Friday 28 February 2020

British Newspaper Archives and FindMyPast go global

Sister companies British Newspaper Archives and FindMyPast have today announced a major development in their project to digitise the British Library's vast collection of historical newspapers.

It won't come as too much of a surprise for those who've noticed the recent additions of new titles covering British India and Canada, which comes only days after the online archive broke through the 36million pages mark from its 1,000+ titles covering England, Scotland, Wales (Britain) and Ireland.

The two companies share the full BNA holding via their subscription databases.

New titles will soon be joining the online archive from from Canada, India, Pakistan, Jamaica, and Barbados, allowing researchers to gain instant access to millions of articles in titles such as the Toronto Daily Mail, Hamilton Daily Times, Times of India, Calcutta Gazette, The Jamaica Mercury & Kingston Weekly Advertiser and more.

Making the announcement, Tamsin Todd, CEO of Findmypast, said; “We are delighted to be working with our partners at the British Library to welcome these new international titles to our collection. Newspapers supplement the facts of our family histories with rich stories – in them we might find a picture of the place an ancestor lived or worked, or what was happening in sports and politics and entertainment on the important days in their lives.

"With its new international reach, the British Newspaper Archive is becoming an ever more useful source for the social historian and family researcher alike."