Happy Friday! We are still deep in the throes of repainting, cleaning, and better organizing our office at the Hexagon House. Instead of us sharing something interesting this week, we want to help you find things that are interesting in your own research projects. Finding unusual historic accounts and articles in newspapers is a goldmine – and a never-ending rabbit hole. Unfortunately, some of the most comprehensive archives are paid subscription only, but for historic accounts, there are still ways to find articles online. If you are researching something a little off the beaten track, here are a few sources where you can start a free newspaper archive search. This can be helpful to find dates for an event you know took place to help narrow down a search range before resorting to paging through microfilm, or to find connections to topics you didn’t know to pursue.
First stop: Chronicling America
The Library of Congress’s historic digitized newspapers collection is a quick barometer on how much information you are likely to find in other online sources. When searching, I often have the best luck with a broad keyword topic, followed by either “Winchester” or “Winchester VA.” In many cases, this will turn up a story from a Winchester newspaper reprinted elsewhere. Commonly, stories have been picked up in Alexandria, Berryville, Charles Town, Richmond, Staunton, Stephens City, Washington D.C., Woodstock, and other nearby localities. Be sure to watch out for other Winchesters when searching – Kentucky is a frequent false hit.
Second stop: Virginia Chronicle
Many of the papers here are duplicated in the Library of Congress holdings, but a few are unique to this collection. Searching here can either turn up the same or nearly identical articles, but on occasion new or more in-depth accounts can be found. The Virginia Chronicle site also allows users to register and correct the OCR (optical character recognition) text files generated from the newspaper scans and aid researchers in future reading and searching.
Third stop: Google News Archive Search
Particularly the newspaper archives. Not quite as easy to use as the first two websites, but it has the advantage that it covers more recent newspapers – at least until the 1970s and possibly even newer than that. The advantage here is that any articles will likely be new and unique finds.
Fourth stop: Archive.org
The pilot program for newspapers is of limited use to Winchester researchers currently, but while you are here, you may also want to check out their other free text collections, which includes patents, fiction and nonfiction books, pamphlets and other ephemera.
Fifth stop: Newspaperarchive.com
If you are looking for something more modern and just need the text, I have had some limited success with this paid subscription site. Newspaperarchive.com provides OCR text transcriptions of the scanned pages, so while a free user won’t be able to load the scan of the newspaper, they will probably be able to get the gist of the text. There are options to browse the site, but for a search to just see what turns up, I often use Google’s advance search options for a string like “preservation of historic winchester” site:newspaperarchive.com. This random search turned up a 1982 newspaper article on our tenth Preservation Week activities, which I had not seen before. If you need to see the original page (for illustrations or to check the OCR text accuracy), you are now armed with a date and page for when you visit the Stewart Bell Jr. Archives or whichever archives is most convenient for you.
Sixth stop: Advantage Digital Archive
This free online archive is provided through the Handley Library. It provides OCR searchable text and full page images of some of Winchester’s more obscure historical newspapers, including:
Virginia Gazette (1787-1796)
Winchester Gazette (1798-1824)
Republican Constellation (1814-1814)
Daily Item (1896-1897)
Morning News Item (1906-1907)
Daily Independent (1923-1925).
The search functions are similar to the other newspaper archives. Don’t be discouraged if the OCR text does not return a hit on the topic you want – text recognition for older newspapers can be tricky. Instead, if you have a date or year range in mind to check an event, you may want to try the browsing option to read the scan yourself.
Happy searching!
The Clowser Foundation will have prints of the Clowser House by Michael Martin available for purchase. All proceeds from the sale of the Clowser House prints goes back to the Clowser Foundation for their effort to preserve this historic landmark of Frederick County.
Lin has been creating art with clay for over 25 years. She first studied pottery in Geneseo, NY, then Towson, MD, & other locations. Her works range from mugs & bowls to birdfeeders & birdbaths. Her goal is to make utilitarian pots that are well-crafted, aesthetically interesting, and enjoyable to use. She currently teaches non-credit classes at Lord Fairfax Community College, and is a member of the Shenandoah Potters Guild.
J & W Farm started with the idea of adding value to local agricultural products. The signature wreaths use a special blend of birdseed from two local feed stores and custom make them with seasonal ribbon and/or special requests. Our Holiday Birdseed Wreaths are packaged for gift giving and shipping! Be on the lookout this year for cider syrup, as well!
Jennifer hand paints unique Christmas bulbs – no two ornaments are the same! Each is executed in acrylic paint and sealed with a clear finish to protect the artwork. Her subjects range from kid-friendly to fantastical and are sure to bring whimsy and delight to your Christmas tree.
Jose has admired trees and loved wood. After his mother-in-law asked if he could make her some spoons from scraps, a new line of products was born and has been refined over the years. Jose has expanded from spoons to bowls and other utilitarian accessories. Most of the wood comes from the Montero wood lot, trees that have been damaged by storms or attacked by insects.
If you have ever admired the African Violets Sandra Bosley grows at the PHW office, this is your lucky year. Propagated violets from the classic and hardy purple and bi-color white and purple office violets are being sold for the very first time. There is also a selection of “mystery” violets that can be purple, white, lavender, blue, or bi-color white and purple, or white and pink – it’s a mystery until they bloom! There will also be young 
Cyndie Rinek, along with her husband Peter, a landscape architect and arborist, is the owner of Blooming Hill Lavender Farm and Gift Shop, located in the tiny Western Loudoun County hamlet of Philomont, Virginia. Over the years and through hard work as well as a lot of trial and error, Cyndie has taken what was once an interest in flowers and plants, to a passion and then turned it into a business specializing in lavender at her home, aptly named Blooming Hill. She now has a collection of one thousand lavender plants in almost one hundred different varieties and also tends the many formal, informal and herb garden beds that fill the 4 1/2 acres patch of paradise with a view of the Blue Ridge that make up Blooming Hill.
Jackie has been creating something for as long as she can remember. Encouragement and inspiration came from her multi-talented grandmother, who not only taught her to sew, but provided her with self confidence and unlimited materials to make things. Create something from nothing? Of course!
Emily will be doing “double duty” this year as both our purveyor of baked treats and locally handmade items. The Homestead Farm has been in her family since the early 1800s when their great, great, great grandfather James Thwaite started farming at the location. There will be a variety of gift items from the farmer’s market, like candles, soap, body cream, body/room spray and milk bath tubes. Even more tempting will be the selection of freshly baked sugar cookies, gingerbread men, rice krispie treats, small and large cakes, truffles, cake pops, pies, candied nuts and peppermint bark. 
Nate Windle will return again with fabulous finished greenery creations. In addition to the traditional fresh greenery wreaths and arrangements you have come to expect at the Bough & Dough Shop, Nate will provide some artificial greenery decorations so you can enjoy his artistic skills for years to come. If you are making your own arrangements from the bulk greenery, you can also expect a selection of bows made by Nate that are suitable for adding the finishing touch to your handiwork.
Outside on the deck of the Winchester Little Theatre awaits a bounty of freshly-cut greenery for your holiday decorating. Buy greenery in bulk by the bag at the Bough & Dough Shop this weekend, including pine, juniper, magnolia, holly, nandina, boxwood, and cryptomeria. Greenery is priced $3 by a small bag, $6 by a large bag, and magnolia is priced by the branch based on size. Other greenery or related items may also be available.