Guidelines for Commenting

1. Please do not post the same item on multiple posts. You only need to post once for it to be seen.

2. Please include a working email address - if your comment is related to your own personal family history, rather than Latvian genealogy in a more general sense, I prefer to respond by email to maintain your privacy.

3. I don't sell email addresses or send anything to them besides responses to your comments. I am the only person who has access to them.

Latvian Guard – February 15, 1922

This is part of my series of interesting newspaper articles that I find in the old Latvian newspapers available through Periodika. Most of the articles I post are in some way related to migration, wars or other events that are of particular genealogical note.

Source: Latvijas Sargs (Latvian Guard), February 15, 1922

Looking for Heirs

The Latvian delegation [...]

Liepāja's Response - January 31, 1908

This is part of my series of interesting newspaper articles and snippets that I find in the old Latvian newspapers available through Periodika. Most of the articles I post are in some way related to migration, wars or other events that are of particular genealogical note.

Source: Liepājas Atbalss (Liepāja’s Response), January 31, 1908

Issuing of External [...]

Free Country - January 29, 1940

This is part of my series of interesting newspaper articles that I find in the old Latvian newspapers available through Periodika. Most of the articles I post are in some way related to migration, wars or other events that are of particular genealogical note.

Source: Brīvā Zeme (Free Country), January 29, 1940

A 90-Year Old Rīga resident [...]

Newspapers for Genealogy

I’ve been mentioning Periodika, an online collection of historical Latvian newspapers, recently. I talked about it a few years ago, here, but it has been updated and upgraded since, so merits mentioning again. Newspaper articles can provide an idea on historical events as they happen, certainly, but do newspapers have other value in genealogy?

They most [...]

Latvis – January 17, 1923

This is part of my series of interesting newspaper articles that I find in the old Latvian newspapers available through Periodika. Most of the articles I post are in some way related to migration, wars or other events that are of particular genealogical note.

This article is a harrowing account of the lives of Latvian Baptists [...]

Baltic Herald – January 11, 1906

This is part of my series of interesting newspaper articles and snippets that I find in the old Latvian newspapers available through Periodika. Most of the articles I post are in some way related to migration, wars or other events that are of particular genealogical or historical note.

Source: Baltijas Vēstnesis (Baltic Herald), January 11, 1906

News [...]

Limbaži News – August 9, 1908

I occasionally browse the variety of newspapers available through the Latvian National Library’s website here and here. Newspapers can be a very valuable source of information, but many pre-World War 2 Latvian newspapers were written in blackletter font and old Latvian orthography, even in the 1930s. This typefont is not easy to read, but with [...]

Early Days in Canada

[This post was written for the 30th edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy on the topic of "Arrival in New Lands", hosted by Al of Al's Polish-American Genealogy Research.]

All four of my grandparents came to Canada for the same reason: to flee from the Communist terror that had overtaken their homeland [...]

Old Newspapers Online at the Latvian National Library

Through the website Periodika, the Latvian National Library offers digital scans of newspapers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most newspaper editions available are from the 1920s and 1930s.

The user interface is available in Latvian and in English, though, obviously, the newspapers themselves are in Latvian (with the exception of one German-language and [...]