While listening to Google’s earnings announcement today, I learned about Google’s new, searchable News Archive. It allows you to search news articles going back 200 years! Unfortunately, much of the really old content is paid content. But you can go back to the early 1900’s and see a fair amount of “free” content too. Be sure to do an advanced search and select “Return articles with the following price: no price”.
I don’t really have a great use for this, but it is fun to have history at your fingertips. Here are a couple of interesting news events I found:
The Assassination, Time Magazine, November 29, 1963
Earthquake in San Francisco, Guardian Unlimited, April 19, 1906
I also learned that in 1957, one Dr Joseph Belshe and a team of doctors plugged a patient into a power outlet as a makeshift defibrillator. Sweet!
I do look forward to more content coming online through the search archives; there isn’t nearly as much as I’d like to see yet!