Today’s post is about finding historic newspapers online through the Rural West Initiative, a project of the Bill Lane Center for the American West at Stanford University.
This project combines visuals and data to create an interactive map of the growth of U.S. newspapers from 1690 through 2011. The map combines population estimates from NASA with information from Chronicling America, the historic newspaper database at the Library of Congress. Data visualization is credited to Dan Chang, Krissy Clark, Yuankai Ge, Geoff McGhee, Yinfeng Qin and Jason Wangby of the Rural West Initiative.
“The Growth of Newspapers Across the U.S.: 1690-2011” is highly interactive and I urge you to experience the map directly by clicking here. The map also offers filters for languages and publication frequency help customize results.
The topmost image illustrates papers available in 1790, with results by title for the town of Litchfield, Connecticut, at the lower left of the image. Clicking on the titles in the interactive map takes you to Chronicling America for easy access to more information about print and digital availability.
Courtesy Rural West Initiative, Bill Lane Center for the American West, Stanford University
Finding ethnic newspapers over three centuries in the U.S. is a strong point of the interactive map. The image above for 1865 newspapers highlights English-, French-, and German-language titles available in New Orleans.
Courtesy Rural West Initiative, Bill Lane Center for the American West, Stanford University
Even the smallest towns with newspapers are represented, an advantage for finding historic newspapers online. Adjacent towns with publications that could also help your research are easily discovered. The image above illustrates newspapers available in Plymouth, Wisconsin, in 1900.
Give “The Growth of Newspapers Across the U.S.: 1690-2011 interactive map a try for finding historic newspapers online and let me know in the comments if it helped your research.
Leave a Reply