How to Find Newspaper Articles: From A Specific Newspaper

1. Search the library catalog by Title for the title of the newspaper to see if it is available in print, through an online database, or on microfilm.
2. Check what dates are available in the "Get It" section (for print/microfilm) or "View It" section (for online access).
3. If we don't own the title or date you need, use interlibrary loan to request a scan.

If you do not have citations for newspaper articles in the specific publication, you will need to find an online version of the newspaper, use a newspaper index, or browse for articles.

Find an online version of the newspaper

1. Search the library catalog for the newspaper title.
2. Look for a record that says Online
3. Click into the record and look at the dates in the "View It" section to see whether the time frame you need is available for searching.
4. Click on the link for the correct time frame.
5. Enter your search terms. The results should include only articles from the newspaper title you chose. If not, look for a publication title limit or database selection option to choose the needed title.

If you don't see an online version in the library catalog or it is the wrong time period, try finding freely available digitized versions through:

• Williams WorldCat 
• International Coalition on Newspapers list of newspaper digitization projects
• Google News Archive Search

Note: if you find an online newspaper that allows free searching, but doesn't provide the full text of the article for free, don't pay for the article. If it provides the full citation (article title, newspaper title, date, page numbers), use request a scan through interlibrary loan.

Use a newspaper index

If an online searchable version of the newspaper is not available, there may be an index available to help you identify articles on your topic.  Some indexes are created by a public library for their local newspaper or by a company for larger regional/national newspapers. To find an index:

• See the Library of Congress list of U.S. Newspaper Archives & Indexes
• Search Williams WorldCat for [name of newspaper] index (e.g., Boston Globe index)
  Look for format journal/magazine or newspaper. Be sure to look at what years the index was published. Most indexes are issued on an annual basis, so you may need to look at multiple volumes if your research topic covers several years.

If you find a print index, you can try requesting the year(s) you need through interlibrary loan, but you may need to visit a library that has it or contact librarians at that institution for assistance.

Browse for articles

If there is no online version or indexing available, you will need to go through the newspaper (most likely on microfilm) yourself to find articles of interest. This process is easier if you are looking for articles about a particular event so that you can limit your browsing to a few issues before and/or after the date. If you are looking for a general topic (e.g., women during the civil rights movement) such browsing will be very time consuming. In this case, take advantage of research that has already been done on the topic. Search for scholarly articles or books and examine their footnotes to find citations.

If the library doesn't own the newspaper: 

1. Search the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) newspaper catalog or Williams WorldCat to determine whether it is available on microfilm.
2. Request the month(s) and year(s) you need through interlibrary loan.

​Since browsing through newspapers can be time consuming, limit your request to 10 reels at a time (1 reel is approximately equivalent to two weeks for a daily newspaper).

The following newspapers are available as separate databases that allow you to search the content of that newspaper only. To find articles from newspapers not on this list, especially current newspapers, search the library catalog for the newspaper title to get links to databases that contain the newspaper.

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