We’ve all been there before – so excited to search and browse through historic newspapers online, but not quite sure how to use the search function, zoom in and out, or print an article. Well, we’ve got some good news! The National Digital Newspaper Program in Ohio at the Ohio Historical Society has created a series of podcasts explaining the basic functions of the Library of Congress’ and National Endowment for the Humanities’ Chronicling America historic newspaper site, as well as two new videos that focus on how to perform an efficient keyword search in Chronicling America. For those specifically interested in Oregon history, the Historic Oregon Newspapers website newspaper viewer and search page are modeled after Chronicling America, so the podcasts and video tutorials will help users of both websites.

“Using Chronicling America” podcast series:

• 11 podcasts about Chronicling America:

Keyword search tutorial videos:

• Any vs. All vs. Phrase Searching – S.S. Sultana Disaster (the worst maritime disaster in American history)
• Searching by a Specific Date – Death of Ray Chapman (the only Major League Baseball player to die from being struck by a ball)

Searching and browsing through historic newspaper archives such as Historic Oregon Newspapers and Chronicling America can be fun, interesting, and educational, but have you ever wondered about the history of American newspapers? Although Oregon was the first state on the West Coast to produce a newspaper (Oregon City’s Oregon Spectator, first published on February 5, 1846), states on the East Coast, such as New York and Pennsylvania, had already been printing the news for decades!

The University of Illinois’ History, Philosophy and Newspaper Library has created several short videos focusing on the history of newspapers in the United States before the Civil War. The newest videos, each roughly 20 minutes long, are entitled:  “Introduction to American Newspapers, 1800-1860,” “American Newspapers, 1800-1860: City Papers,” and “American Newspapers, 1800-1860: Country Papers.” These and other informational videos are available online through the library’s guide on Antebellum American Newspapers (http://uiuc.libguides.com/content.php?pid=240860) or via YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/HPNLuiuc).