Research Guides: How to Find Newspaper Articles: Historical News

Historical News

Best Bet Library Databases

For additional resources, please see the geographical categories on the left.

ProQuest Historical Newspapers (US) This link opens in a new window
Searches across the full text and images of major U.S. and Black historical newspapers. Includes New York Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Defender, L.A. Times, and more.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers (International) This link opens in a new window
Searches across the full text of Chinese Historical Newspapers, The Guardian and Observer, Jerusalem Post, and Times of India.

Williams College News

The following is a chronological listing of undergraduate publications at Williams College that primarily contain college news. Many report on athletics, proceedings of the various campus societies, alumni news, and newsworthy events at other colleges. They also feature editorials and fiction by undergraduates.

Title	Dates Published	Access
The Vidette	1867-1874	Request at Special Collections
The Williams Review	1870-1874	Request at Special Collections
The Williams Athenaeum	1874-1885	Request at Special Collections
The Argo	1881-1885	Request at Special Collections
The Fortnight	1885-1887	Request at Special Collections
The Williams Weekly	1887-1904	Request at Special Collections
The Williams Record	1904-1972	Print: College Archives and Sawyer Reference Call number: LH1.W5 W53 Digitized issues: 1904-1972 To find articles on a topic, use the index volumes shelved with print copy.
The Williams Herald	1943	Request at Special Collections
The Williams Advocate	1970-1972	Print: College Archives and Sawyer Reference Call number: LH1.W5 W533 Digitized issues: 1970-1972
RecordAdvocate	1972-1975	Print: College Archives and Sawyer Reference Call number: LH1.W5 W53 Digitized issues: 1972-1975 To find articles on a topic, use the index volumes shelved with print copy.
The Williams Record	1975-	Print: College Archives and Sawyer Reference Call number: LH1.W5 W53 Digitized issues: 1975-1990 To find articles on a topic, use the index volumes shelved with print copy.
The Williams Free Press	1994-1999	Request at Special Collections

See the College Archives Undergraduate Publications research guide for information about these publications.

Local News (Williamstown area)

To find print, microfilm, and online editions of local newspapers in our collections, use the Browse search function of the library catalog. Choose to search by Subject and enter the following pattern:

Town/County (State abbreviation) -- Newspapers

Examples:

Note: the date listed in the catalog record is the year the newspaper began publishing.

If you know the title of the newspaper you want, do a Browse search by Title. Watch out for changes in the title over time; there will be a different catalog record for each time the title changes.

U.S. State/Regional News

Library Databases

Early American Newspapers Series 1 This link opens in a new window
Publication Dates: 1690-1876
Part of the America's Historical Newspapers database. Contains the full text of historical American newspapers, focusing largely on the 18th century. To search publications from particular states, click the "Places of Publication" tab and select the state(s).
African American Newspapers (Readex) This link opens in a new window
Publication Dates: 1827-1998
Provides the full text of articles from rare and historically significant African American newspapers. To search publications from particular states, click the "Places of Publication" tab and select the state(s).

Freely Available Digital Collections

Chronicling America: Historic American Papers This link opens in a new window
Publication Dates: 1777-1963
Searchable digitized copies of historical newspapers from throughout the United States.

Elephind.com
Searches across many freely available digitized historic newspaper sites. For the U.S. it includes large digital newspaper projects from California, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia.
Google News Archive
Although Google is no longer digitizing historic newspapers, many newspapers can still be found in their archive. This link provides an alphabetical list of titles included.
Newspaper Digitization Projects
Compiled by the International Coalition on Newspapers (ICON), this page highlights and links to past, present, and prospective digitization projects of historic newspapers. Includes both subscription services and freely available projects.

Microfilm

Center for Research Libraries Newspaper Catalog
Use to identify newspapers by country and city in the CRL collection. Newspapers are available on microfilm or as digital scans of the microfilm. Microfilm can be borrowed through interlibrary loan. Note: the date limit searches the date of first publication, not the years available.

U.S. National News

ProQuest Historical Newspapers (US) This link opens in a new window
Searches across the full text and images of the following major U.S. and Black historical newspapers:
Atlanta Constitution (1868-1945)
Boston Globe (1872-1983)
Chicago Defender (1909-1975)
Chicago Tribune (1849-1992)
Christian Science Monitor (1908-2002)
Hartford Courant (1764-1990)
Los Angeles Sentinel (1934-2005)
Los Angeles Times (1881-1992)
New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993)
New York Times (1851-2012)
Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002)
Wall Street Journal (1889-1998)
Washington Post (1877-1999)

Harper's Weekly
Publication Dates: 1857-1912
Definitive U.S. newspaper of record for the latter part of the 19th century and early 20th. Includes illustrations.

International News

Library Databases: Multiple Titles

Chinese Newspapers (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new window
Provides full text of 12 English-language newspapers published in China:
North China Herald (1850-1941)
Canton Times (1919-1920)
China Critic (1939-1946)
The China Press (1925-1938)
China Weekly Review (1917-1953)
Chinese Recorder (1868-1940)
Chinese Repository (1832-1851)
Peking Daily News (1914-1917)
Peking Gazette (1915-1917)
Peking Leader (1918-1919)
Shanghai Gazette (1919-1921)
Shanghai Times (1914-1921)
ProQuest Historical Newspapers (International) This link opens in a new window
Searches across the full text of the following ProQuest databases:
Chinese Historical Newspapers (see above for listing of titles and dates)
The Guardian (1821-2003)
Jerusalem Post (1932-2008)
The Observer (1791-2003)
Times of India (1838-2006; some gaps)
South Asian Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Publication Dates: 1864-1922
Featuring English-, Gujarati- and Bengali-language papers, this collection offers extensive coverage of the people, issues and events that shaped the Indian Subcontinent between 1864 and 1922.

Library Databases: Individual Titles

Illustrated London News Historical Archive
Publication Dates: 1842-2003
Known as the world's first pictorial weekly newspaper.
Times (London) Digital Archive
Publication Dates: 1785-2012
Sunday Times Historical Archive
Publication Dates: 1822-2006

Library Databases: Translated News

FBIS (Foreign Broadcast Information Service) This link opens in a new window
Publication Dates: 1941-1996
Contains full text of English translations of foreign broadcasts, newspapers, periodicals and government statements, covering policy and politics important to US interests.
World News Connection This link opens in a new window
Publication Dates: 1994-2013
Continues FBIS database. Contains full text of English translations of foreign broadcasts, newspapers, periodicals and government statements, covering policy and politics important to U.S. interests.

Freely Available Digital Collections

Many national libraries and university libraries have been digitizing historic newspapers. Below are some resources that can help you find these digital collections.

Elephind.com
Searches across many freely available digitized historic newspaper sites from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Mexico, and the U.S.
Newspaper Digitization Projects
Compiled by the International Coalition on Newspapers (ICON), this page highlights and links to past, present, and prospective digitization projects of historic newspapers. Includes both subscription services and freely available projects.

Microfilm

Center for Research Libraries Newspaper Catalog
Use to identify newspapers by country and city in the CRL collection. Newspapers are available on microfilm or as digital scans of the microfilm. Microfilm can be borrowed through interlibrary loan. Note: the date limit searches the date of first publication, not the years available.

Need Help? You can ask!

Other ways to get help:

Email us

Call us at 413-597-4500

Text us at 413-648-6071

Stop by during our service hours.