Nova Scotia Newspapers

Online Records

 * Nova Scotia Digitized Historical Newspapers
 * "Newspapers are, and always have been, a mirror held up to reflect who we are, how our communities came to be, how we live our daily lives, and how we view the world around us. 'Old' newspapers have special value, because they enable us to look back and see what the world was like 20, 50, 100 or even 200 years ago. Presented in this resource are fifteen different newspapers published in seven very different Nova Scotia communities over a span of 230 years — from The Nova Scotia Chronicle and Weekly Advertiser in 1769, to Le Courrier de la Nouvelle-Écosse in 2002. Begin exploring the surviving issues for each newspaper, for the years indicated — 163,000 digitized pages in all!"


 * Nova Scotia: Newspaper Vital Statistics 1878-1931 (some years missing) from the Register (Berwick) & the Outlook (Middleton) & other newspapers
 * This site contains over 4000 files (images and text) representing the history of the Kings County, Nova Scotia.

Resources for Nova Scotia Newspapers
Newspapers are a helpful source when church and community records do not exist or are incomplete. Up to the late 1800s, few births were reported, and most marriages and deaths reported were of people in high social positions.

Newspaper Directories

 * Tratt, Gertrude E. N. A Survey and Listing of Nova Scotia Newspapers, 1752–1957, with particular reference to the period before 1867. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Dalhousie University 1979. (Family History Library ; fich.)


 * Lynn Murphy. Nova Scotia Newspapers: A Directory and Union List, 1752–1988. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Dalhousie University, School of Library and Informational Studies, 1990. (Family History Library .)


 * A union list of Nova Scotia newspapers compiled by the Blue Pond Collaborative. 1987. This is difficult to find, but the National Library has a copy.


 * Thomas Brewer Vincent.An historical directory of Nova Scotia newspapers and journals before Confederation. Kingston, Ontario: Royal Military College of Canada, 1977.


 * Nova Scotia Genealogy Network Association -Nova Scotian Newspapers


 * Acadia University - Vaughan Memorial Library - Maritime Newspapers on Microfilm at Acadia

Libraries and Archives
The majority of the early newspapers for the whole province of Nova Scotia are at the Public Archives of Nova Scotia (large microfilm collection).

Nova Scotia Archives 6016 University Avenue Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 1W4 (corner of University Avenue and Robie Street) Telephone: (902)424-6060 Email: [mailto:nsarm@gov.ns.ca nsarm@gov.ns.ca]

A good listing of their newspaper holdings can be found in Terrence Punch’s Genealogical research in Nova Scotia (New revised edition, Halifax: Nimbus, 1998).

Digital Issues Online

 * 1752-1780 (gaps) - The Halifax Gazette at Google News - free.


 * 1783-1853 - The Nova-Scotia Gazette and the Weekly Chronicle aka The Royal Gazette at Google News - free.


 * 1784-1799 - The Royal St. John's Gazette at Google News - free.


 * 1784-1799 - St. John's Gazette at Google News - free.

Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia

 * Nova Scotia vital statistics from newspapers. Halifax: Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia, 1978-1988. The volumes cover 1769-1812, 1813-1822, 1823-1828, 1829-1834, 1835-1839, 1840-1843, 1844-1847, 1848-1851, 1852-1854; ; ; a full list and details are available at their website.


 * Mildred Howard. Early Cape Breton newspapers: vital statistics and items. Cape Breton Genealogical Society, 1992.


 * Roger MacPherson. Vital statistics from the Colonial patriot (Pictou), Dec 1827-May 1834. Nepean, Ont: MacPherson, 2001. Another version of this was published on the website of the Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia.

Nova Scotia Unpublished Indexes

 * Halifax Mail-Star obituary index at the provincial archives (from 1949).