Genealogy research for Portuguese American heritage can be extra challenging. Some challenges are shaped by the practice of changing surnames once on the American side of the Atlantic. Another hurdle in research is the tradition of surnames being different for many members of the same family.

However, Portuguese American family history is getting much easier with new access to two free, on-line genealogy resources. These new resources share the stories of the first American communities where Portuguese and, more specifically, Azore Islanders first immigrated into the United States, throughout Cape Cod, Massachusetts and into Azorean descendant areas familiar today, like New Bedford, and Barnstable County.

Diario de Noticias; The Portuguese Daily News

In the last week of May, 2009, University of Massachusetts, North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, announced a new, free, online historical resource available now: The Portuguese Daily News, officially known as Diario de Noticias, is online for anyone, in its entirety from 1919 to 1973. The venture is made possible by the Diario de Noticas Newpaper Digitization Project by the Ferreria-Mendes Portuguese American Archives, T. Carney Library and the Center for Portuguese Studies, UMass Dartmouth College Library, North Dartmouth, Massachusetts.