By Natasha Hollenbach, Montana Digital Newspaper Project Assistant
Today, Chronicling America past the 10 million page milestone. Containing newspapers published between 1836-1922 from 38 states and territories, Chronicling America is a tremendous resource for historians, students, genealogists and anyone else interested in our nation's history. Usually when we talk about Chronicling America, we focus on Montana newspapers. However, in celebrating this joint effort, it seems appropriate to showcase how valuable other states' newspapers can be in researching Montana's history and people.
From the founding of Montana territory to the Speculator Fire, major Montana events have made national news.
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| Jeffersonian Democrat Chardon, Ohio July 8, 1864 |
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| The Evening Current Carlsbad, New Mexico June 9, 1917 |
They have followed our wages, population and weather.
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| Maui News Wailuku, Hawaii January 10, 1919 |
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| Daily Capital Journal Salem, Oregon August 6, 1917 |
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| The Evening Current Carlsbad, New Mexico October 17, 1917
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National newspapers also highlighted Montana's natural beauty and helped advertise our national parks.
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| New York Tribune New York, New York January 17, 1909 |
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| New York Tribune New York, New York October 22, 1919 |
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| St. Louis Republic St. Louis, Missouri June 12, 1904 |
Travel has always been a matter of interest to newspapers. The Butte Inter Mountain hosted a popularity contest in 1904 with the winners going to the World's Fair in St. Louis where they apparently made an impression on the local newspaper (right). In 1915, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin commented on a group of girls from Butte traveling in Hawaii (below).
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| Honolulu Star-Bulletin Honolulu, Hawaii April 3, 1915 |
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| Meade County News Meade, Kansas July 19, 1917 |
Genealogists use newspapers to find family events: births, deaths, marriages, etc. Since researchers usually look in the newspapers where their ancestor lived, it is easy to overlook the possibility of finding them in other states. For example, to the right is a blurb from a Kansas paper, where a man currently living in Butte has arrived to visit his father. If you search the Kansas paper further, you find that this is the town where he was raised. Sometimes searching the newspapers outside of Montana leads to connections with other people and places.
Why don't you go to Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/) and search for your favorite Montana event or person and see what other states' newspapers were saying about them? You never know what you'll discover in historic newspapers.
