Indiana Newspaper Archives

Areas to Search in Indiana Newspapers

Just about every section in the newspaper has the potential to give you some kind of information. This is one time that you get to play detective and piece bits of information together. It's like a puzzle.

Depending on the type of information you are looking for, you will need to look in specific sections. If you aren't sure or you just want to see what's there, then go ahead and search the whole thing.

But for the sake of organization, here are some great sections to check out:

Academics and School

• Attendance Rolls
• Class Reunions
• Community School Events
• Dean's List
• Graduates
• Honor Rolls
• Teachers

Business

• Business Announcements
• Business Openings
• Local Business News

Church

• Church New Members
• Church News
• New Church or Church Plants

Deaths

• Death Notices
• Funerals
• Obituaries

Marriages, Anniversaries, and Births

• Anniversaries
• Birth Announcements
• Elopements
• Marriage/Wedding Announcements

Meetings

• Minutes of Meetings (county, city, etc.)
• "Old Settler" meetings
• School Board Meetings/Minutes

Community

• Club Announcements
• Community Highlights
• Letters to the Editor
• Organization Events
• Political Events
• Social Announcements
• War Time Volunteers
• News from Soldiers
• Indentured Servants

Court and Legal

• Arrest Reports
• Court Dockets
• Court Filings
• Jury Lists
• Legal Notices
• Personal Notices
• Police Blotters
• Tax Delinquencies
• Tax Lists

Property

• Bankruptcies
• Estate Settlements
• Foreclosures
• Probate Notices
• Public Auctions
• Real Estate Transactions

Travel

• Hotel Guest Lists
• Immigrant Card
• Ship Arrivals
• Train Schedules

Tips for Searching Indiana Newspapers Online

Now it's time to dive into a search in an Indiana state newspaper archive. Before you get started though, here are a few last-minute tips that will make the process go a lot smoother.

• Expand your geographical search. Don't limit your search solely to the papers in your relative's hometown or other known locations, spread out! Search towns and settlements in the surrounding areas. Searching the areas that you know is a good start, but it shouldn't end there. It was not uncommon for news stories to travel, being picked up by various newspapers, especially if the person featured in the story had family in that area or had once lived there.
• Expand your familial search. It may seem like the best course of action is to focus on your direct ancestors only. And if you prefer that, that's fine. But searching siblings, in-laws, and extended family can provide you with key information on those direct ancestors. It's worth a shot anyway.
• Narrow your search. It is not unusual to get a lot of search results on some names, especially if they are common like Smith or Jackson. The problem is, you then have to wade through them all and weed out the ones that are not related to your search. You can avoid some of the data flood by narrowing your search. Include middle names, maiden names, city names, and other specific information. This will give you more relevant results.
• Spell creatively. In the early days journalists took handwritten notes, many documents were handwritten, and this leaves a lot of room for errors in spelling. Peters could be recorded as Paters. Smith could be recorded as Smite. It can make your search a little challenging but not if you stay ahead of the game. When you search, use different spellings of the name.
• Keep the "Mrs. husband's name" trend in mind. Up until the 1950s and even into the 60s and 70s many married women would take on their husband's name – literally. Sally Smith Brown married Donovan Brown and she would write her name as Mrs. Donovan Brown.
• Stories aren't always published on the day they occurred. Often a story will run days or even weeks after the event happened. This was especially true in the early days and with smaller newspapers. So, when you search, expand your timeline at least a few weeks after the event occurred. Often small newspapers will publish at certain times, meaning that they could appear weeks later.
• Expand your dates. You may have specific dates but that doesn't mean that you can do an adequate search with those dates. Sometimes dates got recorded wrong or were incomplete, so give yourself a little cushion and keep the dates flexible.