Introduction: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega gives search tips for keeping track of which newspaper articles you’ve already seen and which are new to you. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.”

You’ve conducted a search for your ancestors in historical newspapers on the GenealogyBank website. You notice the relevant results. You add new information to your family tree or perhaps save it to your computer (or both). You then go on to do more research, or you take a break. Days, weeks, or months pass by and you decide to repeat that search, because GenealogyBank continually adds new content.

That’s a great idea – but how can you guarantee you’re not looking at the same newspaper article again?

Photo credit: https://depositphotos.com/home.html

Yes, Search Again

GenealogyBank never stops adding to its collection. Articles on the GenealogyBank blog at the beginning of each month detail the new newspaper content added to the website. Because new newspapers are being regularly added, as well as back issues of newspapers already on the site, you’ll want to take some time every so often to repeat your searches to see if you might find a new historical newspaper article about your ancestor.

Aside from the newly added content on GenealogyBank, you’ll want to revisit your searches for other reasons, including:

• To search by a misspelling (or creative spelling) of your ancestor’s first name or surname
• To search by initials and surname
• To narrow your search by a different location or multiple locations
• To narrow your search by a specific date or date range
• To add a keyword to include or exclude

Your genealogy research plan should include searching for your ancestor at regular intervals, whether that be every month, every six months, once a year or whenever you see that new newspapers have been added. You want to make sure you don’t miss that important newspaper article that will break down the family brick wall. Newspaper research on GenealogyBank is not a “one and done” prospect.

How Do I Know If I Already Saw That Historical Newspaper Article?

There are a few ways to keep track of what newspaper articles you’ve already looked at on GenealogyBank.

A Research Log

A research log helps you keep track of what sources you’ve already looked at and what the result was. You could create a research log for researching one ancestor or a family. You can also create a research log for just your newspaper results for one ancestor or a family (a newspaper research log can be helpful when you find that your ancestor or family was mentioned in the newspaper more times than you can imagine). If you’re not familiar with research logs, see my previous article on the topic.

Add to Your Family Tree

Adding the newspaper articles you find to your family tree is another way to keep track of what you discover on the GenealogyBank website. Now, if you’re like me, you may decide not to add every newspaper article you find, so those that you do attach to your tree won’t be a complete list of all you have found.

Why wouldn’t you add every newspaper article you find to your family tree? A longer explanation is for another blog article, but suffice it to say some newspaper articles might be duplicative (like probate notices or land purchases) and are repeated over several days or weeks. You might also come across a newspaper article on topics that you don’t want added to your family tree (perhaps they won “Best in Show” every year for their handmade quilt at the local county fair). I love that kind of information, but 10 annual articles on the topic might feel “too much” for your family tree.

Notice What GenealogyBank Shows You

Have you repeated a search? You might notice on the GenealogyBank website that those results you’ve seen before “look” different than new results.

For example, here is a screenshot of search results showing two articles that I’ve clicked on before. Notice they look greyed out, as a visual reminder that I’ve already seen these two articles.

This next screenshot of search results shows six articles: three I’ve seen before, and three that are new to me. The new results I haven’t seen before look “newer.” They are black and white, whereas the articles I’ve seen and clicked on before are greyed out. In addition, the previously viewed results show the date I viewed them. This color-coded results list makes it easy to see immediately which newspaper results you’ve seen before and which are new-to-you.

Search, View, Repeat

In order to conduct exhaustive searches, you’ll want to repeat your GenealogyBank search at regular intervals so that you can identify new-to-you newspaper articles. GenealogyBank makes it easy to identify which are new results and which are results you’ve already looked at. Take advantage of this tool as you conduct your newspaper research.

Create a free account at GenealogyBank for 7 days to start your genealogy journey and discover the stories your ancestors left behind.

Note on the header image: a stack of newspapers. Credit: https://depositphotos.com/home.html