13Titles
Explore publications and collections from the past.
Community History Archive Partner
Stark County District Library
Canton, Ohio
Explore this community history collection to discover the people, places, organizations, and events of Canton.
1810 to 1946Dates represented
See individual titles for available dates.
454,840Archive pages
Historical pages reported for this collection.
Explore local history
Discover the people, places, and stories of Canton, Ohio.
Explore the past of Canton, Ohio through newspapers as well as financial and tax records in the Stark County District Library's digital archive. Its thirteen titles include material from 1810 to 1946. The collection also includes local history resources.
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Selected titles
In the collection shared by Stark County District Library, you will find “Canton City Directory” and “Tax Record”.
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Free and open access
No subscription or payment required.
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A closer look
A familiar name or event takes on another dimension in the newspaper coverage of its time, alongside the stories that mattered to the readers of that issue.
Reporting from the time can reveal how people described the events, work and concerns of their day, placing a local story within the history unfolding around it. Whether you are tracing a family connection, exploring a local event or sharing history with a class, there is more to discover than names and dates alone. Explore the archive online for free, without a subscription.
Explore the collection
Titles in this collection
Browse thirteen titles and 454,840 digitized pages, with material from 1810 to 1946. This collection is shared through Stark County District Library's partnership with Advantage Archives. 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.
Canton City Directory
63,564 pages from 1859 to 1930
Canton Daily News
268,074 pages from 1912 to 1930
Canton Evening Times
636 pages in 1910
Canton Morning News
20,148 pages from 1903 to 1910
Canton News Democrat
48 pages in 1895
Democratic Transcript
636 pages from 1853 to 1854
News Democrat
27,438 pages from 1901 to 1912
Prison Register
2,404 pages in 1946
Record of Arrest
2,420 pages in 1935
Stark County Democrat
44,564 pages from 1840 to 1910
Stark County Republican
3,230 pages from 1859 to 1868
Tax Duplicate
4,630 pages from 1810 to 1813
Tax Record
17,048 pages from 1816 to 1838
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About the Archive
About The Stark County District Library’s History Archives
Explore the Stark County District Library ’s digital archive, made possible through a partnership with Advantage Archives . This archive provides free access to historical newspapers and documents, preserving the rich history of Stark County, Ohio.
About the Library
About The Stark County District Library
The Stark County District Library is committed to serving the informational, educational, and cultural needs of its community by providing free access to quality resources and services. As a hub for learning and literacy, the library upholds the core principles of public librarianship outlined by the American Library Association, such as access, confidentiality, privacy, and intellectual freedom. The library is dedicated to promoting lifelong learning and fostering a sense of belonging within the community.
Partner Story
Our Values
- Respect - We treat each person with dignity and cultivate civility among staff and patrons.
- Inclusion - We embrace diversity, invite multiple points of view, and foster an environment of belonging.
- Stewardship - We ensure the responsible management of our human, financial, and physical resources.
- Progress - We empower staff to learn, innovate, and lead as we proactively adapt to meet our community's present and future needs.
More ways to explore and share local history
Research Guidance
Look for the story behind a result
Begin with a person, neighborhood, business, or event you want to understand in Canton. The newspaper titles in the newspaper titles shared by the Stark County District Library can connect that question with reports from earlier years; leave a possible match open until its date and details fit. 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 Stark County District 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
Preserving documents on microfilm has been a popular method of storage for many years, and it still holds many benefits today. Here…
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May 7, 2025
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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