When The Belfast Newsletter Index was prepared, great pains were taken to ensure the accuracy of the page numbering. Pages one and four are readily identifiable by The Belfast Newsletter masthead at the top of page one and by the publisher's name and address, which is usually printed across all columns at the bottom of page four. If the user of the microfilm cannot locate a citation which these listings indicate should be found on page 2, he or she should also consult page 3 (and vice versa), as these pages are often reversed in the microfilm.
Along the same lines, another problem with pagination has been noted for those using the original bound copies of the newspapers. The Belfast Newsletter indexers worked from bound copies of the original newspapers loaned to them by The Linen Hall Library in Belfast. We have discovered that when these newspapers were being bound by the Library it was evidently thought necessary (in some volumes) to reverse the second sheet of the newspaper. In other words, in some bound volumes pages 3 and 4 are back to front. Since in the originals the pages are not numbered, the unsuspecting reader naturally thinks that he or she is reading page 3, when, in fact, he may, in fact, be reading page 4.
This problem exists for most of the issues for the years 1738, 1739, 1753, 1755, 1757, 1758, 1760, 1762, 1764, 1768, and 1792. In this database the correct page number is provided. Therefore, if you are unable to find an item on page 3, you should also look on page 4(and vice versa), since the page may have been bound out of order.
Other areas that may lead to misunderstanding:
The user should also be aware that during the 18th century it was not unusual for people to spell words, even their own names, in a variety of ways. The Belfast Newsletter indexers transcribed the words from the newspapers exactly as they appear in the original, without making silent editorial changes. Therefore, the user interested in finding every possible reference to the name "Abbot" looks also under the entries for "Abbott" (with two "t"s) and any other reasonable spellings (with one "b"?). The Wildcard facility will be useful in this respect.
The user needs to be aware that a nearly complete run of The Belfast Newsletter has survived for the years 1754 through 1800; however, only about one-quarter of the issues for the years 1737 through 1753 are extant. See extant issues.
Users should also note that in the case of advertisements only the first appearance of each ad. has been indexed, despite the obvious fact that the identical advertisement may have been printed in successive issues of the newspaper. If an advertisement was changed in any way subsequent to its first appearance, it was re-indexed. This was done because of computer memory requirements at the time of index preparation.
Please acknowledge the assistance of the Belfast Newsletter Index in resulting publications. This will help us to document its usefulness and may assist us to procure future grants to index Irish newspapers.
Address comments, corrections and suggestions concerning The Belfast Newsletter index database to John C. Greene, Department of English, The University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, LA 70504; e-mail jgreene@louisiana.edu
Unfortunately, it is not possible to undertake database searches for individuals or to acknowledge all communications.