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Puerto Rican Genealogy Conectando Raíces, Celebrando Herencia

Lesson 3: Puerto Rico's Own Free Portals

Navigate ADNPR, the Biblioteca Digital Puertorriqueña, dLOC, and the El Mundo Digital Archive for Puerto Rican newspaper research. Includes step-by-step guidance and when to use each platform.

Intermediate

Part of the Looking for Ancestors in Historical Puerto Rican Newspapers course. See Lesson 2 for Chronicling America.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

  1. Navigate ADNPR to locate newspaper holdings
  2. Use the Biblioteca Digital Puertorriqueña (UPR) to find digitized periodicals
  3. Search dLOC for Puerto Rican and Caribbean newspaper content
  4. Access the El Mundo Digital Archive for twentieth-century research
  5. Begin using WS-01 (Newspaper Search Log) to track searches across multiple platforms

Why Puerto Rico’s Own Portals Matter

Chronicling America holds only the titles that U.S. institutions chose to digitize. Puerto Rican and Caribbean institutions have built their own digital collections – some of which overlap with Chronicling America, and many of which do not. Searching only Chronicling America means missing newspapers held exclusively in Puerto Rican or Caribbean institutional archives.

Archivo Digital Nacional de Puerto Rico (ADNPR)

URL: adnpr.net

ADNPR is a searchable repository of Puerto Rican archives, maps, newspapers, government gazettes, and periodicals. It is particularly useful for newspaper titles and issues not available on Chronicling America.

  1. Go to adnpr.net and select your preferred language.
  2. Use the search bar to enter a surname, town name, or keyword.
  3. Browse by newspaper title under the Periodicals or Hemeroteca section.
  4. Note the full citation for any result: newspaper title, issue date, page number, and URL.

Research tip: Review source information carefully. ADNPR results may include newspaper pages, government documents, and other record types – they are not all newspapers.

Biblioteca Digital Puertorriqueña (UPR)

URL: upr.contentdm.oclc.org

The University of Puerto Rico’s digital library holds newspapers, manuscripts, photographs, maps, and rare books. For genealogy, look for collections labeled Periódicos or Hemeroteca.

  1. Go to upr.contentdm.oclc.org and browse by collection.
  2. Filter by date range and keyword within a collection.
  3. Note: the interface is primarily in Spanish. Use your browser’s page translation tool if needed.

Research tip: UPR Libraries maintain research guides (LibGuides) for Puerto Rican genealogy and newspaper research. Search “Puerto Rico newspapers LibGuide UPR” for additional resource lists.

Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC)

URL: dloc.com

dLOC is a partnership of more than 90 institutions. Its Caribbean Newspaper Digital Library (CNDL) holds more than 130 eighteenth- and nineteenth-century newspapers from 22 Caribbean islands (1718–1876). For Puerto Rican genealogists, dLOC serves two purposes:

  1. Puerto Rican content: Some Puerto Rican titles not available on Chronicling America
  2. Caribbean migration research: Puerto Rican families moved between islands; relatives may appear in Cuban, Dominican, or other Caribbean newspapers
  1. Go to dloc.com and select Caribbean Newspaper Digital Library or use the main search bar.
  2. Filter by Country for Puerto Rico or another island.
  3. Use keyword search or browse by date.

Research implication: If your ancestor migrated between Puerto Rico and Cuba, the Dominican Republic, or another Spanish-speaking island before 1900, dLOC is where you look for Caribbean newspaper evidence of that migration.

El Mundo Digital Archive

URL: Find via UC Berkeley announcement

El Mundo was Puerto Rico’s major conservative daily from 1919 to 1990. In 2023, UC Berkeley and the Center for Research Libraries opened the complete archive as free, full-text searchable open access – 71 years of Puerto Rican history.

What El Mundo Contains for Genealogists

  • Detailed obituaries naming parents, spouse, children, occupation, birthplace, and church affiliation
  • Birth and marriage announcements
  • Community events and organizational notices

Research tip: For obituary research, search for the surname combined with falleció (died) or sepelio (funeral).

A Note on El Imparcial and Other Titles

El Imparcial (1918–1970s) is available through the Eastview Global Press Archive – a subscription service. This course focuses on free resources; access requires an institutional subscription or library card. The Hemeroteca Digital of Spain’s Biblioteca Nacional de España (BNE) is free and holds some colonial-era newspapers with Caribbean coverage – worth checking after the other platforms.

Tracking Your Searches with WS-01

You have now been introduced to five free platforms. Use the Newspaper Search Log (WS-01) to document every search you conduct – including searches that return no results. A documented absence tells you and anyone reviewing your work what has already been checked.

Key Terms

Term Definition
ADNPR Archivo Digital Nacional de Puerto Rico; free searchable repository of Puerto Rican archives and newspapers
dLOC Digital Library of the Caribbean; 130+ Caribbean newspapers from 22 islands, 1718–1876
CNDL Caribbean Newspaper Digital Library; the newspaper section within dLOC
Falleció “Died”; useful search term for obituary research in El Mundo
Sepelio Funeral; may appear in death and obituary notices

Reflection Questions

  1. You are looking for a great-grandmother who died in Puerto Rico in the 1940s. Which platform from this lesson would be your first choice, and why?
  2. Your family’s oral history says an ancestor moved from Puerto Rico to Cuba around 1895. Which platform would you use for Caribbean newspaper evidence, and what would you search for?
  3. You search ADNPR and find several results from different collections. How do you determine which results are newspaper pages?
  4. Why is it important to use the Newspaper Search Log even when a search returns no results?

Class Exercise

Open ADNPR. Search for a surname from your research (or use Rodríguez).

In your Newspaper Search Log (WS-01), record:

  • The platform and search term
  • The date range of any results
  • The newspaper title, if identifiable
  • Whether the result is a newspaper page or another type of document
  • The URL of one result, or “no results found”

Repeat the same search in dLOC and compare what you find.

Continue to Lesson 4: Search Strategies and a Case Study Back to Lesson 2

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