Extra! Extra! Finding Info in Unindexed Newspapers - Tuesday's Tip

(Copyright (c) 2015 Cynthia Shenette) One of my ongoing frustrations and difficulties is in finding family history and genealogy information in unindexed newspapers.  Thank goodness for existing newspaper databases like GenealogyBank, Old Fulton Postcards, and Chronicling America that provide searchable access to newspapers.  Unfortunately, many newspapers still do not have sufficient electronic access which is the case with my local newspaper, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.  While the Telegram is indexed online indexing doesn't start until 1989 leaving a major gap in coverage from the beginning of publication (1884 for the Sunday edition and 1886 for the daily) until 1989.

My grandmother was a saver and clipped every newspaper article that came her way--marriages, graduations, performances, retirements--but I'm sure there is plenty of stuff that she missed.  I'm also sure there were plenty of things that didn't occur to her to clip.  I am convinced there is a treasure trove of family history information in the Telegram in the years prior to 1989.  But how to find it?  I've come up with a few techniques that sometimes help in locating information.

Start with the Date of an Event, and Look at the Newspapers Before and After the Event

I think most genealogists are familiar with scrolling through microfilm looking for family obits.  I use the same technique when for looking for information about performances and events.  Last year I wrote a post about a program I have from a 1926 dance recital.  After my post I decided to try to see if I could find some information about Miss Mae Gleeson's dance recital in the newspaper.  I used the date on the program, May 12, 1926 and scrolled through the microfilm of the Telegram for the days around the date of the recital.  Clearly, May was recital month in Worcester in 1926.  I found numerous articles on recitals.  I scrolled through the microfilm for the days before the recital and the day after.  The day after the recital I found a short article about the event!

Learn the History of an Event, and Place Your Family In Context Within the Bigger Picture

According to a family story my grandmother adopted sister's parents both died the same day during the 1918 flu pandemic, leaving my grandmother's adopted sister, my "Aunt Rose" and several siblings orphaned.  I did a little research online and discovered that the majority of flu deaths in Massachusetts occurred during the fall of 1918.  Armed with that knowledge I decided to use the October 1, 1918 issue of the Telegram as a starting place for my research.  I could go back to the September issues or forward to the November issues from there if need be.  I figured if two parents died on the same day and left several children orphaned that might be newsworthy.  I started scrolling through the October issues of the newspaper--I didn't have to scroll long.  On page six of the Telegram for October 1, 1918 I found the story I was looking for.

Check to See if Your Public Library Has a Vertical File or a Clipping File

I am fortunate in that the Worcester Public Library has incredible clipping files.  Does your public library have a vertical file?  While the more recent issues of the Worcester Telegram are the only ones indexed online the clipping files provide some newspaper coverage prior to 1989.  A while back I was trying to find out when St. Mary's School opened, and there was a file on Our Lady of Czestochowa (St. Mary's) in the church section of the Worcester files which led me to an approximate date in the Telegram. From there I was able to scroll through the microfilm for additional information. I also discovered there was a file on my Aunt Rose's business, Cadet Industries.  You never know what you might find, so it behooves you to take a look.

A Database Might Lead You Back to Your Unindexed Hometown Newspaper

I have access to the Boston Globe Historical Archive (1872-1982) through work.  A few weeks ago I decided to do a search on a person involved in a crime in Worcester.  I didn't know exactly when the crime or the court case took place, other than it probably took place sometime in the 1920s.  To my surprise the criminal's name came up in the Globe archive.  I used the date given in the Globe article to find an article in the microfilm around the same date in the Telegram.  I discovered the person was sentenced to seven to 10 years in state prison.  Now I can do further research into criminal records related to the case.  

Don't Assume Your Family Didn't Make News in Other Parts of the Country

We all know what happens when we assume....  

