Researching the Early History of Black Lives in the Connecticut River Valley

Introduction

Newspapers are a valuable source of historic narratives. As the “first draft of history,” news sources can show the evolution of public thought, document events, and provide insight into historical contexts. Advertising columns can be particularly valuable in documenting the flow of consumer goods (many of them also artifacts of the Atlantic slave economy), and also the changing shape of labor, as notices seeking apprentices, wet nurses, and other forms of assistance appear here regularly. In the documentation of African American history, researchers have often used advertisements placed by enslavers seeking to recover runaways to understand many aspects of enslavement.

Newspapers, like any source, have biases. A bias is not necessarily good or bad: it is a part of the perspective of its authors. This is more relevant still in early America, as the idea that newspapers or journalists should report “objectively” had not yet emerged in that industry or profession. Most newspapers actively represented a distinct point of view. Abolitionist newspapers opposed enslavement and published the words of African Americans; White dominated newspapers that advertised rewards for escaped slaves and supported the institution of slavery through these interactions. Researchers should be sure to understand the orientation of any newspaper as part of assessing its perspective.'

Newspapers can be located in local libraries' collections as well as online. Resources like Ancestry, FamilySearch, Newsbank, and even GenealogyBank have newspapers digitized. You can use these resources to search through many newspapers or use the resources below to search a specific newspaper.

Selected Materials in the W.E.B. DuBois Library Collection

Massachusetts Newspapers

Boston

Publick Occurrences 1690 UM F 67 H67

Boston News Letter 1704-1762 UM Microprint 20

The New England Courant 1721-1726 UM Microprint 3, Online: Burney Collection

The New England Weekly Journal 1729-1741 UM Microprint 28

The Weekly News-Letter 1727-1730 UM Microprint 30, UM Microprint 20

Boston Weekly News-Letter 1730-1769 UM Microprint 20

1769 UM Microfilm 2332, Massachusetts Historical Society Online

The Boston Weekly Post-Boy 1735-1750 UM Microprint 15

The Weekly Rehearsal 1731-1735 UM Microprint 3

Boston Evening Post 1735-1775 UM Microprint 50

1781-1784 UM Microprint 4

1765 UM Microfilm 2332, Mass Historical Society Online

, 1767-1775 UM Microfilm 2332, Mass Historical Society Online

Boston Gazette and Country Journal 1719-1793 UM Microprint 25

1765-1777 UM Microfilm 2332, Massachusetts Historical Society Online

Green & Russell's Boston Post-Boy & Advertiser 1759-1769 UM Microprint 15

OR The Boston Post-Boy and Advertiser 1765-1767 UM Microfilm 2332, Massachusetts Historical Society Online

The Boston Chronicle 1767-1770 UM Microprint 1

1769 UM Microfilm 2332, Mass Historical Society Online

The Massachusetts Gazette & Boston News-Letter 1763-1768 UM Microprint 20

1769 UM Microfilm 2332, Massachusetts Historical Society Online

1770-1771 UM Microfilm 2332, Massachusetts Historical Society Online

1773-1774 UM Microfilm 2332, Massachusetts Historical Society Online

The Mass. Gazette & The Boston Post-Boy & Adv 1769-1775 UM Microprint 20

1769-1773 UM Microfilm 2332, Massachusetts Historical Society Online

The Censor 1771-1772 UM Microprint 1

1771-1772 UM Microfilm A82 Reel 8

The Continental Journal and Weekly Advertiser 1776-1787 UM Microprint 19

1776,1778 UM Microfilm 2332, Massachusetts Historical Society Online

The Independent Chronicle 1776 UM Microprint 8

The Independent Ledger and the Am. Advertiser 1778-1786 UM Microprint 31

The MA Gazette & The Boston Post-Boy & Adv. 1769-1775 UM Microprint 20

New England Chronicle 1776 UM Microprint 8, UM Microfilm 2332, Mass Historical Society

Massachusetts Spy 1770-1772 UM Microprint 1

The Massachusetts Spy or Thomas's Boston J. 1772-1775 UM Microprint 1

American Herald 1784-1788 UM Microprint 4

The American Herald and the General Advertiser 1784 UM Microprint 4

The Continental Journal and Weekly Advertiser 1776-1787 UM Microprint 19

The American Apollo 1792-1794 UM Microprint 2

1792 UM Microfilm A82 Reel 1

The Argus 1791-1793 UM Microprint 5

Columbian Centinel and Massachusetts Federalist 1790-1804 UM Microprint 6-7

Federal Orrery 1794-1796 UM Microprint 2

Herald of Freedom 1788-1791 UM Microprint 5

The Massachusetts Centinel 1784-1790 UM Microprint 6

The Massachusetts Centinel and Republican Journal 1784 UM Microprint 6

Boston Gazette and Weekly Republican Journal 1794-1798 UM Microprint 25

Cambridge

The New England Chronicle OR The Essex Gazette 1775-1776 UM Microprint 16

1775-1776 UM Microfilm 2332, Mass Historical Society

Greenfield

Greenfield Gazette 1792-1795 UM Microfilm A1200 Reel 1

1798-1811 UM Microfilm A1200 Reels 2-5

Greenfield Gazette or MA and VT Telegraphe 1795-1797 UM Microfilm A1200 Reels 1-2

The Impartial Intelligencer 1792 UM Microfilm A1200 Reel 1

Salem

The Essex Gazette 1768-1775 UM Microprint 16, UM Microfilm 2332, Mass Historical Society

Salem Gazette 1782-1785 UM Microprint 30

1790-1820 UM Microprint 41

Massachusetts Gazette 1771 UM Microfilm 2332, Mass Historical Society

1785-1788 UM Microprint 30

The Salem Mercury 1788-1789 UM Microprint 41

The Salem Mercury: Polit. Commercial, and Moral 1786-1788 UM Microprint 41

Worcester

American Oracle of Liberty 1775-1778 UM Microprint 1

The Worcester Magazine 1786-1788 UM Microfilm A82 Reel 33

The American Herald & Worcester Recorder 1788-1789 UM Microprint 4

Worcester Gazette 1788-1810 UM Microprint 1