Glenbow's Library and Archive reading room is now closed. Glenbow's Library and Archive material relating to the history of western Canada has moved to the Glenbow Western Research Centre at the Taylor Family Digital Library at the University of Calgary. Inquiries relating to accessing Library and Archives material may be directed to archives@ucalgary.ca.
About the Newspaper Clippings Catalogue
The Newspaper Clippings Catalogue contains descriptions of 15,000 newspaper clipping files maintained by the Library of people, places, and subjects relating to the history of Western Canada, with an emphasis on Calgary and southern Alberta. Selective clipping of a wide range of local newspapers has occurred over the past fifty years, with some parts of the collection dating back to the 1880s. Although the Library newspaper clipping files have not been scanned, they may be accessed in various ways.
Please note that this database is a work in progress and that new search terms are being added on a regular basis as the newspaper clipping files are more thoroughly examined.
Additional Info About the Library
Search Tips: Searching by Name
For more successful searching, simplify! Even if you know a person's complete name, if it was entered differently in the database, the computer will not be able to make a match. (This often occurs when initials or a nickname have been entered.) Try just entering the person's last name to get a listing of all records which include that name and then scanning the resulting list to see if any hits seem like a possible match.
For more common names where there will be a lot of hits, use the ampersand "&" (and) to link a first and last name (eg. "Smith & William" will find all records which include the terms "William" and "Smith" even if "William" is actually a middle name). Refine your search further by using the wildcard "*" (eg. "Smith & Will*" to find all records which include "Will", "Willy", "William" etc. as well as "Smith"), the backslash "/" (or) to find all examples of differently spelled names (eg. Smith / Smythe), or a combination of symbols to link names in various ways (eg. "Smith & (Will* / Bill)" will find all records which include the word "Smith" and "Will", "Willy", "William" etc. or "Bill").
If you are unsure how to spell a person's name, try logical variations (eg. "Read", "Reed"; "White", "Whyte") or just enter what you know and use the wildcard "*" to replace missing end letters (eg. "MacEw*" will find "MacEwan", "MacEwen"). Please note that since the wildcard cannot be used to replace missing middle letters, "McEwan" and "McEwen" would not be found and would require a second search: "McEw*".
Search Tips: Other Hints
To do a wildcard search use "*" at the end of a string of letters. Example: "ranch*" will find ranches, rancher, ranching, etc.
To narrow a search (boolean "and") use "&" between the search terms. Example: "Calgary & college" will find records in which both words occur.
To broaden a search (boolean "or") use "/" between the search terms. Example: "Calgary / hotels / Peigan" will find records in which one of these terms occurs.
To search for one term but not another use "!" between the search terms. Example: "food ! cookery" will find records related to food except those specifically about cookery.
Also, sometimes newspaper clippings relating to a specific person or event are "buried" in a more general file Example: "Lethbridge, Alta. - Biography", "World War, 1914-1918".
