Most newspapers now have an online presence, and the majority have a search function allowing you to seek articles of interest in their archives. Unfortunately, most only have their recent archives - perhaps one to ten years - accessible online. Still, this is enough to help you find obituaries, mentions of possible relatives still living in the area from which your ancestors moved, photos of buildings and other places that factor into your genealogy, and other leads and clues.

And if you don't find what you're looking for, these sites generally provide contact information so you can call or e-mail for information about where to find older issues of the publication. Here are some sites that will help you tap into the wealth of information available through newspapers:

• RootsWeb's guide to tracing family trees: Newspapers by Julia M. Case, Myra Vanderpool Gormley and Rhonda McClure - an excellent overview of newspaper collections and finding aids, including a state by state list of repositories. Notations show which participate in interlibrary loan programs:
  http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/lesson20.htm



• State Historical Society of Missouri's guidance on Using Newspapers for Genealogical Research:
  http://www.system.missouri.edu/shs/newspap.html



• The Library of Congress Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room -- Visit to see which newspapers can be searched in their collection, as well as to click through to other useful resources such as those listed in Newspapers Indexes/Archives/Morgues and Catalogs of Newspaper Holdings on the Internet:
  http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/news/ncp.html



• Historical newspapers and articles for sale or rent:
  http://www.historicalnews.com/



• Cyndi's List of newspaper-related web sites including online newspapers sorted by state:
  http://www.CyndisList.com/newspapr.htm