Irish Newspaper Archive

[BrianD3]

I subscribe to this some of the time, it is about 20-30 euros per month and while the website is quite clunky, it is addictive, many hours can be spent browsing and searching for info on anything from long lost relatives to your local area. Anyone got any other ideas for interesting things to use it for?

https://www.irishnewsarchive.com/

Recently I used it to look for info on friends my mother had in university in the 1950s. This was over 20 years before I was born but I have some old photos with names which was a starting point. Several of her friends are dead but some are apparently alive. From what I've found, they were all highly accomplished and several lived interesting lives. Back then, graduating from university was a big deal and there would often be congratulations in the papers which would name the parents and say where they were from, giving more clues for further research in the archive or on other websites.

There is a sadness there too give the limits of human lifespan and inevitability of death. Also, my mother's dementia means she is apathetic about everything and has seemingly forgotten 99% of her life.

[nlgbbbblth]

I had a subscription to the British Newspaper Archive which had back issues of the New Ross Standard going back to the 1800s. Was about £25 for 3 months. Was great fun.