I have GenealogyBank which I love.  When I first started subscribing I searched on Szerejko which is a fairly unique name.  I was surprised to discover my grandmother was mentioned in the Boston Daily Record, the Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), and the Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield, Illinois).  My grandmother witnessed a plane crash in our neighborhood in 1957, and newspapers across the country carried the story. I had completely forgotten about my grandmother's plane crash story until I saw the articles in GenealogyBank.  I was able to get the date from the GenealogyBank articles and search the microfilm of the Telegram for the same date.

Use a Database from a Neighboring Geographic Area

I was looking for information on the Tumbleweed Guest Ranch in West Kill, New York for background info for my post, Tumbleweed Guest Ranch, August 1943.  Since the ranch was in New York, I decided to search Old Fulton Postcards, a newspaper database, to see if I could find info on the ranch.  I found the info I was looking for, and I also found advertisements for the ranch.  I decided to use some of the wording that appeared in the advertisements to see if I could find the same advertisement in other newspaper databases, and voila, I did!  The same advertisement appeared in other newspapers along the East Coast--in Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey.  I wondered how my mom found out about Tumbleweed, given it was located in the Catskills.  Now that I know the dates the advertisement ran in other papers I bet I could go to my local paper, check the same dates, and find a Tumbleweed advertisement in the Worcester Telegram.

Know Which Way Your Local Newspaper Leans

Is there more than one newspaper in town?  If yes, which way does each paper lean? Right or left?  Blue collar or white collar?  Worcester currently only has one daily paper, but it use to have more than one. Back in the day the Worcester Telegram was more the white collar workers' paper (i.e. the paper for the people who owned or ran the factories).  The Worcester Post which is no longer published was the blue collar workers' paper (i.e. the paper for the people who worked in the factories).  I was looking for information on when my grandfather left for camp to be shipped overseas during World War I.  I looked in the Worcester Telegram, and there were general articles talking about young men leaving for war.  When I looked in the Post there were multiple lists of the names of young men heading off to war!  It's important to know what newspaper your ancestors were reading at the time they were alive.

If you haven't tried some of these newspaper search techniques already I hope you do.  While newspaper databases are a great source of information, don't forget or neglect to check those unindexed newspapers as well. Searching them takes a little more time and effort, but the rewards are great and may provide that one tidbit of information that you can't find anywhere else.  

If you have any special techniques for searching unindexed newspapers I'd love to hear from you. Or if  you've written your own blog post about how a particular technique has worked for you feel free to link to your post in the comments section below.

Happy searching!


Other Posts You Might Like:

Reading the Classifieds - Amanuensis Monday
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun...
Visiting the Tenement Museum in NYC - Follow Friday
Picnic! - Wordless Wednesday

More Than Meets The Eye (Again): A Tuesday's Tip Follow Up!

Photo C

(Photographs Privately Held by Cynthia Shenette; Text, Copyright (c) 2012 Cynthia Shenette) A couple of weeks ago I wrote about zooming in on photos to pick up details that might be missed when viewed at a smaller size.  After my initial post, More Than Meets The Eye - Tuesday's Tip, I noticed even more in my photos from Kepno, Poland while looking at them collectively as a group. This seems such a simple thing.  I don't know why I didn't do it before. Maybe I did, but it's been a while since I looked at them all together which brings up another point.  Look at your photos more than once, AND if you have photos that are related to one another in some way consider them collectively as a group.

In general I am fan of "re-reading" documents--letters, diaries or in this case photos--to gain additional insight into the subject in hand.  A letter I read a year or two ago may reveal more information today than it did before, particularly if I've done additional research on the subject in the interim. Context is everything.  If I learn more about the subject or the context of the letter from current research, it makes sense that the same letter if read again may reveal new information with a fresh reading.  This is also true for photos.

For clarity sake I've identified the photos in this post as Photo C and Photo D, so as not to confuse them with Photo A and Photo B in my previous post.  Take a look a Photo C above.  As in the previous post Photo C is one of a number of photos I've been able to figure out are from family and acquaintances in Kepno, Poland.  You can  see another photo of the children without their parents here.  Like the photo I posted for my post Christmas in Poland, 1929 and the photograph of the children, the photographer's stamp on the back of Photo C indicates the photo was taken by the same photographer (Zaklad Fotograficzny / Jan Nawrocki / Kepno, Wlkp. Warszawska 23).  Different families, but the same photographer. Hmm.  Might there be a connection? It could be as simple as there was only one photographer in Kepno during that time period.  It also could mean different branches of the same family used the same photographer or they lived near that particular photographer.

