Prior to 1885 most births deaths, or marriages in Pennsylvania were not officially recorded by state or local governments. Local newspapers took on the role of documenting these events. In some cases specialized indexes are available (see the section on Vital Records, and the description of the Pennsylvania Room below). In most other cases you will need to find a newspaper for the region you are interested in and browse.
Discover newspapers available in the Penn State libraries. The collection is particularly strong in historic Pennsylvania newspapers.
The University Libraries provide access to many newspaper titles in print, electronic, and microfilm formats. Use NewsFinder to locate newspapers in any format and location within the University Libraries collections.
Material from the obituaries section of the Centre Daily Times.
The Index includes only obituaries or death notices included in the obituary section of the Centre Daily Times, 1937-1995, and does not include news stories about deaths that appeared in other sections.
Includes text from the Pennsylvania Gazette and the Pennsylvania Newspaper Record, Delaware County
Accessible Archives provides access to the full texts of articles from a selection of 18th & 19th century American newspapers (more than 175,000 articles). The newspapers selected are especially useful for researching African American, women's studies, and Pennsylvania topics but can also help with many other types of historical research. Keywords: Civil War, colonial, revolution, Revolutionary War, abolition, abolitionists, slavery.
Thousands of news sources. Dates of coverage vary, but most of the content is from 1980 and later. Some sources may be selective and not include features such as obituaries.
The electronic editions of record for local, regional, and national U.S. newspapers as well as full-text content of key international sources -- all in one easy-to-search database with a world map. Each provides unique coverage of local and regional news, including companies, politics, sports, industries, cultural activities, and people in the community, as well as a distinctive focus offering a variety of viewpoints on local and world issues. Also includes limited streaming video.
Readex's Early American Newspapers (1690-1922) is a unique, web-based archive of Americana that provides a fascinating glimpse into our nation's past. The Early American Newspaper Collection will feature the images and full-text content from scores of historical publications.
Includes full-text from the Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001) and the Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002)
Twelve historical black newspapers: Atlanta Daily World (1931-2010); Baltimore Afro-American (1893-2010); Chicago Defender (1910-2010); Cleveland Call and Post (1934-2010); Kansas City Call, (1919-2010); Louisville Defender‎, (1951-2010); Michigan Chronicle (1939-2010); New York Amsterdam News (1922-2010); Norfolk Journal & Guide (1916-2010); Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2010); Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2010); and Los Angeles Sentinel (1934-2010)
a national collection of digital newspapers including Pennsylvania papers from around the state.
A searchable full-text collection of hundreds of papers selected by U.S. states as part of the Library of Congress National Digital Newspaper Program. Dates range from 1789 to 1922, but available content varies for each newspaper. Searches can be limited by state, newspaper, language, or date. The site also includes a separately searchable newspaper directory which provides information about American newspapers published from 1690 to the present. Directory searches can be used to identify newspapers by place of publication, date, keyword, frequency, language, and type of newspaper.
Newspapers published before, during and after the Civil War - spanning from the 1840s to the 1870s.
Provides access to a selection of Pennsylvania newspapers published during the critical years before, during, and after the U.S. Civil War. The dates of coverage vary by the paper. Some publications go back to the late 1840's, others extend beyond the Civil War into the early Reconstruction years. The digital reproductions include all words, photographs, and advertisements as well as an exact page image of the newspaper. For readers who prefer to see the newspapers intact, each issue can be browsed by date. In addition to national issues such as war, abolition, and slavery, readers will find many articles documenting political and social life on the home front. These include topics such as recreational and social events, sports, prose, and local business and economic news.
Houses a collection of newspaper obituaries as part of the Spangler Genealogical Papers, as well as Obituary Notebooks and Indexes for the Center Daily Times, the Centre Democrat and other local publications. Years of coverage vary. See the Web site for the Pennsylvania Room, or call the Museum at: (814) 355-1516.