I've found U.S. newspapers to be really valuable in filling blanks and adding context to my family history research. However I've rarely looked at Irish newspapers, and I must change my ways. Last week Nicola Morris blogged about Irish newspapers at http://timeline.ie/irish-newspapers/. Here are a few of her points:

• From the 1750s to the 1850s, newspapers can "bridge the gap" left by lack of other public/church records.
• Until the late 19th century, however, newspapers generally recorded activities of only certain classes, e.g., the gentry, professionals, clergy, merchants, and wealthy traders/farmers.
• Researching newspapers is time-consuming and sometimes frustrating. Digitization has helped, but one should remember only a small portion of Irish newspapers are available online.
• The National Library of Ireland has the largest collection of newspapers, most on microfilm. Their newspaper database is searchable in the NLI catalog at www.nli.ie/en/catalogues-and-databases-printed-newspapers.aspx.

Today Claire Santry reported in her blog that the British Newspaper Archive has reached the 10-million-page mark. There are now 65 Irish newspapers in their online database, plus 297 from England, Scotland and Wales. All these newspapers are updated automatically to the newspaper collection at Findmypast. A World subscription to Findmypast gives one access to both Irish and British newspapers.