Take another look at Photo B in my original post, More Than Meets The Eye.  Now look at Photo D below. Obviously it's the same building, but this time the photo shows the building under construction.  We know when it was built, because you can see the date on the building at the top.  1933. I mentioned this in my previous post.  I also speculated that the building my have been built by someone in the Walkowski family.  See the initials J.W.? Now zoom in on the men on the scaffolding in Photo D.  When I first looked at this photo I noticed the men in the white construction outfits.  I didn't really pay attention to the man who is second on the right.  It's the same man who is part of the family in Photo C!

Photo D

When I initially sorted all of these items out from my mother's house I put anything that said Kepno or looked like it was related to Kepno together in the same box. As I was looking at all the Kepno photos after my last post I found the small scrap of paper below.  Look at the name and the address on the paper!

Jozef Walkowski / Kepno / Hotel Centralny / ul. Sienkiewicza 11  (or 77) / Polska.  Wow!  (Note to Self: Do not ignore seemingly insignificant scraps of paper!)  I looked for information on Hotel Centralny and ulica (street) Sienkiewicza on the Internet.  No luck on Hotel Centralny, but you can see a picture of ul. Sienkiewicza here and here.  Could the building shown in Photo D be Hotel Centralny?  Hotel Centralny also might be where the Jozef Walkowski family was living while the building in Photo D was being built.  Or it could be another property owned by the Walkowski family. 

What have we learned?  Tomasz Walkowski and Jozef Walkowski might be brothers. Jozef might be the man in Photo D.  If you look at Tomasz who appears in my post, Christmas in Poland, 1929 you'll note the resemblance between the men.  Am I a 100% sure Jozef is the man in Photo D and that Tomasz and Jozef were brothers?  No.  Am I maybe 95% sure?  Yep. Until I get the supporting documentary evidence I can't be a 100% sure, but still it's not bad for a day's work.

Tuesday's Tip: Review your photographs periodically, and if you have a group of photos or materials that seem to be related in some way make sure you view them together and consider the group as a whole.  To quote Aristotle, "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."


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A Comedy of Errors: My Family In the Census (Part 1 of 3)

More Than Meets the Eye - Tuesday's Tip

Photo A

(Original Images and Text, Copyright (c) 2012 Cynthia Shenette)  I have hundreds of photographs.  If you throw slides into the mix I probably have well over a thousand images.  While I'm thrilled to have so many photos I also think it's easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer number of images and miss information or clues some individual photos have to offer.  I didn't really look at this one all that closely until a couple of weeks ago when I posted Christmas in Poland, 1929 for Wordless Wednesday.

Look at the street scene in Photo A.  It's one of several photos I had randomly grouped together from a family I believe to be related to my grandmother's Bulak or Kowalewski family in Kepno, Poland.  I never really looked at the photo that closely before.  The actual size of the physical photo is approximately 3 1/2" x 5 1/2", a little bigger than an index card.  Small it doesn't look like much, does it?  Now zoom in.  Before I tell you what I see take a look for yourself.

I was amazed at the details of the lively scene unfolding.  Look at the business under the sign "W. Piatkowski." I was able to see several of the words clear enough to translate them: wlosow, szczotki, lalek, perfumy, panow, manikure (hair, brush, dolls, perfume, men, manicure).  See the two girls on the steps in their white jackets?  It's a beauty shop!  Check out the business to the left of the beauty shop.  I don't know what it is, but it appears to be at number 30 on the street.  The man walking on the sidewalk is carrying a cane, and there is a man leaning on the back of the car.  The car has a license plate.  There's a lamp in front of the beauty shop.  A gas lamp maybe?  A toddler with what appears to be a rake is standing just to the right of the lamp.  

