Maryland Newspapers

Time period, coverage &amp; content of Maryland newspapers
Newspaper publication in Maryland began in 1727 with the release of the Maryland Gazette in Annapolis. Newspapers may focus on the world or a tiny community, and may serve a general audience or a particular ethnic, religious, racial, or political group. Newspapers report family information in notices of births, marriages, obituaries, and local news. They may include the following information:

Why use newspapers?

 * Newspapers usually predate government birth, marriage, and death records.
 * Newspapers may serve as a substitute for civil records that were destroyed.
 * Unlike most government records, newspaper articles are not limited to a form. Thus, newspapers may contain details not found in more structured records.
 * Newspapers can report marriages, deaths or accomplishments of people who no longer live in the area but who still have friends or family there.
 * Newspapers may report events in the life of a local inhabitants, even when these events occurred elsewhere.

Before searching newspapers, know this

 * The place and an approximate date of an event.

Historical newspapers online

 * NewspaperArchive.com ($) has over 40 historical Maryland newspapers.
 * Ancestry.com ($) has over 20 historical Maryland newspapers.

Current newspapers online

 * OnlineNewspapers.com links to over 110 Maryland newspapers online.
 * SHG Resources State Handbook &amp; Guide (free) links to over 30 current Maryland newspapers online.

Best collections in libraries
The following libraries have strong Maryland newspaper collections on site.


 * Enoch Pratt Free Library
 * Maryland Historical Society
 * Maryland State Archives

Guides finding Maryland newspapers
Hofstetter, Eleanore O. and Marcella S. Eustis. Newspapers in Maryland Libraries: A Union List. Baltimore, Maryland: Division of Library Development Services, Maryland State Department of Education, 1977. (Family History Library Book 975.2 B33h; fiche 6046965)

White, Les, et al. A Guide to the Microfilm Collection of Newspapers at the Maryland State Archives. Annapolis, Maryland: Maryland State Archives, 1990. (Family History Library book 975.2 B33s)

Indexes to marriage notices and obituaries in MD newspapers
Barnes, Robert W. Gleanings from Maryland Newspapers. Four Volumes. Lutherville, Maryland: Bettie Carothers, 1975-76. (Family History Library book 975.2 V2ba v. 2; film 928166 item 7) This work covers 1727 to 1795.

Barnes, Robert W. Marriages and Deaths from the Maryland Gazette, 1727-1839. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1973. (Family History Library book 975.2 V2b)

Green, Karen Mauer. The Maryland Gazette, 1727- 1761: Genealogical and Historical Abstracts. Galveston, Texas: Frontier, 1989. (Family History Library book 975.2 D2g)

Maryland newspapers at the Family History Library
To locate newspapers in the Family History Library's collection which pertain to a large part of Maryland, click here. The Family History Library is not actively collecting newspapers of the United States.

How to search newspapers

 * Check newspapers from a week or two before or after a wedding, funeral, or wedding anniversary to find mention of out-of-town visitors and relatives.

Tips

 * You may find it helpful to place a notice in a local newspaper in order to contact others who may have information about your family.

Milestone in newspaper content: the mid-1800s
Early American newspapers were generally only a few pages and focused on international rather than local events. However, the combination of the telegraph, the railroad, the power printing press, and public hunger for news during the Civil War changed American newspapers permanently during the mid-1800s. They increased the news gathering, production, and distribution capacity of big-city papers such that these papers took over the reporting of international, national, and state news. This changed the focus of small-town papers to local events and ordinary people.