RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 11, 2015
KINSEARCHING
by
Marleta Childs
P. O. Box 6825
LUBBOCK, TX 79493-6825
[email protected]
Newspapers are often a great source for information pertaining to family history. They may even provide details that are not available elsewhere. In addition, they can furnish data that give context for the life and times of one’s ancestors. Genealogists researching Teutonic forebears may locate many papers useful in their research in Ernest Thode’s new book, HISTORIC GERMAN NEWSPAPERS ONLINE.
As Thode points out, approximately 2,000 historic German-language newspapers are now available online at numerous public, private, and commercial websites. Hosts of the websites include libraries, universities, museums, and institutions. Many of the sites have English language interfaces.
The newspapers range from large to small, daily to weekly, and national to local. They also include trade and government papers as well as occupational papers for architects, bookbinders, farmers, gardeners, railroad men, saddlers, and tailors. Although some of the newspapers listed are found as far afield as Argentina, Australia, China, Tanzania, Turkey, and the United States, most of them are from Germany and the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The book is divided into two parts. In the first section, the compiler sorts the German-language newspapers by current country, town or city of publication, title of the paper, and miscellaneous notes. For example, the Viennese Cur-Liste Bad Ische lists guests at the spa while the Gemeindeblatt der Israelitischen Gemeinde Frankfurt am Main is a Jewish congregational paper. In the second part, he sorts German-language newspaper by title, place of publication, the range of years available online, and key to the website.
All of the German-language newspapers listed are at least fifty years old. Many are older and some go as far back as the eighteenth century. The Austrian National Library, for instance, hosts a site that has millions of digitized pages in hundreds of titles from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The extensive material encompasses the years 1700-1875 and 1914-1918, the era of World War I.
Thode’s new guide will lead researchers to billions of fully searchable, digitized pages that contain information about millions of individuals. HISTORIC GERMAN NEWSPAPERS ONLINE is a unique reference work which will be useful to genealogists and historians alike.
The 233-page book has soft covers, an introduction which supplies detailed information about prominent sites and hosts, and a key to sites and their URLs. To the book's price of $24.95, buyers should add the cost for postage and handling charges. For U. S. postal mail, the cost is $5.50 for one book and $2.50 for each additional copy; for FedEx ground service, the cost is $7.50 for one copy and $2.50 for each additional book. The volume (item order #5756) may be purchased by check, money order, MasterCard, or Visa from Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 3600 Clipper Mill Rd., Suite 260, Baltimore, Maryland 21211-1953. For phone orders, call toll free 1-800-296-6687; fax 1-410-752-8492; website at www.genealogical.com.