Look over on the far right side of the photo.  What's going on over there? See the restaurant?  I can make out a few words: piwo, win, herbata, kawa, zimne, cieple (beer, wine, tea, coffee, cold, warm).  Do you see the man in the suit leaning out the window?  Look at the business to the immediate left of the restaurant.  The owner of the business is A. Mazur.  Can you see what's in the window?  Hats!   Apparently A. Mazur was the owner of a hat shop!

See the business to the left of the hat shop?  There's a man holding a baby.  He is standing on the stairs under the awning and a woman is standing behind him. What about the store window?  The writing on the window says "Sklad Obuwia (Composition Shoes) T. Walkowski," and there is a display of shoes on a shoe tree.  Take another look at my post, Christmas in Poland 1929.  The man in the photo is Tomasz Walkowski!  Now I know what business he is in!  Shoes!  I also know from family letters Tomasz Walkowski was fairly well off and owned several apartment buildings in Kepno.

Look at Photo B.  What do you see?  Zoom in...

Photo B

The people on the sidewalk look like one family.  Or are they?  This photo was also taken in Kepno.  Seven children!  Wow!  At least that's what I thought.  The funny thing is that other photos I have of this family only include four children. I asked my cousin Marek, who is from Poland, to take a look at the photo and see what he thought.  Not surprisingly he saw something I didn't.  Look on the first balcony above the people standing on the street.  What I thought were flowers are actually children standing on the balcony!  Marek also noticed something else that I didn't.  See the white plaque to the right of the door?  When you zoom in closer it looks as if the plaque has a Polish eagle on it.  Marek told me that plaques like that are used to identify government buildings.  He thought the children in the photo might be from a government school or orphanage.  Some of the children standing with the family group might not be part of the family!

What else does Photo B tell us?  Do you see the words Mleczarnia Kepnie? It's some kind of a dairy shop.  See the man and the two women on the balcony above Mleczarnia Kepnie?  Now look at the very top of the building with the children.  Do you know when the building was built? 1933, and probably by someone with the initials J.W.  Could W. stand for Walkowski?  Another possible lead to follow up on...

Tuesday's Tip:  Look at your photos closely and more than once. Zoom in to see the details.  Have someone else look at your photos to see if he or she sees something that you do not, and if you are not familiar with a location ask someone else who might be.   Sometimes there's more to a photo than you might initially think.   Maybe you will see something today that you didn't see yesterday!


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Got Dissertations? - Tuesday's Tip

(Copyright (c) 2011 Cynthia Shenette) Have you considered using PhD dissertations and master's theses to aid your research? I will admit, I hadn't really thought about them either until recently. If you have an institution of higher learning in your area that offers PhD and/or master's degree programs check out their online library catalog for dissertation or thesis titles that might relate to your topic or add historical context to your research. Schools with degree programs in women's studies, geography, economics, sociology, and especially history all may have something to offer the family history researcher.

Students in master's and PhD programs often research and write about topics where original source material is close at hand. In my case I found two publications particularly useful. They provide context and historical background for my family history research previously undiscovered elsewhere. One thesis I found was "Polish Groups in Worcester County, Their Adjustments to American Life and Environment," by Agrippina A. Macewicz, completed in 1948. A dissertation, "A History of the Worcester War Price and Rationing Board," written by Edith Rose Kaufman in 1951 was also of interest. My mom worked for the Worcester Ration Board during World War II. Dissertations and theses usually contain fairly extensive bibliographies which you will also want to review for additional source material.

If you do decide to look for dissertations at your local university library, I strongly suggest you call or e-mail the library before your visit to enquire as to their specific policies on loaning or accessing materials to patrons outside of the university community. Theses and dissertations do not circulate at some institutions or may be part of a special collection. If they are part of a special collection, you will want to ask what hours the special collections area is open and accessible to the public.

Tuesday's Tip: Check for theses and dissertations at your local university library. Don't forget to review the publication's footnotes and bibliography for additional or related source material.


