Prince Edward Island Ancestors: Island Newspapers

Posted byCandice McDonaldPosted inUncategorizedTags:,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Prince_Edward_Island

If you have been researching Prince Edward Island ancestors for a while, then you probably know about this site. But for those just starting out, you should bookmark Island Newspapers. The site is a partnership between the University of Prince Edward Island Robertson Library, the Guardian Newspaper, Island Archives, and Islandora.

http://islandnewspapers.ca/home

Home 

On the home screen you can see that first there\’s a link to purchase 125 Years Through Our Eyes, a publication by the Guardian newspaper. Clinking on the image brought me to the dreaded 404 Not Found screen.

Next is the This Day in History link. here they feature a past issue of a newspaper. Today\’s issue is the 20 October 1917 issue of The Charlottetown Guardian. You will be able to see each individual page of the issue. Clicking on a particular page will take you to a new screen where you can zoom in and out. You also have the option of saving your zoomed in image by right clicking with the mouse. Most of the front page in this particular issue deals with war news of course, but there are some local news as well:

http://islandnewspapers.ca/islandora/object/guardian%3A19171020-001

Next link is the Directory of Island Newspapers. Here you can access individual newspaper histories. I clicked on the Advertiser, and found out that it ran from 1946 to 1854. It was published by John T. Pippy, and was the amalgamation of the Semi-Weekly Advertiser and the Morning News. It was published semi weekly.

The rest of the home page right now is a feature on electoral coverage from 1900-1962. It shows the issues of the Guardian published the day after the general election. The banners above the top of each issue showing the year is either red for a Liberal win that election, or blue for a Conservative win. The front page is showing, but click on that issue, and you\’ll have the ability to look at each individual page of that particular issue.

Browse 

Here you can browse individual newspapers. They are listed according to publication start year. In all there are 10 newspapers available for browsing. Some are actually two newspapers grouped together:

  • Royal Gazette (1830- )
  • British American (1832-1833)
  • Colonial Herald and Price Edward Island Advertiser (1837-1844)
  • Morning News and Semi Weekly Advertiser (1843-1846)
  • Haszard\’s Gazette (1851-1851)
  • Charlottetown Herald (1864-1923)
  • Summerside Journal  (1865-1951)
  • Guardian (1890- )
  • Cadre (1969-1977)
  • Gem (1983-1990)
Search 

Here you can search all available newspapers for specific terms. I typed \”Aylward\”, which is surname in my family tree. Now my Aylwards left PEI in the early 1800\’s, so I did not expect to get anything actually relevant to my own research. I got 1,379 hits. On the left side of the results screen, I had the ability to narrow my results down. You can narrow by century, decade, year, month, date issued, and finally by page number. clicking on an individual result will let you zoom in and out and highlights your search term on the page. 
Timeline 

This handy feature shows the start dates on individual newspapers. A handy tool if you want to see which newspapers were around in a specific time period.
Directory 

This is the same page that you are able to access from the link on the home page. The directory lists all newspapers. There are about 100 newspapers listed. If the newspaper is one of the ones digitized, there will be links to take you to it. If it is not digitized on the site, try contacting the Robertson Library or the Public Archives and Record Office to see if they are available on microfilm. Contact information for the Robertson Library is at the end of the post.
About 

Because this site is a work in progress, they do not have anything to view in this tab.
Partners Tab

Another blank section.
User Guide

A blank page, like the above two tabs.
Donate

This will take you to section to provide feedback and donate to the project. If you have copies of old newspapers they would love to be able to digitize them. You can also provide a monentary donation.
If you would like to contact the Robertson Library of the University of Prince Edward Island, here is the contact information:
Robertson Library
University of Prince Edward Island
550 University Avenue
Charlottetown, PE
C1A 4P3
Specific phone numbers and email addresses are listed here.
Library hours change throughout the year. You can see the hours here.

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