4. Local Unpublished Newspaper Indexes and Morgues
Many state and local historical societies index newspapers in local card files, vertical files, etc. They usually will answer reference questions by letter, phone or email. Occasionally these local indexes are available via the Web. There are two major Massachusetts collective indexes.
Newspaper Indexes/Archives/Morgues provides links to Web versions of local indexes.Find historical societies in:
- Cyndi's List
- State Archives & Historical Societies
- United States Historical Societies Directory
- USGenWeb Project State Pages
Directory of historical organizations in the United States and Canada.
LOCATION: Schlesinger: Ref. 973.025 A512 Library has: 14th ed.
LOCATION: Widener: RR 3621.66 Latest (WID-LC E172.A1 D7x Earlier)
Lists of local indexes are given below, but it is often better to look at the web sites, contact the likely organizations and ask if they have an index.
A guide to newspaper indexes in New England
LOCATION: Widener: WID-LC AI3.Z99 N48 x, 1978
Hansen, J. L. "Research in newspapers". Pp. 413-438 in The source: a guidebook of American genealogy, by L. D. Szucs & S. H. Luebking. Rev. ed. Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry, 1996. Includes bibliography of mainly local newspaper indexes, especially those indexing genealogical information.
LOCATION: Widener: RR 1905.27.5
Massachusetts Newspapers. A Directory of Daily Publications, 1815 - 2001 lists papers and indexes.
Milner, Anita Cheek. Newspaper indexes: a location and subject guide for researchers. 1977.
LOCATION: Baker Business: Z6951.M635 Library has: v.1-2.
LOCATION: Loeb Design: Z6951.M635
LOCATION: Widener: RR 681.25.5 Library has: v. 1-3
LOCATION: Documents (Lamont): Ref AI3.Z99 M55 1977x Library has: v. 1-2
Newspaper morgues, that is, clippings files accumulated by newspapers for their own use, that have been preserved in repositories are listed in Newspaper Indexes/Archives/Morgues.
Massachusetts Collective Indexes
Beebe Communications Library (Boston University) Boston Herald newspaper morgue (late 1800s-early 1980s) at the George H. Beebe Communication Library, College of Communication, Boston University, 640 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston 02215-9991; tel 617 353-7649. Half the files are arranged by subject, half by biography. The files are in storage and must be requested by file name (or person's name) except the five file cabinets on Boston, which are kept on-site and which are subdivided by subject.
- Boston Globe
- Boston Herald
- Boston Herald Traveller
- Boston Post
- Christian Science Monitor.
- New York Times
Obituary Card File (1932-41, 1953- ) indexes obituaries (not death notices) in the Boston Globe and the Herald. Entries for 1971-74 and 1983-2002 are available online in the Obituary Database.
LOCATION: Microtext Reading Room, Boston Public Library.
Zimmer Index (1878-1937, a few entries earlier and later) is a card file indexing articles of Massachusetts interest, including obituaries, political news, speeches and other public events, etc. Not all the papers were indexed for the whole period. The Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and Boston Post were indexed most reliably. Online version: Zimmer Index Digitization Project: An Index to Late 19th/Early 20th Massachusetts Newspaper Articles.
Includes:
- Boston Advertiser
- Boston Globe
- Boston Herald
- Boston Journal
- Boston Post
- Boston Transcript
- Cambridge Chronicle
- Dorchester Beacon
- New York Post
- New York Times
- Somerville Journal
- Springfield Republican
- Worcester Telegram
