District of Columbia Newspapers and Obituaries

History
The first major newspaper in the District of Columbia area, the Daily National Intelligencer, began publication in 1800. The Family History Library has microfilm copies from 1800 to 1852. A history of the paper is available, and the marriage and death notices found in it have been abstracted and published for 1806-1858. To find your ancestors in this newspaper, first check published abstracts, which contain indexes:.

Libraries and Archives
The Reference Division of the District of Columbia Public Library has The National Intelligencer from 1800 to 1869, The Evening Star from 1852 to the present, and The Washington Post from 1877 to the present.

Newspaper Directory
The U.S. Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present is a national directory from the Library of Congress of over 140,000 newspaper titles. The directory provides a list of libraries from around the country that have the newspapers in their collections.

Digital Issues Online

 * 1800-1850 - The National Intelligencer, 1800-1850 is available online at the National Genealogical Society website ($).

Chronicling America has some historical issues for the District of Columbia online.

Websites

 * OnlineNewspapers.com has links to over 25 current D.C. newspaper sites.
 * Washington DC Newspapers (Washington DC Genealogy), links to online newspapers