Using Newspapers in Historical Research

• Newspapers can serve as useful primary sources for historical research.
• They reflect the time period in which they were created, and provide a glimpe into society at the time.
• Though some local newspapers are available digitally or on microfilm, many others are available only in their own local regions.
• NC State University Libraries is a member of Center for Research Libraries (CRL) through which we can sometimes borrow hard-to-find newspapers on microfilm. 
• NC State University Libraries has Text and Data Mining agreements with select vendors.

Early Newspaper Collections

America's Historical Newspapers - including American Newspapers, Series 1 (1690-1876)
An extensive collection of colonial and early republic newspapers.

Accessible Archives
Provides full-text access to a collection of 18th and 19th century primary sources, including some important newspapers from this period. Included in the collection are:

The Pennsylvania gazette, 1728-1800
The Civil War, a newspaper perspective
African American newspapers, the 19th century

Burney Collection, 17th - 18th Century Newspapers
London newspapers of the 17th and 18th centuries. The titles range in date from 1603 to the early 1800s.

The Illustrated London News
Searchable full text access to the entire run of the ILN which was published from 1842 to 2003,

19th Century British Newspapers
Full runs of 49 newspapers selected by the British Library to best represent the nineteenth century.

North Carolina Newspapers

The News and Observer (Raleigh)
1894-2010 on microfilm - Ask at Ask Us center, D. H. Hill Jr. Library
Guide to NC State University News and Observer holdings and indexes

The Raleigh Times
1940-1989 on microfilm - Ask at Ask Us center, D. H. Hill Jr. Library

North Carolina Newspaper Digitization Project
Produced by the North Carolina State Archives, these are digitized versions of the earliest North Carolina newspapers from 1751 to the 1890s.

To locate other North Carolina newspapers on microfilm, see the North Carolina Newspaper Locator, and the North Carolina Newspapers page from the State Library of North Carolina:

New York Times

Proquest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (1851-about 4 yrs ago)
Provides fully searchable electronic access to the New York Times from 1851-about 4 years ago (rolling wall). Includes full image of the actual newspaper articles. Illustrations and advertisements are usually included.

New York Times via Newspaper Source Plus (1985-present)
Use for electronic access to recent articles the New York Times.

New York Times (1857-2005 on microfilm)
AN2 .N49 (Hunt Library)
In most cases, one of the two databases above will be easier to use than the microfilm. Microfilm may be necessary in cases where content is omitted from the online version due to copyright.

Indexing:
New York Times Index
D. H. Hill Jr. Lib. AI21 .N44 (3rd floor bookstacks)
This is the standard print index to the New York Times. However, the above databases will be easier to use in most cases.

Los Angeles Times

Proquest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times
Provides fully searchable electronic access to the Los Angeles Times from 1881-1987. Includes full image of the actual newspaper articles. Illustrations and advertisements are usually included.

Japan Times Archive
Searchable full-text and page images from the Japan Times, from its founding in 1897-2016. The Japan Times is Japan's oldest English-language newspaper.

London Times

The Times Digital Archive
Full text, covering 1785-2011

The Times (London) (1788- 2005 on microfilm)
AN3 .T56 (Hunt Library)

The Times Index
D. H. Hill Jr. Lib.. AI21 .T5 (Hunt Libary)

Microfilm Newspapers at NC State University Libraries

NC State University Libraries has many early newspaper runs in microfilm. Most of these are located at theHunt Library.

Microfilm Newspapers List - Arranged Alphabetically by Title
Microfilm Newspapers List - Arranged by Region

Staff are available at the D. H. Hill, Jr. Library Ask Us center to assist users with the microform readers.

Historical Newspapers on the Internet

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
Website sponsored by the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities to provide access to information about historic and selected digitized newspaper pages.

Historical U.S. Newspapers on the Internet (LibGuide from Bowling Green State University)
Guide that provides access to online historical newspapers in the United States

Historical Worldwide Newspapers on the Internet (LibGuide from Bowling Green State University)
Guide that provides access to online historical newspapers - use tabs to select region of the world.

NewspaperCat (University of Florida Digital Collections)
Facilitates the discovery of online digitized historical newspaper content from newspapers published in the United States and the Caribbean.

Online Historical Newspapers Website
This project is trying to track the digitization of local newspapers. It includes some online non-free newspapers that may not be inlcude in the sites listed above.

Reference Books and Sites For Further Research

U.S. Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present
Use to identify what titles exist for a specific place and time.

American Newspapers, 1821-1936: A Union List of Files Available in the United States and Canada
D. H. Hill Jr. Lib. Z6945 .A53

Harvard Guide to American History (vol. 1, p. 131-144)
D. H. Hill Jr. Ref. Z1236.F7 1974

History and Bibliography of American Newspapers (Clarence Brigham)
D. H. Hill Jr. Lib. Z6951 .B86 1962

Chronological Tables of American Newspapers 1690 - 1820 (American Antiquarian Society)
D. H. Hill Jr. Lib Z6951 .L3

Concise History of the British Newspaper
Produced by The British Library