[Ads-l] "dust bowl" and ads-l archives

ADSGarson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Mon Feb 15 12:44:16 UTC 2021


I just located a match for "dust bowl" in newspapers.com that is dated
March 11, 1935. The header of the newspaper page looks ok because it
specifies the proper date: March 11, 1935.

Unfortunately, there is a big problem. The target text with the term
"dust bowl" appears in a clipping that has been laid on top of the
newspaper page. Looking carefully at this clipping I can see
"(Copyright 1936)". Hence, this clipping apparently was published in
1936 and not 1935. Occasionally, a copyright date refers to a future
year, but I do not think that is true here.

This is the first time I have encountered this type of error in
newspapers.com. The newspaper page is actually a composite. It
contains  a clipping from a different newspaper page with a different
date. Checking the date in the headers and the front page uncovers
most problems. In this case, the header date was also misleading. I
have occasionally seen this type of error in other databases.

Of course, newspapers.com has a large number of incorrect dates in its
database entries.

Here is a link to the error (paywall):
https://www.newspapers.com/image/49434079/?terms=%22dust%20bowl%22&match=1

Newspaper: The San Bernardino County Sun
Newspaper Location: San Bernardino, California
Date: Monday, March 11, 1935 (This date is probably incorrect for the
"dust bowl" text)
Page:Page 9

[Begin excerpt]
Balanced Budget
Those revised budget estimates for the current
fiscal year, that will be made public when the President
returns from his dust bowl trip, will uncork
some snappy political footwork.
[End excerpt]

Garson O'Toole

On Mon, Feb 15, 2021 at 6:04 AM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> In 2014 I posted the following antedating for "dust bowl."  I opined that this Associated Press story, carried in many other newspapers as well, was probably the coinage of the term.
>
>
> 1935 _Reno Evening Gazette_ 15 Apr. 1/3 (NewspaperArchive)  Residents of the Southwestern dust bowl marked up another black duster today, and wondered how long it would be before another one came along.
>
>
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> Sent: Monday, February 15, 2021 5:23 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: "dust bowl" and ads-l archives
>
> The ads-l archives did not connect for me today.
>
> Dust bowl has been mentioned here. Maybe or maybe not a slight antedating:
>
> April 20, 1935, The Miami Herald, 7A/2-3 here 3, "Governor of Kansas [Alf Landon] describes Dust Area"
> "[AP] Editor's note:[....] just back from a tour of drought and dust harried western Kansas he tells of conditions of the "dust bowl" [....]
>
> SG
>
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>
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