Cousins, I can't tell by the subject line if Tim sent this message directly to me or posted the following message to the list so I am going to run the risk of posting it a second time, because the information in it is very valuable, especially the part about being able to borrow the microfilms through Inter Library Loan: Dear Karen, All known Louisiana newspapers are indexed and held by the Mississippi Valley Collection, Hill Memorial Library on the LSU campus in BAton Rouge. They have a newspaper project which used to have a webpage. I'll give the URL below, but I have not checked it in a while. You can purchase old copies (the microfilm reels) of newspapers from them. I own many of the old Gazette and Home ADvocate issues. THe oldest extant newspaper dates from 1866 and is held at the La Tech library in Ruston. Although the "Union Record" (the 1866 extant newspaper) was published throughout the 1870s, no issues survive for that decade. It ceased publication in the early 1880s, and I think the earliest newspaper in that decade is an 1883 Gazette. Here is the URL: http://www.lib.lsu.edu/special/lnp.html Louisiana Newspaper Project THis may be of interest to Union Parish researchers. I have long harbored hopes of abstracting the old newspapers, but never yet had the time. They are filled with interesting information, and some death notices. Tim Hudson