Research Help: British Newspaper Archive

This resource will be of interest to all local and family historians:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Online newspaper archive celebrates its first birthday

·         Later today the British Newspaper Archive will reach the 6 million page mark on its first birthday

The British Newspaper Archive celebrates its first birthday today, as it nears the 6 million page milestone. With a target of 40 million fully-searchable pages by 2021, this 10-year project is the biggest digitisation of newspapers to take place in the UK.

The online archive holds stories of all human life, ranging from a heart-rending story of a child transported to Australia for seven years for the theft of seven cups and five saucers, to the coronation, marriage and attempted assassinations of Queen Victoria.

           

Debra Chatfield, Marketing Manager for The British Newspaper Archive, comments: “We are thrilled to be hitting the 6 million page mark on our first birthday.  The online archive is an Aladdin’s Cave full of fascinating local and national stories that are waiting to be uncovered, all of which can be done, within seconds, from the comfort of your own home.”

Facts about the British Newspaper Archive

·         10,000 pages are added every day, 7 days a week to the website

·         150,000 new stories a day, 4,500,000 new stories a month (approx)

·          Over 200 newspaper titles from the UK and Ireland

·         Newspapers cover the period 1710 to 1950

·         It is the biggest programme of newspaper digitisation to take place in the UK and aims to have 40 million, fully-searchable pages on the website by 2021.

To celebrate the birthday, Archive stories will be posted on the British Newspaper Archive blog for events and birthdays that happened on 29 November.

The website is free to search, with a range of credit and subscription packages available to suit the different needs of researchers who wish to view the paid-for content. Access to the resource is free to users of the British Library’s Reading Rooms.

ENDS

Notes to editors

About The British Newspaper Archive

1.      The British Newspaper Archive is a partnership project between the British Library and brightsolid. From November 2011 to 2021, up to 40 million pages from historical newspapers across the UK and Ireland (spanning the period, 1700 to 1950) will be uploaded to the website. www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.

2.      The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world's largest and most comprehensive research collection.

3.      brightsolid began life in 1995 as Scotland-Online and is a leading UK independent provider of IT business services to large public and private sector organisations. The online publishing division of brightsolid has significant expertise in the digitisation and management of archival records, and works in partnership with the British Library, the National Archives and the National Records of Scotland. Headquartered in Dundee, the company is owned by the publishers D.C. Thomson and has offices in Edinburgh and London. www.brightsolid.com

For further information contact:

Natasha White

Press Officer

The British Newspaper Archive

Email: nwhite@brightsolid.com

Phone: 0207 994 0149