When Newspapers.com announced last November on its blog, Fishwrap, that it was expanding its Canadian newspaper archives collection, I probably wasn’t the only one to jump on the bandwagon and subscribe.
Jenny Ashcraft wrote on Fishwrap, “We’ve added several papers from publisher Postmedia Network and will be adding more pages and titles through 2019.”
This was good news for genealogists researching their ancestors in Canada, especially those who lived in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec.
Seven months later
Now, it is seven months after the announcement about adding more Canadian titles in 2019. So far, nothing new has been added, with the exception of more pages to the existing titles.
I sent an inquiry about when new Canadian newspaper titles would be added. I cited the November 9 blog post and included a link to it in my email message.
This is the reply I received from a support representative:
We do not have every newspaper from around the world on our site. The newspapers on our website are ones that have become available to us and have been digitized. We digitize papers every day and hope we will be able to obtain the ones you need.
Although we do not have a set time frame as to when selected content will be made available, we are continually expanding our available content and invite you to check back regularly for new additions.
So, in a nutshell, no word yet on whether we will see new Canadian titles this year.
Of course, I appreciate that the support people are probably not privy to what the head office plans to release this year, and if they did, they wouldn’t be able to share it with anyone who asks.
I have received good value from my subscription that I purchased during a Black Friday sale, and I like how easy it is to search and clip articles. Since May, I have received a complimentary subscription, although without it, I likely would have paid to renew.
Will Newspapers.com deliver on its promise to provide more Canadian titles this year? We’ll know the answer in six months.