References:

Kaufman, Edith Rose. "A History of the Worcester War Price and Rationing Board," 1951, Dissertation, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts.

Macewitz, Agrippina A. "Polish Groups in Worcester County, Their Adjustments to American Life and Environment," 1948, Master's Thesis, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts.


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Madness Monday: The Stuff We Throw Away, and...
Does Your Public Library Have a Vertical File? - Tuesday's Tip
Tombstone Tuesday: Jacob Riis, Riverside Cemetery, Barre, MA
Treasure Chest Thursday: Travel Diary, Poland 1937

Does Your Public Library Have a Vertical File? - Tuesday's Tip

(Copyright (c) 2011 Cynthia Shenette) Back in the old days (we're talking the mid to late 1980s), when I started working in libraries, we had something called a "vertical file" at my library. It was kind of an archaic form of the Internet except way, way, way, way smaller--all the information was contained inside of one filing cabinet. Vertical files were often used to organize articles, pamphlets, reports, and other items that might be of interest to library patrons. Many libraries eliminated their vertical files when easy access to the same or better quality information became available on the Internet. It was kind of like turning in your horse and buggy for a Lamborghini. For most, though not all, intents and purposes the concept of the vertical file has become obsolete.

Some libraries have retained their vertical files or portions of them for people researching local history and genealogy. The wonderful folks at the Worcester Public Library realised the value of the biographical/local history information in the library files. While more recent issues of our local newspaper, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, are indexed and accessible electronically older issues are not. The Worcester Biography File offers a wealth of information on people with Worcester connections, and the Worcester Clipping File offers information on a variety of Worcester subjects. The files don't contain information on everything and everyone, but they sure offer a lot of information which is difficult or cumbersome to access in other ways. I use the clipping files for the info in the files and to figure out where and when events took place. I look for the date of an event in one of the files and then go the microfilm of the newspaper for that date for additional coverage.

Tuesday's Tip: Ask the librarian at your public library if they have some kind of a clipping/vertical file. You'll be glad you did. That little red Lamborghini's sure is pretty, but sometimes the horse and buggy will do the job just fine.


Other Posts You Might Like:

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Tuesday's Tip: "Ask A Librarian" Service at Your Public Library
Tombstone Tuesday: Jacob Riis, Riverside Cemetery, Barre, MA
Madness Monday: The Stuff We Throw Away, and...

Tuesday's Tip: Consider Adding Links to Your Blog

(Copyright (c) 2010 Cynthia Shenette) About a week ago, in my post Follow Friday: Routine Maintenance, I mentioned that I planned to check all of my links and do some maintenance on my blog. In a comment to my post Greta Koehl of Greta's Genealogy Bog said, "I need to put up more of the links I regularly use. I have intended to do this for quite a while, but have not gotten around to it. I find the links on other blogs very helpful and wish more people had links on their blogs." I agree with Greta wholeheartedly on this. I too find the links on people's geneablogs very helpful. If I find a blogger who has discovered something via a link I find particularly interesting or would be useful to my research I add it to my blog.

When I updated my template back in the spring, one of the things I looked for was a template that offered the ability to add a number of links. I use my blog not only as my blog but as my web page as well. I write my blog posts, read the geneablogs I follow, and use my links section as a gateway to the resources I use on a regular basis. One stop shopping so to speak.

More important than the "big" databases that everyone uses, at least I think, are those local, regional, ethnic, and sometimes quirky resources that I might not know about otherwise. A while back Apple of Apple's Tree, in her post David, Daniel, Donald!, mentioned Old Fulton Postcards which covers newspapers from the state of New York. While most of my research centers around Polish, French-Canadian, and New England sources, I occasionally research New York family/ancestors. All I could say was wow when I checked Old Fulton Postcards! What a gold mine of information. I found information there that I hadn't found elsewhere. I promptly added Old Fulton Postcards to my list of links.

