Belfast was a buzzin in 1876

My searching of newspapers that the NSW Mitchell Library has access to via their e-resources has paid off.  I managed to download the Belfast News Letter of 6th June 1876.  This was the day William Stewart Heard signed p for military service in Belfast.

It was quite tricky, so here is a quick tutorial on how its done.

Firstly go to the library's newspapers, and tick "in the library, or anywhere with a library card"

Next, Choose "19th Century British Library Newspapers (Gale)" .  This is important as it holds newspapers from Scotland, Ireland and Wales, as well as England.

This will bring you to the search page, ignore this and click on Browse Publications by location - this will help you find the right newspaper.

You will be taken to a list of locations, use the drop down boxes to find the right publication, and click on the one you want.

This will then bring up a list of dates, again, use the drop down boxes for the date you want, and choose that date.  This is where it got tricky! You will have in front of you, a list of articles, and if you click on one, you wont be able to browse the whole newspaper, which is what we want.

The solution was simple, once I found it.  Simply click on the first article, but click on Browse Issue

Voila! you will be taken to the whole issue.  Here you can browse through the newspaper, and have the option to enlarge it so it is easier to read. 

Obviously the classifieds were as important in 1876 as they are now because they are on the front page!  News comes later, but I am sure you will be happy to know that Prince Leopold of Great Britian arrived in Belfast safely on his way to Paris, and  saddened to hear that the ex sultan, Sultan Abjul Aziz was found lying dead on a mattress which was placed on the floor.  Better news from America however, where the democrats carried the election in Oregon.

I wanted to save the newspaper so I could have it on file, and also so I could read it later.  Here is what to do:

1. Go to page 1
2. Click the "Print" button in the top left corner
3. Click " View up to 50 pages in PDF Format. This document contains pages from 1 to 4.
           Enter page/article numbers and/or page/article separated by commas. E.g., 1,3, 5-7, 11-15 "
•  -  This is because this newspaper had 4 pages, and we want them all
4.  Click Print
5. This will open up a PDF file that you can then save anywhere.  (its also very easy to read from here)

The Gale publications are wonderful if you have United Kingdom ancestors, but they also contain some of the colonies newspapers - such as the Argus from Melbourne.  There are 2 million newspaper pages, with national and regional newspapers (eg. the York newspapers).  You can bookmark them for future reference, or email them to yourself or print them if you want.  So happy hunting, and I hope this saves you some time!

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