14Titles
Explore publications and collections from the past.
Community History Archive Partner
Jennings Carnegie Public Library
Jennings, Louisiana
Explore this community history collection to discover the people, places, organizations, and events of Jennings.
1894 to 2022Dates represented
See individual titles for available dates.
104,856Archive pages
Historical pages reported for this collection.
Explore local history
Discover the people, places, and stories of Jennings, Louisiana.
Get to know Jennings, Louisiana in earlier years through the newspapers shared in the Jennings Carnegie Public Library's digital archive. Its fourteen titles include material from 1894 to 2022.
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Selected titles
In the collection shared by Jennings Carnegie Public Library, you will find “Jeff Davis Parish News” and “The Saturday Record”.
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Free and open access
No subscription or payment required.
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A closer look
Newspaper pages connect individual accounts with a wider story, preserving how events were reported and presented to the readers of the day.
Historical newspapers can connect a family name with the events and everyday concerns of an earlier time, offering more than a date or a name on its own. Bring a family connection, a question about a familiar place or an interest in local history, and see where the sources lead. Explore the archive online for free, without a subscription.
Explore the collection
Titles in this collection
Browse fourteen titles and 104,856 digitized pages, with material from 1894 to 2022. A partnership between Jennings Carnegie Public Library and Advantage Archives makes this collection available. Some years or items may be missing between the dates shown.
If you are tracing a family connection or exploring local history, the titles below offer a place to begin and a thread to follow.
Jeff Davis Parish News
7,884 pages from 1932 to 1943
Jennings Daily News
34,296 pages from 2016 to 2022
Jennings Daily Times
8 pages in 1900
Jennings Daily Times - Record
5,658 pages from 1903 to 1904
Jennings Daily Times Record
50,904 pages from 1905 to 1921
Jennings Herald
80 pages in 1910
Jennings News
1,800 pages in 1927
Jennings Semi Weekly News
2,118 pages from 1926 to 1927
Jennings Times
72 pages from 1894 to 1895
Jennings Weekly Times Record
16 pages in 1920
The Daily Times
130 pages from 1901 to 1903
The Jennings Daily Record
1,858 pages from 1902 to 1903
The Jennings Times
16 pages in 1900
The Saturday Record
16 pages in 1903
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About the Library
About The Jennings Carnegie Public Library
The Jennings Carnegie Public Library, the oldest established library in Louisiana, has been a cornerstone of the Jennings community since its founding. The library offers a vast collection of reading, listening, and viewing materials, alongside a significant repository of local history and genealogy resources. The library continues to evolve, blending its historical archives with modern services to meet the needs of its patrons. Its welcoming atmosphere and dedication to preserving the area’s history make it an essential institution for both current residents and researchers of the region.
Library History
The History Of The Jennings Carnegie Public Library
Founded with a grant from Andrew Carnegie in the early 20th century, the Jennings Carnegie Public Library has long been a vital resource for the Jennings community. The library was established with a mission to provide free and accessible educational resources to all. Over the years, it has expanded its services, embracing technology and the digitization of its archives to ensure that the history of Jennings and Jeff Davis Parish is preserved for future generations. Today, the library continues to honor its legacy while offering a wide range of programs and services to the public.
About the Community
About Jennings, Louisiana
Located in Jeff Davis Parish, Jennings, Louisiana, is a small town with a rich cultural and historical heritage. Known as the “Cradle of Louisiana’s Oil Industry,” Jennings was the site of the state’s first successful oil well in 1901. The town’s history, deeply tied to agriculture, oil, and railroads, is preserved through various local institutions, including the Jennings Carnegie Public Library. Jennings remains a vibrant community, proud of its past and committed to its future.
Local History
Did You Know?
Did you know that the Jennings Carnegie Public Library is the oldest continuously operating library in Louisiana? It was one of many libraries funded by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and has served the community for over a century, evolving to meet the needs of modern library users while preserving the area’s rich history.
More ways to explore and share local history
Research Guidance
Look for the story behind a result
Start with something you would like to understand about the past of Jennings. It might be a person, a neighborhood or an event remembered in your family. Use the digital archive shared by the Jennings Carnegie Public Library to follow that question into the historical record. When using historical newspapers, try alternate spellings and nearby dates, then read the surrounding page to place a local story in its time. Compare later reporting or another available title to explore different perspectives rather than treating one account as the whole story. Search a person, place, or event with a second term, then compare the date and context of each result. A repeated name needs more evidence before it identifies the same person or connects two parts of a story.
After recording the issue and page, search a second term tied to the result and compare the surrounding dates and accounts. Keep matching names provisional until the place and context fit. This can turn one result into a better question without turning a repeated name into a confirmed story.
Capture the title, date, and page or item location for a detail you may want to revisit. Label your interpretation as your reading, not the source's own words. Keep enough context with the note that another reader can retrace it.
Community Partnership
Keeping local history a community resource
This community archive is made possible by the collaboration of the Jennings Carnegie Public Library, its community, and Advantage Archives. Together, these partnerships preserve local sources and give people a way to explore, learn from, and share the history around them.
Advantage Archives covers ongoing archive hosting, storage, development, and maintenance. The institution and its community do not pay a subscription, seat license, annual support contract, or other recurring archive-service charge. Local history remains a community resource, not a subscription to maintain.
Would you like to see more of your community's history preserved and accessible? Start a conversation with your library, newspaper publisher, historical or genealogical society, museum, or school about the materials they would like to share and a possible partnership with Advantage Archives.
Learn about partnerships
Stories, research tips, and archive news
Read All About It connects archive research with the people and institutions preserving local history. Explore partner and community stories, project updates, research ideas, and perspectives on digitization, education, and working with primary sources. Use the articles as a starting point for your next question or a new way to share a discovery.
May 7, 2025
Why Microfilm is still important in 2023
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Don’t Search For An Obituary By Only Searching For An “Obituary”
In the quest to trace our roots and understand our heritage, obituaries often serve as a crucial starting point. Obituaries are undoubtedly…
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April 9, 2025
Unveiling the Hidden Mysteries: Exploring Cold Cases and Unconventional Clues
Even the most esteemed police forces in the county encounter perplexing cold case files. These unsolved mysteries often leave investigators and genealogists…
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April 1, 2025
This Week in History: March 31st through April 6th
Discover History in The Community History Archives. This week in history, there is absolutely nothing to talk about… April Fools! April…
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March 24, 2025
This Week in History: March 24th through March 30th
Discover History in The Community History Archives. It has officially been a year since I started writing This Week in History,…
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March 18, 2025
It’s Your Community’s History, So Why Rent Something You Own?
We believe that history belongs to the communities where it was made - not locked behind paywalls or inaccessible due to budget restrictions. Subscription-based services and large content aggregators are generally more concerned with "content" and less concerned with the history that content contains. Their models typically involve a reoccurring charge for a plan that renews annually or licensing agreements with the library based on population served or circulation numbers. You are essentially Renting Access To YOUR History.
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