Tip for the Day: Check out the links at the bottom of my blog. Maybe you'll discover something new and useful to your research. Share your favorite links by adding them to your blog. Maybe you'll help another geneablogger discover new information as well.


Other Posts You Might Like:

Tuesday's Tip: A Tale of Two Indexers
Tuesday's Tip: "Ask a Librarian" Service at Your Public Library
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Letters and Photos and Stuff, Oh My!: Sorting Through a Loved One's Estate (Part 1)

Tuesday's Tip: "Ask a Librarian" Service at Your Public Library

(Copyright (c) 2010 Cynthia Shenette) Have you used the "Ask a Librarian" service at your public library? It's a wonderful service offered by many public libraries around the country. If you haven't used it I suggest you try it out, and if you have I'd love to hear about your experience. I used it recently when I was looking for some statistics on the population of Katowice, Poland for my post Trip to Poland, 1937 (An Ongoing Series): Katowice.

I'm a librarian myself, and B.C. (Before Child) spent 11 years in reference. Believe me, reference librarians live for this stuff. I usually do my own research, because I love doing it, but one night was at home and knew because of scheduling issues I wasn't going to be able to get down to the library for several days. I had a brilliant thought. Why not check out the "Ask a Librarian" service at the public library? I filled out their online form around 10:00 p.m., and bada bing bada boom, the next morning there was my answer in an e-mail response. I followed it up with another question and promptly got a second reply. I love those people.

Here are my tips for using your "Ask a Librarian" service successfully:

~ read and follow the directions for an e-mail query
~ provide as much information as you can to give the librarian a real idea of what you are looking for, but also try to be as precise and succinct as possible
~ tell the librarian what resources you've already checked for information
~ be patient as sometimes it may take a day or two or even a week or two to receive your answer
~ be polite, and a follow-up thank you e-mail is always nice

Be aware that some questions lend themselves to e-mail queries more readily than others. My population question was pretty straightforward. Librarians may not, or in some cases will not, do extensive research for you, at least free of charge. If you provide an exact citation for an obit they will probably be able to help you out. If you say, "I think my John Smith died sometime in 1902," but you're not sure of the particulars and there isn't an easily accessible index to the newspaper where the obit might have appeared, they may not be able to help you. Believe it or not, not all old newspapers are indexed or online. Take some of my local Worcester, MA papers for example. Librarians simply don't have time to do extensive research for every patron. That being said, "Ask a Librarian" is a wonderful service. Try it out.

Now I'm off to do research. I live for this stuff...


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Tuesday's Tip: A Tale of Two Indexers

(Copyright (c) 2010 Cynthia Shenette) In the last week or so I renewed my search for an Aleksander Szerejko. I don't know for certain, but I believe Alexander may be my great-grandfather Leonard Szerejko's brother. I'm trying to tie Aleksander, Leonard, and a Victoria Szerejko together as siblings. For info on Victoria see my previous post What's in a Name? (An Ongoing Series) : Radziewicz. I discovered the Ancestry immigration collection was available for free over the Labor Day weekend, so I decided to take advantage of the offer rather than wait for my next trip to the library.

I did a bit of searching and eventually came up with a record for an Alexander Szorescko from Warchau. My grandfather and my great-grandfather were from Warsaw, so it makes sense that the Aleksander I'm searching might be from Warsaw. Warschau is the German translation of Warsaw--the ship set sail from the German port of Hamburg. Again, it makes sense that the person writing the information from a German port might write the name of the city in German.

The other night I jumped over to Steve Morse's One Step site to search the Ellis Island site from there. I found the following: Alexander Storeako from Warshon. Same person and the same record, but a different interpretation of the handwriting.

I looked more closely at the record. What do I see when I look at the record? I see Alexander Szoreako from Warshau. Three different people interpreted the same record in three different ways. I'm still not convinced Alexander Szorecsko or Alexander Storeako or Alexander Szoreako is my Aleksander Szerejko, but it gives me something to go on at this point.

Tip for the Day: If you can't find the record you are looking for using one database, try another database that searches the same set of records or record groups. Maybe you'll find it there.