Dispatches From The Archive · No. 12

How to read the Evening Star of 26 November 1965 yourself

You do not have to take the family's word for it. The Evening Star is digitised page by page by the Library of Congress through 1972, and the week of the disappearance is in it.

Where can you read the 1965 Washington newspapers about Anna Maria Hitz?

The Evening Star, November 26, 1965: D.C. Heiress Wires Mother She's Wed, Safe in Venezuela.
The Evening Star, Washington, November 26, 1965. The blue underline is the family's. Original clipping, Hitz family archive.

The Evening Star of Washington, D.C. is digitised in full by the Library of Congress in Chronicling America, from 9 October 1854 to 12 July 1972, under the Library of Congress control number sn83045462. That run includes the last week of November 1965, when the Star reported the disappearance of Anna Maria Hitz and, on 26 November, her mother's doubts about the cable from Caracas. Every page can be read, searched and downloaded without an account.

How to find the issue

Open the Evening Star's title page at loc.gov under the number above, choose "browse by date", pick 1965 and then 26 November, and open the first edition. Chronicling America also searches the recognised text of every page, so the surname alone, with a date range of November 1965, brings up the pages that carry it; recognised text on 1960s newsprint is imperfect, so a search that returns nothing is not proof of absence, and the pages themselves are the record. The Library notes that it believes these newspapers are in the public domain or carry no known copyright restrictions; the family's clippings carry its own pen marks and remain the family's.

The other papers of that week

The Washington Post of 23 and 29 November 1965 is in ProQuest Historical Newspapers, which most public and university libraries provide. The Washington Daily News of 26 November 1965 is held on microfilm; the Library of Congress newspaper reading room is the place to ask. Blick of 25 November and 16 December 1965 is on the Swiss National Library's e-newspaperarchives platform. The Caracas papers of January and February 1966, La Verdad, El Nacional, Últimas Noticias, La República and El Mundo, are in the family archive as clippings; for the full runs, the national library in Caracas is the right question.

The family publishes twelve of its clippings, including this one, in the 1965 Press File, and sources every claim on the facts page. A story that asks to be believed should also show where to check.

Sources for this dispatch


Questions

Is the Evening Star of 1965 online?

Yes. The Library of Congress has digitised the Evening Star from 1854 to 12 July 1972 in Chronicling America under LCCN sn83045462, including November 1965.

Can I search Chronicling America for a name?

Yes, the recognised text of every page is searchable, but recognition on 1960s newsprint is imperfect, so browsing the issue by date is the reliable route.

Where is the Washington Post of 23 November 1965?

In ProQuest Historical Newspapers, available through most public and university libraries, and as the original clipping in the Hitz family archive.


Follow The Story

The dispatches are fragments. The whole story is the memoir. Leave your email and the opening chapter comes to you first.

You are on the case file. Check your inbox: the first chapter is on its way.

One story. No noise. Unsubscribe anytime. Privacy