Country of Arrival Records - Newspapers Newspapers can provide an abundant source of information that is vital to your genealogical research. Unfortunately, many times they are overlooked as a source. You will encounter two basic types of newspapers -- local and ethnic. Local newspapers cover one specific area, i.e., Brooklyn, Queens, etc. Or they may be broken down into smaller areas, such as a newspaper that only covers the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. These newspapers print a variety of items that could be useful: court news, wills proved, marriage licenses issued, marriage announcements, death notices, etc. These papers are/were targeted to the readers of that one geographic area. Therefore they would print news they believed to be of interest to their readers. The other type of newspaper is the ethnic newspaper. New York City was home to hundreds of different ethnic newspapers throughout the centuries. These newspapers were targeted to a specific ethnic group, such as the Irish. Therefore they would print news they believed would be of interest to these readers. This usually included news from the old country, political news, marriage & death notices, etc. Some ethnic newspapers actually printed columns listing all the new arrivals into the area! This was a good way for long-lost friends and family to hook up. I have personally found that ethnic newspapers tend to go into more depth on a news item that affected their readership. For example, while the potato famine in Ireland was covered widely in the US newspapers, you got a more personal view of the tragedy from the Irish newspapers in the US. Most of the old newspapers are now on microfilm and can be found at various libraries throughout the US. They can be ordered easily, and cheaply, on interlibrary loan. You can find a listing of Irish newspapers, printed in New York City, on: http://www.irishinnyc.freeservers.com/whats_new.html You can find a listing of New York City area newspapers at the New York State Library website: http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/nysnp/nygcty.htm Just click on the appropriate county for the list. You will also find ethnic newspapers listed! Take care, Tracy