Newspapers and Periodicals

Old newspapers can be a valuable research resource. Members of Edinburgh Libraries have access to a range of Online Resources, including free on-line searches of The Scotsman newspaper from its inception in 1817.

The British Newspaper Archive can be accessed for free at Edinburgh Central Library or by paid subscription on-line for about £13 per month.

The Times Digital Archive is available as an on-line resource for library members but it will probably be more effective to search all Edinburgh newspapers via the British Newspaper Archive.

(See below for more information on accessing these.)

Again try searching newspapers for your specific address e.g. "31 Albany Street". (if available, limit search to end of 1900 for example to reduce the found mentions). This will bring up lots of property sale information, but it can be worth working through the links as you may come across information that might otherwise not emerge, such as an unrecorded lodger at the property; fascinating information such as how much your house sold for in the 19th century; births marriages and deaths related to the property; or news reports of a crime.

Then carry out advanced searches for the resident(s) in a similar way to other searches.

The Scotsman (free on-line use for Edinburgh Libraries members)

http://yourlibrary.edinburgh.gov.uk/scotsmandigitalarchive

Clicking on this will take you to the site. Then click on the ‘Go to – Scotsman’ button and, when prompted, type in your membership number.

Click on ‘Historical Newspapers’ and then click on ‘Proquest Historical Newspapers The Scotsman’ and you will be taken to the search page.

It is likely to be more effective if you use the Advanced Search facility e.g. name and occupation. This allows primary searches in the main box (using quotation marks for names) plus relevant keywords in the AND box. Also there are various options in the Publication date and a useful one is 'Before this date' or 'Specific date range'.

Again trying different combination of keywords in the search can be helpful. A search for "Dr Mackintosh" AND Albany Street brings up four entries. Clicking on each will open up a page as below (this, the death notice for one of his children)

There is an option to save each found mention as a PDF. (see here for using PDFs) Also if you click on ‘Page View – PDF’ this will bring up the whole newspaper page which also can be saved.

Times Digital Archive (free on-line use for Edinburgh Libraries members)

(http://yourlibrary.edinburgh.gov.uk/timesdigitalarchive

This contains every issue of The Times newspaper from 1785 to 2006 and also is available on line to Edinburgh Library members. Similar process to The Scotsman resource.

The British Newspaper Archive (free on-line use at Edinburgh Central Library or by paid subscription on-line £12.95 per month)

http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

This archive enables you to search all newspapers and by advanced searching in the newspapers and periodicals published in Edinburgh can provide valuable information. As a month’s membership can be enough to track all the available information, this is well worth considering.