Searching for "larrikin*": Using Digitised Newspapers to Trace the Transnational Coverage of Australian Street Gangs, 1870–98

Abstract:Digitisation is revitalising nineteenth-century periodicals as historical sources, particularly English-language publications. Far from replicas, these digitised sources have different attributes. Text searchability is one such property that is changing how and what historians can research. This article explores the use of keyword search to trace the transnational circulations of information about Australian juvenile street gangs and the controversy they aroused. Without multi-title, text-searchable archives it would not be feasible to attempt to discern the form and extent of this coverage. The article reflects on the new depth and breadth keyword searching can offer and some of the methodological choices and considerations involved.