Unlocking family stories - newspapers and magazines

In Australia we have a wonderful tool for locating newspaper articles - Trove http://trove.nla.gov.au

Trove allows you to search for items, including digitised documents and images, held in major collections in Australia.

When searching for newspaper articles I usually use the Advanced Search screen to begin the search.

A search for information about a property named Rosemount near Neurum in Queensland produced the following item published in Queensland Country Life in November 1949.

As well as providing a copy of the article in the newspaper, Trove provides an electronically translated copy. Members of the public can register as Trove users and make any corrections to the text.

As well as articles, birth death and marriage records in newspapers can be useful.

A search for information relating to the death of my great grandmother led to a death notice in a Queensland newspaper which provided information about a daughter who had not appeared in other family records. This led to looking in Trove to uncover information about the life of the daughter.

Trove also includes access to images held in Australian collections.

A search for Simeon Lord provided records for a number of images.

The search also produced images of objects - an ear trumpet and a bottle opener - once owned by Simeon's family, now held at the Powerhouse Museum.

Copies of the Australian Women's Weekly from 1933 to 1982 have recently been digitised and made available online on Trove. As well as doing a normal search in Trove for articles it is possible to browse issues of the magazine providing an insite into life in Australia at different times - http://trove.nla.gov.au/aww

Many library websites also provide their members access to databases of British newspapers. Check library websites for details.

A search for articles on the Indian mutiny in 1857 produced a wide selection of articles. Remember that this was not the time of instant news so it may be necessary to search months after an event for newspaper articles.

The State Library of Victoria has also been digitising a number of publications including the proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, the Victorian Historical Journal and the Football Record - http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/our-collections/digitised-collections

Check other library websites for digitisation projects.