Newspapers, posters and ephemera

Newspapers

Newspapers are an important source for the Victorian period, being the only regular published account of a broad range of activities in towns and villages. There are many more newspapers available in the later Victorian period; in 1837 there were only 2 Sussex titles, but by 1877 the number had grown to 20, including town newspapers covering Bognor, Chichester, East Grinstead, Horsham, Littlehampton and Worthing. 

As well as descriptions of events, meetings, court and so on, newspapers are a useful source on businesses (adverts), market prices, notices and accounts of baptisms, marriages and deaths/funerals and sporting and leisure activities.

West Sussex Record Office has the largest collection of titles in West Sussex, including many original volumes, as well as microfilm copies. Library collections are almost exclusively on microfilm only and titles tend to be located at the most relevant town library. 

Newspaper cuttings collections are also very useful given the lack of indexes to newspapers. Worthing Library has a countywide collection of over 25,000 cuttings. West Sussex Record Office has numerous cuttings accessible through catalogues and indexes in the Searchroom, including a main collection arranged by parish and subject, and special collections by local antiquarians. 

The Local History Mini-Guide to Sources No. 8 Newspapers in West Sussex (West Sussex County Council, revised ed. 2005) has more detailed information, including locations, on all newspaper titles. It can be viewed and downloaded here.

Posters and ephemera

Ephemera are printed items, often single sheets, intended to have a limited, usually very short, life. Examples include leaflets, handbills, posters, playbills, theatre and other event programmes, bus and train timetables and tickets, menus, school prospectuses, brochures, business cards, membership tickets and election material. Worthing Library has over 8,000 such items on general subjects and on every town and village in West Sussex, though only a small fraction is Victorian. A special poster collection is maintained which includes some Victorian examples, particularly for Golden and Diamond Jubilee events. 

Property sale catalogues describing houses, business premises and land being auctioned, often with a plan, are available from about 1850 to the present. Worthing Library has over 2,000 catalogues covering most parts of the county. They are particularly useful for comparing the size and facilities of homes occupied by the well-off, the middle-classes and poorer people.

See also Local History Mini-Guide to Sources: No.14 Victorian West Sussex (West Sussex County Council, 2002) which contains details of many more sources for further research and has sections on the home, school, church, leisure, work, industry and trade, town hall, railways and transport, plus book lists and details of museum services. It may be bought for £2.50 at any public library, at the West Sussex Record Office, or order it online using our eshop (temporariliy unavailable).