Articles & Research Guides
Research Guides For Our Products
- VariantChronicles Research Guide — Historic newspaper digitization produces predictable OCR errors that can make your ancestor invisible to a standard search. This guide explains the full range of variant types — character substitutions, Fraktur, diacritics, anglicization, and more — and walks through how to use VariantChronicles to search across them effectively within the Chronicling America collection.
Articles
- Newspapers as Genealogical Sources — Newspapers have a fascinating seat at the genealogical table. From obituaries and legal notices to social columns and community correspondence, they hold far more than most researchers tap — and understanding their strengths, limitations, and the OCR reality of digital search is essential to using them well.
- Negative Searches: Why “Not Finding It” Still Matters — Why documenting what you did not find is just as important as recording what you did, and how negative searches strengthen proof arguments.