|
Search Pennsylvania Civil
War Newspapers
|
Welcome to The Columbia Spy Online!
You've found the first Lancaster County historic
newspaper that is fully searchable and free of charge for researchers
worldwide. A 60-year run (1830–1889) of The Columbia Spy
is now available.
Browse
or search The Columbia Spy
What You Can Find in the Spy
Local, national, and international news
Vital statistical information
Marriage announcements
Death notices
Advertisements, including ads for runaway slaves
Political and legal notices
Articles about the African American community
Literary selections, including pieces by Edgar Allen Poe
References to prominent free African Americans
Birth of the Spy
The Columbia Spy began publication
June 17, 1830, with John L. Boswell as the editor and publisher.
Twenty-year-old Boswell came to Columbia from Hartford, Connecticut,
where he served an apprenticeship with The Courant. The
paper was allegedly named "Spy" to reflect the strong
anti-slavery sentiment in the community.
Read more about the paper's early days in "John
L. Boswell and The Columbia Spy" by Robert L. Goodell from
the Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society. (This
pdf file requires the free Adobe
Acrobat Reader.)
Teachers: Use the Columbia Spy in
your classroom
Lesson plan for grades
9-12
The digitization of The Columbia Spy
was made possible by a grant from the
Library Services Technology Act,
Institute of Museum and Library
Services.
Digitization of the Civil War years (1850-1869)
of The Columbia Spy was completed as part of Penn State
University Libraries' Pennsylvania
Newspaper Project. We extend our thanks to Penn State Libraries
for their assistance in this project.
The Lancaster County Historical Society is a participant
in the Lancaster
County Digitization Project, a consortium of institutions interested
in digitizing the county's newspaper and manuscript collections.
|
