China Newspapers

Newspapers may publish notices of marriage, divorce, death, funerals, obituaries, and wartime casualty lists. Notices include names of the persons involved and date of the event and may contain maiden names, names of parents, and other relatives.

Newspapers also publish articles of local interest, including religious and social events in the community with the names of those involved. Some newspapers serve several communities and devote columns to the everyday happenings in the area. Newspapers also include legal notices, estate sales, and advertising for local businesses.

Obituaries, vital notices, business advertisements, or notices of membership in societies can be found in Chinese newspapers in chinese or English. The great value of collected clippings should be obvious because indexes are practically nonexistent.

See Chinese Newspapers Published in North America, 1854-1975 by Karl Lo (FHL book 973 B33L) for a bibliography of Chinese newspapers in the United States and Canada and the location of existing files. Approximately one-third of 254 serials were published in San Francisco, California, while some 65 were published in New York. The Chinese Historical Societ6y of Southern California has been indexing Chinese items from early issues of non-Chinese Los Angeles newspapers.