Newfoundland Ancestors: Newspapers and Magazines on Canadiana

One of the downsides to having Newfoundland ancestors is the lack of original sources online. If you have to research from a distance, it can be more challenging than some of the other provinces. Again, Canadiana comes to the rescue. On their site are several newspapers and magazines.

The problem with Canadiana is that there is so much there, it can be hard to find what you want. This week I'm providing links to the newspapers and magazines available. Canadiana gives you the ability to zoom in and out, and download individual pages to your computer. The pages download as PDFs. Alternately, by right clicking on the image and saving, it will save the whole page as a JPEG. Then you can use your photo software to crop in on individual articles.


The Star and Newfoundland Advocate: Available issues: 2

The available issues is a bit of a misnomer. It is 2 microfilms. One microfilm covers from 14 November 1840 to 28 December 1843. The second covers from 11 January 1844 to 14 January 1847.

A Protestant conservative leaning newspaper, it featured both local and foreign news. It was geared towards businessmen. Among the images you'll find news on shipping, government, and agriculture. It was also heavy on advertisements and notices. Here's one about the new packet boat, The Edmund Phelan

The Newfoundland magazine: Available issues: 5

The five issues cover the year 1900. It was filled with both fictional stories and memories of Newfoundland life. The ads are a treat to look at as well.

Newfoundland monthly messenger: Available issues: 36

A religious newspaper, there are 12 issues each for the years 1876-1878. It consists mainly of articles of religious instruction. No publication can exist without advertisers, so of course there are advertisements as well. But here and there are news items and obituaries. Here are ones for Mrs. George Cook, and Miss. Mary Langmead from 1876.

The collegian: Available issues: 5

Covering the year 1897, this publication was aimed at Methodist schools. It is interesting in that it lists faculty and students in the publication. Here's a list of the 10 best exam remarks in various classes. It even shows the score for some. A nice little insight into your ancestor's academic achievements!

The Conception-Bay man: Available issues: 100

Covering from 1856-1859, this publication was the liberal leaning counterpart to The Star and Newfoundland Advocate. It's content was also geared towards the merchant class. Here's a rather interesting notice. It seems someone had been going around racking up debts in this man's name

Mail and Advocate: Available issues: 1

Only 1 microfilm covering December 1916.This publication was the "Official Organ of the Fishermen's Protective Union of Newfoundland". As to be expected from the date, it is mainly filled with news about World War I. I did find a notice of Contributions to the Cot Fund from Herring Neck

Evening Advocate: Avaliable Issues:29

Covering from 1917-1924, this newspaper was a sister paper of the Mail and Advocate. One of the more interesting notices I found was about unclaimed mail at the post office. It gives an alphabetical listing of all mail not yet claimed. You can definitely tell that this was in a time before concerns of privacy and identity theft!

The Daily Mail: Available issues: 90

Another great newspaper find. The issues run from January to April 1914. Rather than a trade newspaper, this publication had something for everyone. One of the interesting things I found was this list of crew from the Sealer Newfoundland. A huge storm took the fishing fleet unawares. The entire front page of this issue was devoted to the men and ships feared lost.

These publications are just a sampling of what I found in a quick search. There were many, many more publications in the results.