Our online archives include articles as old as 1996. If you need articles or obituaries published prior to 1996, we recommend contacting the Washington County Free Library.
Advanced search tips
- Use distinct keywords.
- Instead of using a query like "A car crash in Hagerstown," consider trying something like "accident Hagerstown"
- Exclude keywords.
- You can narrow down your search results by requesting stories that don't contain a given term. For example, use a query like "accident -Hagerstown" to find stories about an accident that don't contain the word "Hagerstown."
- Use an appropriate date range.
- Narrowing the date range can increase the relevance of your search results.
- Sort by relevance or most recent when appropriate.
- Stories are given a relevancy score based on how frequently the keywords show up in the headline and body. When looking for a story from a specific date, it's better to choose an appropriate date range and sort by most recent first.
- Limit your results to fewer sections.
- You can select from several sections to search within. You can also choose not to include subsections in your results. For example, "Food" is a subsection of "Arts & Living."
- Refine your search terms.
- You can modify your search terms on the results page. Keep in mind that your sorting preference, section and date restrictions still apply for all subsequent queries. To start over, return to the main Archive search page.