Genealogist — and Twitter follower — Chris Paton alerted readers of his blog, Scottish GENES, to the news that Findmypast has removed Canadian and American newspapers from its collection.
Mr. Paton wrote that Findmypast replied to someone in a tweet that “these newspapers were hosted by an external source, and agreement has ended meaning they won’t be available on Findmypast. We are investing in most requested records now, including more newspapers with the British Library and the 1921 Census.”
As a Findmypast subscriber, the loss of these newspapers, isn’t a deal-breaker for me. Most, if not all, of the Canadian newspapers were not major publications and the coverage was limited to a handful of years.
The newspapers for Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Newfoundland used to be located in the US & World category. You had to select Canada and then (infuriatingly) select the State filter for the province you wanted.
Three Ontario newspapers, however, are still available in the British category of newspapers on Findmypast where you’ll find Ontario in the County filter. The newspapers are:
Hamilton Daily Times
1875, 1879, 1881-1882, 1884, 1886, 1912-1915, 1920
Toronto Daily Mail
1886-1888, 1890, 1894-1895
Toronto Saturday Night
1887-1898, 1900-1909
The Ontario papers are available online through Findmypast’s British Library partnership and come from the British Newspaper Library as part of its British Commonwealth collection. That’s the reason for them being located in the British category. It is my understanding the other Canadian newspapers came from a different source.
