Chronicling America: free old newspapers
Search old US newspapers free at Chronicling America, run by the Library of Congress. No account. Type a name, pick a state and a date range, and read the page scan.
Obituaries, marriage notices, court news and local columns name people that no census does. RootsFree's own records search also queries it.
How to search it
- Search the full name in quotes. Then try the surname with the town name. Small papers often printed only initials, like
J. W.Smith. - Narrow by state and years. Use a range of a few years around a known event, such as a death or a marriage.
- Expect misspellings in the text. The searchable text was made by machine from the scans. If a name will not match, try a likely misreading or search the place instead.
- Read the scan, not the text. The page image is the source. Save it with the paper's name, date and page number.
- Add it to your tree as a source. An obituary is often the best record of children, siblings and burial place.
In their own words
Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety
Library of Congress, read
Questions
Is Chronicling America free?
Yes. It is run by the Library of Congress and needs no account.