Monday 10 December 2012

The Sligo Champion debuts on BNA

The British Newspaper Archive has added The Sligo Champion to its portfolio. This update to the BNA database (which, as of this morning, holds 6,072,044 pages of newspapers from across the UK and Ireland) includes all issues of the weekly newspaper from 14 April 1923.

The Sligo Champion is still going strong and celebrated its 175th anniversary last year, so there are plenty more editions that could join the line-up. Whether or not there are plans to do that, I don't know.

Either way, this seems like a good time to catch up on the Irish portfolion now available on the British Newspaper Archive database.

Here's a summary:
  • Belfast Morning News: Monday to Saturday paper. Complete coverage for 1879 and 1880.
  • Belfast Newsletter:BNA's collection includes 1828 to 1850 (Tuesdays and Fridays) – complete; 1851 to 1855 (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) – complete; 1856 to 1899 (Monday to Saturday) – complete except for the following missing editions: July to December 1868 inclusive, May to December 1878 inclusive, July to December 1880 inclusive, January to April 1883 inclusive.
  • Cork Examiner: Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. From 30 August 1841 to end 1847 is complete. 1923 and 1926 also complete.
  • Freeman's Journal: Ireland's longest running national newspaper. 1820 and 1821 complete. 1830 to 1859 complete except for 1858 (January to June missing). July 1860 to 1870 complete except for some missing in last two weeks of August 1869. 1871 has a handful of editions missing. 1872 to 1889 is complete. 1890 is missing October and November. 1891 to September 1900 is complete.
  • The Sligo Champion: One of Ireland's top regionals. Weekly (Saturdays). From 14 April 1923 to end of year complete.
The British Newspaper Archives has a range of packages available from £6.95 (2 days/100 pages) to £79.95 (annual/unlimited pages).

None of these Irish newspapers is included in the 200-strong BNA selection of papers available via FindMyPast.