How to search newspaper articles (and more) at BAnQ

 

Many people are finding it daunting to search for newspaper articles at BAnQ. It is not just the language, but also the format. Here I will try to help you navigate the site, as I know in genealogy it is much more rewarding when you can find what you want by yourself. 

To check availability go to the List of Newspapers and click on the area you are looking for and you will get a list of available titles and years. There is no point searching for what is not there. With that in mind, be aware that some articles may have been published in a larger city newspaper. My ancestor had lived most of his life in the Sherbrooke area but his retirement years were spent in the US with his daughter. His obituary was in the Sherbrooke papers. (note: most English Eastern Townships news will be in the Sherbrooke papers)

Getting there

First of all, since most of the site is in French, I recommend searching using the Chrome browser, as you can easily translate into English or any language with just a click. 

In the search bar of your browser type banq numerique to bring up the site. Right click anywhere on the page and choose Translate. If it does not come up as English or the language you want, click on the three dots and choose your language.

In the Search bar where it says All, click on the dropdown menu and choose Quebec Heritage / Reviews and Newspapers. Now you can either type a name in the search box, or just leave it blank, then click on the search symbol.

Searching the website

First search by name. Then to reduce results use the filters on the right of the red bar. Clicking anywhere on the red bar will open or close the filter section. Use Proximity Search to find the two keywords together. Click on Title to choose the newspapers for your area (you can choose more than one). Start to type a title, or use the scroll bar on the right. Click on the Date filter to choose the year, or a range of dates for an obituary or article. Give it a minute to load the whole paper and it will go to the first page the name appears on - which may not be the page you want. Then scroll down, checking for the highlighted words until you find what you are looking for.

A regional paper might not have an obituary column, but it may be written under the town name. Taking Sherbrooke again as an example... the births and deaths column may list only Sherbrooke residents, but I found a nice long obituary under Waterville, the village where they lived. 

Sometimes the newspaper did not digitize well because the print may be too blurred for the OCR software (Optical Character Recognition). Then it is recommended to browse the newspapers you think the article or obituary may have appeared in. 

With no name in the search box, follow the above steps to choose Title and range of Dates. With, or instead of the Title, you can try Place Represented. Once I choose a newspaper, I always go to the front page first to see if there is an index telling me which page the obituaries are on. Some older papers have no index and you have to browse each page.

If you are searching for an accident or other than an obituary, use those keywords in your search.

Once you get used to navigating the site, there is so much more to explore than newspaper articles. Another thing to try is use the top drop down menu to look at notary records, maps and plans or texts. Using texts I searched Ile Reaux and came up with some interesting old documents about where my ancestors lived. Searching a New France surname could bring up affidavits, certificates, guardianships, and trials! 

Use your imagination for keywords and don't limit yourself. 

Note:  If you are a resident of Quebec you can register for a free subscription, which will allow you to save your searches, borrow digital books, and gives you access to all their remote services. There is a charge for non-residents. 

Searching on a mobile

Using a mobile phone is a little different than on the website but you pretty much navigate as above. Clicking on the red bar takes you back and forth to the filters and the results. Again, if you use Chrome you can use the translate to switch to English.