Searching Historic Newspapers Online for Information About Pelham

Please visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com

For quite some time I have been using ProQuest® Historical Newspapers' New York Times Database to conduct full-text searches of the content of New York Times newspapers from 1851 to 2001 for information relating to Pelham History. I have accessed the database as part of my member package with The New York Genealogical & Biographical Society. Basic membership with the NYG&BS cost $60 per year at the time I joined.

Pelham resident and local historian Sil Spagnuolo has brought to my attention the fact that this important and wonderful database is accessible for free to those who have a free library card from a member library of the Westchester County Library System. Those in Pelham, for example, who have a library card issued by The Town of Pelham Public Library can access and search the database and download copies of the articles for personal, non-commercial use at no cost. For those who may be interested, access information follows.

Have your Town of Pelham Public Library card ready. While online, use your browser (e.g., Internet Explorer) to go to the following Web address: http://www.westchesterlibraries.org/databases/. On that page, scroll down to "Historical New York Times (in ProQuest)". To the right of that entry are two buttons. Click on the one on the far right that looks like a house. You will be prompted to type in your library card number. That number may be found on the front of your library card beneath the bar code. Once you type the number, click okay. You should see a little window that pops up and says something like "Valid barcode number" followed by the library card number that you typed into the previous screen. Click "OK" and you will have immediate access to the full-text searchable database. You will be able to search any aspect of Pelham history (or any other topic) you wish covering the period from 1851 to 2001.

Please visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com