Newspaper Indexes and Abstracts

General Indexes
Connecticut Newspaper Indexes in Connecticut Libraries. This compilation is a merger, with some updating, of two lists of newspaper indexes first published in Newspapers in Connecticut Institutions Vol. 3, a 1997 publication of the Connecticut Newspaper Project. The list is arranged alphabetically by town, and for each town shows all the known newspapers that are indexed, along with the library holding the index, the dates of the index, and any special notes on the contents of the index.

New England Library Association. Bibliography Committee. A Guide to Newspaper Indexes in New England. Holden, Mass: 1978.

Indexes to Hartford Newspapers
Connecticut Courant Index, 1764-1799. This slip index, produced by State Library staff in the early Twentieth Century, is currently only available at the Connecticut State Library.

Cook, Doris. The Connecticut Courant Index, 1764 Thru 1820. The original card index is at the Connecticut Historical Society. Originally microfilmed by the Microfilming Corporation of America in 1983 [CSL call number AN 104 .H3 C68], copies are currently available to purchase from Bell & Howell.

Clarie, Thomas C. Connecticut News Handbook [CSL call number GIS Ref AI 21 .H37 C66]. Covers 1977-1986; 1989.

Index to the Hartford Courant. Wayzata, Minn.: McMillan Indexing Service, c1987- [CSL call number GIS Ref AI 21 .H37]. Covers 1987-1993. Includes local, state, and regional news and some wire service reports dealing with Connecticut subject.

Towne, Charles L. The Connecticut News File: An Index to The Hartford Courant [CSL call number GIS Ref AN 2 .H3723 1985 Mfiche]. Covers 1956-1985. This index is topical in relation to news events. There are approximately 25 broad subject (news) headings. Under the heading, the arrangement is by date of the event, not the date of the newspaper. Thus, an event dated May 9^th in the index will be found in the May 10^th newspaper.

Indexes to New Haven Newspapers
"Extracts from the Connecticut Journal, 1776." The American Genealogist 35 (1959): 155-57 [CSL call number F 104 .N6 A64].

Scott, Kenneth, and Roseanne Conway. Genealogical Data from Colonial New Haven Newspapers. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1979 [CSL call number 974.62 N45 scg].

Special Connecticut Newspaper Indexes
The John Eliot Bowman Index of Newspaper Death Notices, ca. 1825-1862. Located in the Genealogical Index Corridor near the History & Genealogy Reading Room, this slip index consists of eleven drawers. It was purchased from John Elliot Bowman by George Godard, who was State Librarian from 1900 to 1936. Entries generally include the name of the person, title and date of newspaper, date and place of death, age, and sometimes occupation or other information.

The death notices indexed in the Bowman Index are from a mixture of Connecticut and Massachusetts newspapers, along with some Massachusetts vital records ca. 1840-1860. All deaths have some connection to Connecticut. The three main newspapers covered are:

Bowman also extracted death notices for Connecticut people from other newspapers, including:

In addition, there are some clipped obituaries from an untitled newspaper. Each clipping is pasted onto an index card, and the card is headed by the last name and the year (e.g., "Smith 1875"). These are true obituaries, giving details of the person's life. The dates covered by these cards (which are interfiled with the rest of the cards) seem to be 1859 to 1906.

The death notices that Bowman indexed came to these papers from all parts of the United States. Ohio, Louisiana, New York, and locations in New England are just a few of the places mentioned. Some deaths even took place at sea. In every case, however, the person who died had a Connecticut connection.

Hale Collection of Newspaper Marriage and Death Notices, ca. 1750-1865. Abstracted from 90 of the earliest Connecticut newspapers, these notices generally end with the close of the Civil War, ca. 1865-1866.

Boston Evening Transcript. [Genealogy Newspaper Columns, Boston Transcript] [microform] [CSL call number CS 42 .G77a Mfiche]. Reproduction of Queries, Answers, Corrections and Notes from genealogical columns in the Boston Evening Transcript, June 1896-April 1941. Indexed through the American Genealogical Biographical Index [CSL call number HistRef Z 5313 .U5 A55].

[Hartford Times]. Genealogy Newspaper Columns [microform]. [CSL call number HistRef F 104 .H353 A24 1970 Mfiche]. Reproduction of Queries, Answers, Corrections and Notes from weekly genealogical columns in the Hartford Times, January 5, 1957-May 29, 1967. Indexed through Darby, Earl G. Surname Index, Genealogical Section, Hartford Times [N.p., N.d.] [CSL call number HistRef F 104 .H353 A24 1970].

Indexes to the New York Times
The New York Times has published as series of indexes to articles and beginnings from 1851 to the present. Most of these are available at the Connecticut State Library:

The New York Times Index. New York: New York Times Co. [CSL call number GIS Ref AI 21 .N45]. The State Library has 1959- (ongoing).

Falk, Bryon A., Jr. and Valeria R. Falk. Personal Name Index to "The New York Times Index," 1851-1974. 10 volumes. Sussasunna, NJ: Roxbury Data Interface, c1976-c1983 [CSL call number GIS Ref AI 21 .N451].

Originally prepared by the Connecticut Newspaper Project, Connecticut State Library, November, 1996. Revised by the History and Genealogy Unit, November, 2000, October 2005. © 2005.