Findmypast British Newspapers

[Gowanleics]

Is there any form of Masterclass for getting decent results from FMP's newspaper records? Over a number of years I have used FMP I have rarely found anything that is useful, and I wonder if anyone has a method which helps. I have tried various search tactics, but without success. I suspect it is me at fault, but help would be appreciated.

 

[peter]

Forget about what happened years ago as the Search was vastly improved in November 2023. Since then I have never had any problems finding articles - provided they're there, of course - but I can't claim to have any special secret formula.

 

[Sandra837]

I find using the "Phrases (optional)" field in the Advanced Search useful - it has a slider which makes the phrase (usually a name or an address in my case) more or less exact, so you can gradually expand the results. It is a bit hit and miss though - the optical character recognition isn't perfect, so relevant articles might not show up in the results. Still, it's an invaluable resource, if only to provide local colour and context.

 

[peter]

the optical character recognition isn't perfect

It's not the OCR that is at fault, it's the quality of the images - in many cases they're working with microfilm, and we all know what that means.

But most stories are reported in multiple local newspapers, so it's not usually a problem.

 

[Sandra837]

It's not the OCR that is at fault, it's the quality of the images

Very true, especially when the original print is tiny. A.I. could probably be used to interpret the OCR more accurately, but it would make its own mistakes, so perhaps better as a user option than built in to the search.

 

[Gowanleics]

I'd love to be able to get better results from this, but I have rarely been able to find anything relevant. Thanks to all who commented, though, I'll keep trying.

 

[peter]

I'd love to be able to get better results from this, but I have rarely been able to find anything relevant. Thanks to all who commented, though, I'll keep trying.

Without any examples of how you're searching it's impossible for us to suggest alternatives.

Of course, no matter how good your search technique, you're not going to find information about every family member, or even most of them. For example, in Britain it's less usual for births, engagements, marriages and deaths to be reported in newspapers than in some other countries. Even divorces didn't make the papers once they became more common (unless there were salacious details or celebrities involved).

Most of my discoveries are just that - things I didn't know about, which add to my knowledge of my relatives' lives. It could be their involvement in amateur dramatics or sports, an appearance in court, or a retirement party. Occasionally there's a photo.

There is at least one group of newspapers which hasn't allowed their 'in copyright' back issues to be published - and as they ended up owning all the local newspapers in my area, there is little I can find out about my closest relatives. I could spend a week going through them on microfilm at the local archives, but that will probably never happen....

 

[Susan48]

Findmypast often include links to newspaper articles that include the name of the person you're looking for on other record sets. The links appear at the bottom of the page. Yesterday I was searching for a relative by marriage, and hints for newspaper articles appeared at the bottom of the screen. From the articles I learned that the lady in question had been an amateur singer with a fine contralto voice, and had sung at various charity concerts in local churches. Without those hints I would never have discovered that interesting fact about her life.

 

[Steve Henley]

I find that it's more convenient to use the British Newspaper Archives direct rather than through FindMyPast - https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ You can search for free, and maintain a list of searches. Many local libraries also provide free access so that you can go to the library, login there and download the articles that you found at home - or of course if you visit the British Library it's totally free to use there. I don't know if the search available on FMP differs from the BNA advanced search, but have certainly been happy with BNA.
If you have relatives in Australia and New Zealand, there are online newspaper archives in both countries that are totally free. Trove in Australia https://trove.nla.gov.au/ or PapersPast in New Zealand https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/. I don't know if there are similar archives in Canada or the US. Something yet to explore!

 

[peter]

I don't know if the search available on FMP differs from the BNA advanced search

It is different - and better in some ways.

If you have relatives in Australia and New Zealand, there are online newspaper archives in both countries that are totally free.

Newspapers in the Antipodes often reprinted articles from the British press, so don't disregard Trove and PapersPast simply because your ancestors never left England. There are also quite a few free articles in the BNA.