Click on Article Archives to see the latest articles added to this site!

Welcome to the Franklin County (MA) Publication Archive!

Love old newspaper articles? Researching your family history? Have roots in Western Massachusetts? Then look no farther. Here are over 32,000 full text articles from the Greenfield (Mass.) Gazette & Courier, dating from January 1, 1870 to September, 1875.

Use the search box at top for keyword search, or use the topic list to browse particular items of interest. The search function is being worked on currently. Your search must appear in the exact order as it appears in the Archive. No multiple terms currently.

Fullest coverage is for Greenfield, MA, Montague, MA, Turners Falls, MA [also seen as Turner’s Falls, MA], Lake Pleasant, MA, Millers Falls, MA [also seen as Miller’s Falls, MA], and Deerfield, MA

Less full coverage for Ashfield, MA, Athol, MA, Berkshire County, MA, Bernardston, MA, Boston, MA, Buckland, MA, Charlemont, MA, Coleraine, MA (now Colrain, MA), Conway, MA, Elm Grove, MA, Erving, MA, Florida, MA, Gill, MA, Hampshire County, MA, Hawley, MA, Heath, MA, Hoosac tunnel, MA, Leverett, MA, Leyden, MA, Monroe, MA, New Salem, MA, Northfield, MA, Orange, MA, Rowe, MA, Shattuckville, MA, Shelburne and Shelburne Falls, MA, Shutesbury, MA, Sunderland, MA, Warwick, MA, Wendell, MA, and Whately, MA.

List of Subject Headings or Tags

On the right you will find the complete list of topics. You can call them subject headings or tags - they offer you another method of searching the Franklin County Publication Archive site. Interested in accident victims in Athol? Click on the tag for Accident Victims and find a list of articles dating from Jan. 1, 1870 to August 23, 1875. Once on the page of articles, then use your Find command to pull up all articles mentioning Athol.

The search engine is being revamped by the wonderful and highly overworked Mik Muller. Once it is completed, you will be able to search for multiple subjects or terms by simply dividing terms with a comma in the search box. Example: Jones, Deerfield, Births, That should give you a nice listing of all Joneses born in Deerfield during the time period mentioned above. Another way to search it will be to choose the terms Deerfield and Births from the drop down box and add Jones to the search box. Voila!

For updates, please sign up. It’s a free service.

Abbreviations and Quirks

Many years ago (2002, to be exact), when I first started typing all of these articles, I thought that typing W. H. Smith (note the space between W. and H) took up too much space and that W.H. Smith (no space) looked better in print. Oh, to be young(er) and foolish(er) once again! At the time of this decision, I thought that the search engine on this site would act comparably to Google’s, and that periods wouldn’t really matter in searching. I was so wrong.

So, dear reader, if you are a descendent of W. H. Smith, you will search for him on THIS site as "W.H. Smith", including periods. On Google, you will search for him as "W H Smith". Mea culpa.

Personal name variations - As the years went by, I became aware that one person could appear in a multitude of different ways in the paper. Let’s take George Harrison as an example.

George Harrison

Geo. Harrison

Georgie Harrison

G. L. Harrison

G. Harrison

George and Frank Harrison

Harrison, George

A frequent abbreviation at the time was Geo. for George. I did a master change about a year into the project, and changed all Geo’s. to George, so that problem is resolved. Children 12 and under will frequently be listed as Georgie, Frankie, Willie, etc. When folks are listed as George and Frank Harrison, I add a surname, so that the article reads "George Harrison and Frank Harrison". Obituary notices are always entered Surname first. But the use of only one initial versus two initials - I can’t do a thing about it.

I have tried my darndest to help out with alternate spellings or errors, especially if I am familiar with the correct form of the name. For example, I’ll come across an article which says "Mr. G.L. Harison and wife are spending two weeks at Saratoga". I will insert in square brackets [i.e. G.L. Harrison] or [also seen as G.L. Harrison] just to get that correct spelling into the article.

Other Frequent Abbreviations and Omissions

I abbreviate days of the week and certain months of the year consistently:

Sun., Mon., Tues., Wed., Thurs., Fri., Sat., and Sun.

Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec.

I delete specific times and days when I can. I mean, what does it matter 150 years later if an event happened on a Tuesday or a Wednesday, and if it happened at 8 o’clock or at 9 o’clock? Just more typing for my weary fingers!

The Gazette habitually uses certain abbreviations: Rev. for Reverend, Capt. for Captain, Gov. for Governor, Prof. for Professor, Dea. for Deacon, etc. I go along with these abbreviations except in obituaries: Dea. Edward Lyman becomes Lyman, Edward (Deacon).

Suggestions for this site

I am delighted to hear from you with any suggestions, criticisms, requests, etc.I especially like to hear if this site has been useful to you when writing books or articles.

Barbara Stewart

stew@library.umass.edu