Saturday, November 7, 2009
The Stars and Stripes, World War I
During World War I, the Stars and Stripes newspaper (1918-1919) was printed for a total run of 71 weeks...71 issues aimed at the doughboys of what was officially called the American Expeditionary Forces, or simply the AEF.
The entire set of newspaper archives is available online at the Library of Congress. It's worth a look. Issues can be fully searched, or you can simply browse by date. In typical LOC fashion, accessing the newspapers is a bit on the clumsy side, but if you just pull up the pdf of the page (or the full newspaper) of interest, you can easily peruse the whole thing.
There's also a nicely-done Closer Look at the Stars and Stripes, which tells some of the back story of the newspaper itself.
If you're fortunate, you might find mention of one of your ancestors who was sent to fight the huns in WWI. But even if you don't, you'll get an exquisitely detailed rendering of the language and tenor of the times, right down to the inaguaral issue message from General Pershing, declaring that the soldiers were the lucky Americans, given the honor to serve their country in a way that few will ever experience.
Visit the main page of Free Genealogy Tools for more, umm, free genealogical tools.
And don't forget to also check for your family history at Ancestry.com and NewspaperArchive.com. These are subscription databases, but they are among the most powerful research tools available for looking into family roots.