 and the Spokane Weekly Chronicle 1944. The Spokesman-Review was named one of the 25 best newspapers in the country by the Columbia Journalism Review magazine in 1999!

Our archives date back to 1883 when Washington was still a territory and just two years after the railroad came to town bringing new settlers and growth to the area. Around that time the discovery of gold in Coeur d’Alene brought growth to Spokane (then called Spokane Falls) because the city acted as a service center for the nearby mines.

In 1889, a terrific fire engulfed the city. To prevent the spread of flames, officials blew up a row of buildings to prevent the fire from spreading. As the flames approached Cannon’s Bank at Wall and Riverside, a horse-drawn cab loaded the bank’s wealth into a carriage and drove it to safety. When the smoke finally cleared, the fire destroyed 30 downtown blocks and burned many businesses, homes, and several newspaper presses.

During WWII, the Spokane Army Air Depot (later known as Fairchild Air Force Base) opened to provide repairs for damaged aircraft. The depot attracted skilled workers and provided job opportunities for civilian workers. In 1945, the war hit close to home when the Japanese launched balloon bombs that landed near Spokane. News of the incendiary devices brought public concern. The newspapers tried to keep reports about the balloon bombs under wraps to bolster national security. The Semi-Weekly Spokesman-Review encouraged readers to refrain from spreading the news about balloon incidents.

Our archives contain great stories to help you piece together your family tree. For example, this 1909 story in the Spokane Chronicle tells the story of a father reuniting with his son after 47 years! The two became separated during the Civil War and had no way of contacting one another. One day, the son met a man who shared his last name and soon discovered it was his uncle. He was delighted to learn that his father was 79-years-old and living in Nebraska. Later, the two were joyfully reunited.

Do you have ancestors that filed a homestead claim in Spokane? The lure of homesteading, and the ability to travel on railroads and steamships brought more settlers to the Pacific Northwest. Newspapers reported homestead applications at the land office like this one in The Spokane Review in 1891.  When searching for your family, search through the newspaper birth announcements, wedding announcements, anniversary notices, and obituaries.

Start searching our archives for The Spokesman-Review today on Newspapers.com!

Have you ever read an old newspaper article and wondered what happened to the people mentioned in the story? Then check out the new Newspapers.com and Ancestry® podcast, “Behind the Headlines of History”!

Join hosts Brad Argent of Ancestry® and historian Michala Hulme of Manchester Metropolitan University as they share intriguing newspaper articles from the past, before putting on their genealogy hats and scouring records to find out more about some of the people involved in the stories.

In the first episode, Brad and Michala discuss the love story behind the Great Bullion Robbery of 1855 and also reveal how the theft of some hazelnuts in 1877 is linked to Downton Abbey!

Host Brad Argent shared his thoughts:

“Historic newspapers are a treasure trove of great stories, and a fantastic resource for family historians to find out more about the details of their ancestors’ lives. With this podcast, we wanted to bring this to life, sharing weird, wonderful and sometimes tragic historic news stories to find out who these people were, where they came from and what happened next. Join us as we go behind the headlines of history!”

We’re excited to share “Behind the Headlines of History” with you! Whether it’s on your commute, at the gym, or while cleaning the house, this fun and fascinating podcast is a perfect way to pass the time!

“Behind the Headlines of History” will be released each week on Tuesdays for 10 weeks, beginning September 3. It is available on a range of platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts and more.

In 1867, Tucson became the capital of the Arizona Territory and by 1870, census records showed the population had topped 3,000. If you have ancestors from Tucson or an interest in Arizona history, you’ll be thrilled to know that the Arizona Daily Star has added historic Tucson newspapers to their archive, and you can access them on Newspapers.com! We have The Weekly Arizonian (1869-1871); the Arizona Weekly Citizen (1870-1897); the Tucson Citizen (1879-2007); El Fronterizo (1882-1908); and the Tucson Daily Citizen (1941-1977).

Early editions of the Arizona Weekly Citizen were filled with accounts of skirmishes with Native Americans as westward expansion encroached upon Native American lands. Upset over Indian attacks, in 1870 the paper highlighted an offer by the Mexican government to pay a $300 bounty for each Apache scalp. The hostilities came to a head in the early morning hours of April 30, 1871, when a group of men from Tucson massacred more than 100 Apaches in the Camp Grant Massacre. Officials arrested the men but a court later acquitted them.  

