This week at The Archive we are celebrating another milestone – we’ve reached 43 million pages, all now available to search. Meanwhile this week we have added two more exciting local titles, having added 66,012 brand new pages over the past seven days.

So read on to discover more about this week’s new titles, and the six publications to which we have added new pages. Also, read on to find out more about when Buffalo Bill came to Britain, and his show in Leeds in the summer of 1891.

Register now and explore the Archive

We are delighted to welcome our first new title of the week to The Archive – and it’s the wonderful Staffordshire Newsletter. ‘Serving the people of Stafford and Stone since 1906,’ the Staffordshire Newsletter appeared every Saturday in its own distinct three column newsletter format.

A rich repository of local news, the Staffordshire Newsletter was published in Stafford and contained all the latest news from the area. For example, you can find reports from the local Quarter Sessions, Board of Guardians and town council, as well as news from the police and notices of forthcoming events. Meanwhile, the Staffordshire Newsletter also gave you your sporting fix, reporting on the latest football results.

Staffordshire Newsletter | 12 January 1907

Our second new title of the week is County Durham’s Darlington and Richmond Herald. Published in Darlington every Saturday, this Liberal title was established in 1858 and cost 1d.

Bursting with local news stories and special interest columns, the Darlington and Richmond Herald reported on the goings-on from the area, such as the ‘Bird and Rabbit Show’ and ‘Sacrilege at Darlington.’ Like the Staffordshire Newsletter, the Herald also featured the latest from the Board of Guardians, the police and the School Boards.

But you can also find within the pages of the Darlington and Richmond Herald more specialised columns such as ‘The Ladies’ Corner,’ ‘Literary and Art Notes,’ and ‘Fun and Satire.’ Whole sections were dedicated to ‘Crime and Criminals,’ ‘Misfortunes and Disasters,’ as well as ‘Wise Words.’ Meanwhile, you can also find within the pages of this lively and diverse local newspaper thought pieces such as ‘Long or Short Engagement?,’ a professional directory of local trades, as well as poetry.

Darlington and Richmond Herald | 29 May 1880

We have also made extensive updates to our existing titles this week, adding over 22,000 pages to our historic early London daily the Morning Herald (London). We have also added new pages to one of our international titles, namely the Bangalore Spectator.  A ‘Tri-weekly journal of News, Politics and Literature,’ which appeared every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, the Bangalore Spectator appeared in what is now known as Bengaluru, located in the southern state of Karnataka.

Another notable update are the over 24,000 pages we have added to the Daily Record. Founded in Glasgow in 1895, this historic newspaper was initially allied to the Tory party before switching allegiance to the Labour Party in 1964. In 1934 it became the first British newspaper to publish a colour advertisement – for Dewar’s White Label Whisky – and it continues as a daily tabloid today.

Buffalo Bill Comes to Yorkshire

We have also added new pages to the Dewsbury Chronicle and West Riding Advertiser this week, which outline the visit of one of the nineteenth century’s biggest celebrities to Yorkshire – Buffalo Bill.

On 20 June 1891 the Dewsbury Chronicle and West Riding Advertiser announced:

Buffalo Bill (the Hon. W.F. Cody) is coming to Leeds; indeed, as a matter of fact, those who assist in making up his famous Wild West combination are in the West Riding metropolis already, for to-day (Saturday), a ‘short season’ is inaugurated at the Cardigan Fields, Leeds.

Illustrated London News | 7 May 1887

The paper goes on to give its readers a flavour of what they could expect from the ‘exhibition,’ for ‘People in this peaceful little island of ours have few ideas as to what life in the wild west means:’

The exhibition…illustrates life as it is witnessed on the plains: the Indian encampment, the cowboys and vaqueros, the herds of buffalo and elk, the lassoing of animals, the manner of robbing mail coaches, feats of agility, horsemanship, marksmanship, archery…

Please do be aware that the newspaper uses such outmoded terms to describe the indigenous American population that we would not employ today.

Buffalo Bill’s company in England | The Tatler | 9 November 1904

The first performance was due to take place at 3pm, with another at 8pm. The ground had a capacity of 8,000, with 3,000 people accommodated in ‘a grand covered stand.’ 4,000 tickets could be had for a shilling (or £4 today), with the most expensive seats rising to four shillings (£16 today).

But what could you actually expect from Buffalo Bill’s show? Well, the Dewsbury Chronicle and West Riding Advertiser was on hand, reporting on a programme that didn’t have ‘a dull moment.’ It describes the ‘wonderfully clever shooting by pretty Miss Annie Oakley,’ and the trick shooting undertaken by Johnny Baker.

‘Buffalo Bill in Bristol’ | The Bristol Magpie | 3 October 1891

Meanwhile:

…the fun is resumed by C.L. Daly doing some clever revolver and pistol shooting. The American frontier girls race one another, and thereafter have we a representation of an Indian attack on the famous old Deadwood Coach, which used to carry the mails, at such a cost of life, between Deadwood and Cheyennes.

But the highlight of the show was Buffalo Bill himself, as the Dewsbury Chronicle and West Riding Advertiser relates:

But they are about to be eclipsed by Buffalo Bill himself riding at full speed round the arena, he successfully spots with his repeating rifle any number of glass balls thrown into the air, and when the applause which greets this has died away, he takes a ponderous whip, and proves his handling of it, and the loud report he gets from it, that he is still a strong man.

‘Buffalo Bill at Earl’s Court’ | Graphic | 14 May 1892

And if that wasn’t enough, also available at the show were ‘Boston ice-cream and popcorn,’ which were sure to attract those with a ‘sweet tooth.’

But by 4 July 1891 Buffalo Bill’s time in Leeds had come to an end, the show moving on to Liverpool, and so readers would have to travel to see:

…more of the wonders of the plains, the peculiarities of buck-jumpers, the skill of the men with the lasso and rifle, the marvellous horsemanship of the children…

The Bioscope | 27 November 1913

Surely, it would not be a sight that the inhabitants of Leeds and its environs would have readily forgotten!

New Titles

Updated Titles

This week we have updated six of our existing titles.

You can learn more about each of the titles we add to every week by clicking on their names. On each paper’s title page, you can read a FREE sample issue, learn more about our current holdings, and our plans for digitisation.

You can keep up to date with all the latest additions by visiting the recently added page.  You can even look ahead to see what we’re going to add tomorrow.