Cupar, the former County Town of Fife, has a superb series of indexes to newspapers held by its local library. The index card collection at Cupar Library consists of approximately 210,000 records, covering events such as births, marriages, deaths, wedding anniversaries, personal achievements, and personal tragedies. 

Ancestry has posted a database of this index, with images of the index cards. The cards reference articles and announcements found in several Fife area newspapers from 1833-1983. Newspaper index cards are a rich source of information for genealogists, and often contain information not possible to get elsewhere, or that has been lost from “official” records.

Local newspapers are famous for publishing as many names and details of local people as possible. They come and go, sometimes merging and sometimes disappearing completely, with a new publication taking their place. But a range of newspapers will cover one geographical area across a span of time. Armed with the information gleaned from the index, genealogists can contact the archive or library directly for more information or a copy of the relevant article.

The newspapers and years covered in this database include:

• Coast Burgh (Anstruther), 8 October 1896 – 22 December 1898
• Coast Burghs Observer, 1914 and 1917
• Dundee Courier, 1926-1983
• Fife Herald & Journal 1890-1891 (which became) Fife Herald News, 1892-1893 (which became) Fife Herald, 1894-1983
• Fife News, 1870-1909 (which became) Fife News & Coast Chronicle, 1910-1974
• Fifeshire Journal, 1833-1893
• East Fife Observer, 1917-1959
• East of Fife Record, 1856 and 1858 – 9 August 1917
• Pittenweem Register, 1850-1855 (not complete)
• Stratheden Advertiser (Cupar),1853-1855 (not complete)
• St Andrews Citizen, 1977-1983
• St Andrews Gazette (Cupar edition), 17 July 1869 – 24 Feb 1883
• St Andrews Gazette (Anstruther edition), 29 July 1914 – 19 February 1915
• St Andrews Times, 1937-38 and 1939-40
• The Fifeshire Express (Cupar), 4 August 1855 – 23 January 1856
• The News (Cupar), 1858-1862

Information written on each card may include:

• Name of individual
• Event type or description
• Event date
• Event place
• Title of newspaper
• Date of newspaper
• Newspaper page number

Click here to search the Fife, Scotland, Cupar Library Newspaper Index Cards, 1833-1987. (Requires Ancestry.co.uk or World Deluxe membership. Click here to find out more about Ancestry memberships.)

Image: Dunfermline Abbey, Scotland (From the Library of Congress Photo Collection at Ancestry. Click on the image to enlarge it.)