The invention of air-conditioning to combat sweltering Arizona heat led to significant growth in Arizona’s population. During the 1930s, the first public buildings in Tucson got air conditioning, followed by homes in later decades. If you are tracing ancestors that lived in Tucson, search for marriage, death, and birth announcements. If you’re lucky, you just might find a biographical sketch of your ancestor like these for members of the 1883 Territorial Legislature.  

If you have ancestors from Jasper, Indiana, you’ll be excited to hear we’ve added The Dubois Herald and the Jasper Weekly Courier to our archives. The Dubois Herald began as The Jasper Herald, a weekly that started in 1895. In 1946, the paper, known then as The Dubois County Herald, started publishing six days a week. That tradition continues today, and The Dubois Herald has chronicled Jasper’s history for 124 years. Jasper has strong German roots and many of today’s residents can trace their heritage back to the mid-19^th century when Father Joseph Kundek, a Catholic Priest, promoted Jasper to German immigrants. That heritage is celebrated annually during the Strassenfest celebration. If you have ancestors that lived in nearby townships like Cuzco, Ferdinand, or Ireland, the Correspondence Column included updates from citizens of those communities.

The Jasper Weekly Courier’s archives date back to 1858 when the paper was founded as an organ of the Democratic Party. Dubois County’s German immigrant population was flourishing and the first issue of the paper included a German announcement for those who couldn’t read English. The Weekly Courier reported on the Civil War and soldiers serving from Dubois County. It also participated in honoring surviving veterans and fallen soldiers after the war. The archives include reports of visitors in town, local accidents and injuries, and other life events like births, marriages, anniversaries and deaths.  

To explore these Arizona and Indiana newspapers, and newspapers from other locations, search Newspapers.com today!

Our Pennsylvania archives are expanding! If you have ancestors from Pennsylvania or are interested in the history of the area, we’ve added papers from Pottsville, Hazleton, Wilkes-Barre, and Scranton.

Republican Herald: The Republican Herald was founded in Pottsville in 1884 as The Daily Republican. We have issues from the Pottsville Republicanand the Republican and Herald in our archives. Pottsville is located in Pennsylvania’s coal region where America’s oldest brewery, D.G. Yuengling & Son, made beer for thirsty coal miners. When Congress passed the National Prohibition Act it meant big changes for the company. The brewery created three near beers and even branched into ice cream production to keep the business running until the 18^th Amendment was repealed. If you are researching ancestors from Pottsville, check birth announcements, obituaries, and even the Society Page! 

Standard-Speaker: Based in Hazleton, the Standard-Speaker is a daily that traces its history back to the Hazleton Sentinel which merged with the Plain Speaker to become the Standard-Speaker.  Our archives date back to 1879. The coal industry in Hazleton attracted immigrants from a variety of countries. They often lived in “patch towns,” or small towns owned by the mining company. This part of Hazleton’s heritage is celebrated annually during Patch Down Days. In 1897, harsh conditions and reduced pay led local miners to strike. Rising tensions evolved into a confrontation referred to as the Lattimer massacre where 19 unarmed strikers were shot and killed, and dozens wounded by a sheriff’s posse. If you have ancestors from Hazleton, the archive contains community columns, birth announcements, obituaries, wedding notices, and more.

Citizens’ Voice: The Citizens’ Voice in Wilkes-Barre was founded in 1978 by striking employees of the Wilkes-Barre Publishing Company. Angry employees learned their paper, the Times Leader, was being sold. They banded together and with help from the community and unions, started the Citizens’ Voice. The Voice soon became a strong competitor to the Times Leader and has advocated for the local citizens of Wilkes-Barre. The Citizens’ Voice has covered natural disasters, like the September 2011 flooding along the Susquehanna River. When the river finally crested, it strained levees and forced evacuations.

The Times-Tribune: Scranton is home to the Times-Tribune and our archive includes these additional titles: the Scranton Tribune, The Tribune, Scranton Weekly Republican, Scrantonian Tribune, and The Weekly Scranton Times. The earliest paper in this collection dates back to 1866! Scranton’s namesake, brothers George and Seldon Scranton, arrived in the area in the mid-1800s and later developed the Lackawanna Steel Company. Steel, coal, textile mills, and other industrialization fueled Scranton’s growth which brought immigrant workers to the area. The Scranton Lace Company was a premiere producer of Nottingham lace for over 100 years until the company shut down in 2002. If you have ancestors from Scranton, search family reunion notices for a genealogical gold mine!

Start searching these and other Pennsylvania papers today at Newspapers.com!

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!

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!