How historians use historical newspapers

Abstract

Newspapers have long been rich resources for historians. In the past several years many historical newspapers have been digitized, offering the promise of improved access and powerful searching. In this research, we focus on historians' needs for searching collections of newspapers and managing the information they find. This is a deeper and more targeted investigation than much previous work that was based on surveys rather than personal interviews. We interviewed eight academic historians who largely embraced digitized newspapers but suggest the current systems still have many limitations. We also discuss the implications for the design of interfaces and services that would serve as a historians' workbench.

Linguists as newspaper users: Perceptions and experiences

“…Many authors have analyzed historians' information behavior and needs, research methods, and use of primary sources (Allen & Sieczkiewicz, 2010;Anderson, 2004;Duff & Johnson, 2002;Hassan, Wade, & Wilkinson, 2012;Tibbo, 2002), while a much smaller number of works has focused on other disciplines (Krtalic & Hasenay, 2012). Feeney (2014) examined the use of newspapers by scholars in different disciplines through a content analysis of dissertations and theses, showing that scholars in a wide range of disciplines use newspapers as research sources.…”

Visualization, causation, and history

“…This could also be considered as an implementation of a Regional and Local history version of the interface. It might also become part of a historian's workbench (cf., Allen & Sieczkiewicz, 2010). Development of such a source material interface that links to the Figure 2 interface would enrich access to the materials and understanding of history.…”

Using digital archives in historical research: What are the ethical concerns for a ‘forgotten’ individual?

“…Although computers have been used by historians since the 1960s (Floud, 2013), developments in technology from the mid-1990s have led to a ‘new era in historical research’ (Allen and Sieczkiewicz, 2010). The emergence of digital history, defined as ‘broadly any work engaging with new communications technology for the examination and representation of the past’ (Keeling and Sandlos, 2011: 424) has made source material much more accessible.…”