Historical newspapers
Historical newspapers offer a fascinating look at our history and are an invaluable source for historians and people researching their family history and geneaology. This page offers an introduction to historical newspaper collections available at your library.
Historical newspapers online
Links to historical newspapers’ archives and indexes from our Internet Gateway.
Finding a specific newspaper
To find if we have access to a specific newspaper the best way to find it is to search Serials A to Z. Serials A to Z also includes magazine and journal content.
Historical newspapers in the Source
We subscribe to a number of newspaper sites — get free access with your library card number and PIN, or at any library.
- British Newspapers 1600 - 1900
- Historic newspapers, newsbooks, ephemera and national and regional papers from British Isles.
17th-18th Century Burney Collection newspapers and 19th century British Library newspapers are included. - The Illustrated London News 1842 - 2003
- The popularity of the Illustrated London News attracted great artists and draughtsmen to cover wars, royal events, scientific invention, and exploration. In 1855 it launched the world’s first colour supplement.
- Proquest Historical Newspapers
- A collection of historic newspapers featuring The Guardian (1821 - 2003), The Observer (1791 - 2003), The Irish Times (1859 - 1920) and the Weekly Irish Times (1876 - 1920). Full page and article images with searchable full text and digital reproductions of every page from every available issue.
- Times Digital Archive 1785 - 2006
- Search through the complete digital edition of The Times (London), to retrieve images of either a specific article or a complete page. The entire newspaper is captured, with all articles, advertisements and illustrations/photos divided into categories.
- Picture Post (1938-1957)
- Full digital reproductions of the Picture Post archive, an iconic British newspaper that was read by an estimated 80 per cent of the British population at its peak. It covers the years before the start of World War II up until the beginning of the Cold War.
Can I view the actual newspapers?
Due to the fragile nature of the paper it is generally not possible to handle the actual newspapers but libraries around the world have been microfilming and more recently digitising newspapers from their archives and making them available either freely on the web or through online subscription databases.
