Leap Day Stories To celebrate Leap Day (or ‘intercalary day’ or ‘Job’s Birthday’, as it’s also known), we’ve been looking through the newspaper archive to read about some of customs that are/were traditionally observed on this day. Perhaps the most famous Leap Day tradition is that of ‘The Ladies’ Privilege’. Similar to ‘Sadie Hawkins’ Day’, this is the special day on which women can try to finally put an end to his chronic commitment-phobia. But if the answer is ‘nay’ …

To mark St Valentine‘s Day, we thought we‘d post some historical newspaper stories on our Facebook page about how the Eve of the Lupercalia (aka the 14th of February) was celebrated in the 19th Century.   Valentine Days in the 19th Century It‘s fascinating to see how the tradition of sending valentines ebbed and flowed during the 19th Century. Just by doing simple searches for ’valentines‘ and ’valentine cards‘ in the archive, it‘s possible to see the boom years when almost …

Celebrate Charles Dickens’ 200th Birthday with the British Newspaper Archive To herald the bicentenary of Charles Dickens‘ birthday, we are today launching a new 7 Day Credit Package to help you to make full use of your time researching in the archive. The new package is 7 days (600 credits) for the bargain price of £9.95!   The Philosophy of Micawberism Just like Mr. Micawber with his ’temporary pressure of pecuniary liabilities‘, the British Newspaper Archive Team has been hoping …

The British Newspaper Archive Newsletter: New Features and Your Top Searches Two months have passed since the British Newspaper Archive (BNA) was launched in late November 2011. How time flies! We’re delighted to announce some new site features. New Features on the BNA Website Search Term Highlighting Our development team have been working hard to add extra features to the website. One of   these new features is highlighting the first 10 occurrences of the words in your search term   within …