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Subject: [MDALLEGA] Newspaper Archive, Ancestry, Godfrey...some differences
Date: Sat, 16 Sep 2006 07:56:01 EDT

The source material for is the same, but the "draw" has some
differences---the date ranges for some papers is different, with Newspaper Archive
apparently having the broader span on some papers. Godfrey's subscription includes
the same title/span draw as that of Newspaper Archive, which is the source.
Ancestry's draw for some of the papers that I've routinely searched through is
somewhat less.

As one lister pointed out, the "gibberish" that comes up in the text hits is
due to the way the Optical Recognition software scans for your term(s).
What's useful is that--at least in my own experience--you get enough blurb to
see whether it's going to be worth your while to pull up the page. My surname
is Fletcher, so I get an AWFUL lot of hits for castoria ads! But, that's
life. If, though, my terms are "Fletcher died"--in quotes (the Boolean
method)--you get text hits for any sequence on ONE page of the paper being searched
where those two words appear in THAT order. There are ways to "thin the herd"
here. There's a "search tips" menu there that has additional ideas and
methods.

If you're searching particular papers, like those for Cumberland and Bedford
for example, and you're reasonably sure that you SHOULD be getting hits for
your family in the years/months being searched, using the search engine at
Newspaper Archive can help you go through a paper pretty quickly. The
"gibberish" text grab should show you enough to know whether it's worth the time to
pull up the entire page. After that, you can magnify and isolate whichever
portion of the page has your article, and print off just that portion that you
want. Or, you can print the entire newspaper page. You do have a choice.

I played a lot with what I've mentioned above, and much of it I learned
through trial and error. The Historic Newspaper option for my Ancestry
subscription has now lapsed, and I've not yet renewed it. For me, it's been easier to
have that quick view for each text hit rather than have to pull up each
complete page for each one to see just what I've got. Newspaper Archive's search
engine method is just quicker for me. Takes a little getting used to, just
like any tool that's new to you.

David in Richmond, VA

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