In addition, the agency has attempted to collect as many extant earlier North Dakota newspapers as possible. This compilation of newspapers spans the period from early territorial days to the present. Newspapers contain a great deal of information for the genealogist and the historical researcher. For genealogists, the newspapers may include birth and marriage announcements and death notices and obituaries. Individual newspapers provide information concerning local events throughout the ancestor's lifetime, and state and national events that were instrumental in shaping lives.
Newspaper editorials permit the historical researcher to uncover the dynamics of an area.
Information concerning the social and cultural history, economics, politics, and individualism of members of the community can be found. City and county commission minutes and other official records were printed in the newspaper. Advertisements provide information concerning businesses that were a part of the community. The first newspaper known to have been published in northern Dakota Territory was the Frontier Scout issued at Fort Union on July 7, 1864. Nine years later, The Bismarck Tribune published its trial run on July 6, 1873.