Family Tree Magazine Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode Title: Exploring Historical Newspaper Pages with Veridian
Host: Lisa Louise Cooke
Release Date: September 15, 2025
Podcast Series: Best Websites (Family Tree Magazine)

Episode Overview

In this episode, host Lisa Louise Cooke guides listeners through the world of historical newspaper research by introducing Veridian, a powerful digital platform that supports newspaper digitization and makes millions of historical pages searchable online. Focusing on how this technology opens new doors for genealogists, Lisa explores practical strategies, notable collections, and recent developments—highlighting how Veridian is changing the way family historians access and use newspaper archives from anywhere in the world.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

What is Veridian and Why Does It Matter?

• Veridian is a software platform developed by DL Consulting (New Zealand) that powers a large and growing suite of digital newspaper archives globally.

• Each collection hosted with Veridian is managed by a partnering library, archive, or historical society.

• Veridian acts as the “engine behind the scenes,” turning fragile, physical newspaper archives into searchable, accessible digital resources.

  “It is the technology that Veridian brings to this scenario that pays off.” – Lisa Louise Cooke [02:55]

Notable Veridian-Powered Collections

• California Digital Newspaper Collection: Millions of pages from 1846 onward.

• Hoji Shinbun Digital Collection: Japanese language newspapers dating to the late 19th century.

• Others: Catholic News Archive, Boston College Newspapers, Cambridge Public Library, Indiana State Library (Hoosier State Chronicles).

  “When you add them all up, Veridian-powered archives now offer over 110 million digitized newspaper pages. And the number is growing all the time.” [02:20]

The Power of Search – Browsing and Targeted Research

• All newspapers are searchable by name, date, place, and keyword through OCR (optical character recognition).

• Targeted searching saves time; users can find anything from detailed articles to brief mentions in classifieds.

  “Browsing is a lot of fun, but really targeted searching is going to save you a lot of time.” [03:05]

Navigating ViridianSoftware.com – Step-by-Step Guide

How to Get Started: [04:00]

• Visit viridiansoftware.com and click on “Projects” in the main menu.

• Choose “Newspaper Collections” to see an alphabetical list of projects.

• Collections range in size and focus—some are massive statewide databases, others specialize in specific communities or topics.

  “You just start seeing them listed there, they are shown in alphabetical order. And they all come from really very diverse organizations.” [05:10]

Deep Dive: Hoosier State Chronicles Example

Exploring a State Collection: [06:20]

• Example of Indiana State Library’s Hoosier State Chronicles.

• Click through to the collection site, which includes:

  • Featured collections and information
  • Browse by title, date, tag, or location (interactive map of Indiana counties)
  • A calendar or list view to select publication issues by date

  “This is so cool. So it’s a map of Indiana, and all of the counties are laid out here… As you hover your mouse over the other counties, the ones that are white, you will find they light up blue. And it tells you, yes, they do have newspapers for that location.” [07:05]

Platform Features Vary by Collection

• Each organization may customize its interface, but most will provide browsing/search features, titles, tags, blogs, and help pages.
• Users can search with keywords or explore via maps, calendars, and tags (for topics).
• Consistency in UI is common, but room exists for variation based on institution needs.

Looking Ahead: AI and Semantic Search

• Veridian is “starting to incorporate artificial intelligence and bringing semantic search.”

• Semantic search means users can use sentences or descriptions, not just keywords, to uncover relevant materials.

  “If we’re not quite sure what we’re looking for, we just want to describe it, you might still find some good things that way, just because this new technology is able to really understand the sentences…” [11:00]

Beyond Newspapers – Other Collections

• Veridian also supports school newspapers, public libraries, historical societies, archives, and audio collections—accessible via the project page.

Notable News: Elephind.com is Returning!

• Elephind.com, a once-popular, free genealogy newspaper search tool (powered by Veridian), is coming back after having closed.

• The revived site promises AI-powered semantic search as well as traditional keyword search.

• Listeners are encouraged to sign up for launch notifications.

  “Viridian Software just announced that Elephind.com is coming back. Yes, I said it’s coming back and that’s a really good thing. That was a terrific website.” [13:20]

Memorable Quotes

• On Discovering Family Stories:

  “It tells you the church, the names of her bridesmaids, even that she carried a bouquet of white roses. That’s not just a record, it’s a story. And Veridian makes finds like this possible from home.”
  — Lisa Louise Cooke [01:20]

• On Technological Progress:

  “They’re also starting to incorporate, of course, artificial intelligence and bringing semantic search… This new technology is able to really understand the sentences, the strings of information that you’re putting in.”
  — Lisa Louise Cooke [11:20]

• On Collection Variety:

  “You’ll start seeing them listed there… They all come from really very diverse organizations.”
  — Lisa Louise Cooke [05:12]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00-01:20 — Introduction: The value of historical newspapers
• 02:20-03:05 — Stats: Scale and scope of Veridian-powered archives
• 04:00-07:00 — How-to guide: Navigating VeridianSoftware.com
• 07:05-08:30 — Example: Hoosier State Chronicles and interactive maps
• 11:00-11:40 — Future features: AI and semantic search
• 13:20-14:30 — Breaking news: Elephind.com revives

Conclusion

Lisa Louise Cooke wraps up by reiterating Veridian’s status as a top genealogy website. The episode provides a clear, actionable walkthrough for getting started with historical newspaper research using Veridian-powered collections, and breaks exciting news about the imminent return of Elephind.com. Listeners are encouraged to explore, sign up for updates, and utilize both Family Tree Magazine and Lisa’s own resources for ongoing research support.