Use the Internet Archive to Search Millions of Pages of Historical Newspapers for Free

The Internet Archive is a well known repository for a variety of documents, videos, audio clips, old websites, etc.

It also has quite a variety of historic newspapers. Admittedly it is a hodge podge (organizationally) of old newspapers but it indeed is something that you can search for free.

Recently, they have started a pilot project to add more historic newspapers, but that does not include all of the newspapers available for research on the site. There are single titles listed for each date and as of the date of the publication there are 29 distinct collections available via the pilot newspaper project.

Here is the link to finding all of the collections available via the aforementioned project, and a few are sizable:

https://archive.org/details/newspapers&tab=collection

Just click on "collections" in Media Type and you will see there are 29 collections in the pilot project, listed below:

• 20 Minutes Collection
• California Eagle [microform]
• Digitizing St. Louis: History & Public Policy
• Express Newspaper (Washington DC)
• Faculty Newsletter
• Kentucky Digital Newspapers
• Laurentian University student newspapers - L’Orignal déchaîné & Réaction
• Laurentian University student newspapers - Lambda
• Lowell Advertiser Newspaper Collection
• Metro (Korea)
• MIT's The Tech Newspaper
• Montgomery Bell Academy
• Narberth Civic Association
• NCAA News
• Shelton State Chronicle
• Shelton State Courier
• St. Louis Argus 1915-1926
• Svoboda ("Freedom") Newspaper
• The Abbotsford Post
• The Agitator
• The Antioch News
• The Brooklyn Paper
• The Daily Racing Form Historical Archive
• The Newmarket Era
• The Notre Dame Scholastic
• The Pacer
• The Sydney Morning Herald
• The Young Worker
• Газета «Земляки»

If we perform a search of the entire Internet Archive, looking for newspapers as the type of text, then we get over 200,000 results.  These are not all different titles, but most are titles with a specific issue date, and these are not included in a collection.  Here is the link for that search:

https://archive.org/details/texts?and[]=newspaper

After we perform that search, if we try different sorts and selections on the left side of the page, we can choose collections again and there are 105 different collections in addition to the over 200,000 "single issue" results. Here is the list of those 105 collections:

• 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake collection
• 20 Minutes Collection
• American University Library
• At Guelph - University of Guelph Newspaper
• Beijing Today
• Boston Public Library Anti-Slavery Collection
• BYU Student Newspapers
• California Eagle [microform]
• Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT)/ Association canadienne des professeures et professeurs d’université (ACPPU)
• Chatham University
• Clarion University of Pennsylvania Libraries
• Clearwater Public Library System
• Color Micro Journal
• Cowley County Community College
• Daily Colonist Newspaper Collection
• Die Hervormer (1909-2015)
• Echo (student newspaper)
• El Tecolote
• Express Newspaper (Washington DC)
• Gallaudet University-Buff and Blue Newspaper
• Gary Newspaper Guild
• Georgetown College Library
• Glen Park papers 1977 - 2008
• Herbert Clarence Burleigh Fonds Collection
• In Fact Newsletter
• Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) Student Newspaper
• Innis College Library
• Islamic Cultural Revolution in the Higher Education in Iran
• John Carter Brown Library - Uruguay Collection
• Joliet Junior College Library
• La Rotonde Newspaper (Archives of the University of Ottawa)
• La Sierra University Library
• Laurentian University student newspapers - L’Orignal déchaîné & Réaction
• Laurentian University student newspapers - Lambda
• Lebanon Valley College
• Leo Baeck Institute Library Periodical Collection
• Lowell Advertiser Newspaper Collection
• LSU Health Shreveport, Health Sciences Library
• Lyndon State College, Samuel Read Hall Library
• McGill Student Publications
• Medical College of Georgia, Robert B. Greenblatt, M.D. Library
• MicroTimes Newsletter
• Mission District papers 1986 - 2004
• MIT's The Tech Newspaper
• Montgomery Bell Academy
• Muhlenberg College, Trexler Library
• Murzilka Magazine
• Narberth Civic Association
• Noe Valley Voice 1977 - present
• Oberlin College Library Anti-Slavery Collection
• Ottawa Jewish Archives
• Pages from The Builder Newspaper
• Palm Beach State College
• Peabody MA History Collection
• Perkins School for the Blind
• Pfeiffer Library, MacMurray College
• Processor Newspaper
• Richmond ReView 1988 - 2014
• Rush University Medical Center
• Savannah State University, Asa H. Gordon Library
• Scientific American (1845-1909) Collection
• Shelton State Chronicle
• Shelton State Courier
• Shepherd University
• Silent Worker
• Spoke
• St. Louis Argus 1915-1926
• Staley Library, Millikin University
• Stoutonia
• Svoboda ("Freedom") Newspaper
• Tenderloin Times 1977 - 1994
• The American Appeal
• The American Socialist (Newspaper)
• The Antioch News
• The Austin Chronicle
• The Brooklyn Paper
• The Computer Magazine Archives
• The Daily Racing Form Historical Archive
• The Hippo: Weekly News for Southern New Hampshire
• The Industrial Union Bulletin
• The Industrial Worker (Newspaper)
• The International Socialist
• The Martlet
• The New Fillmore
• The Notre Dame Scholastic
• The Pacer
• The Potrero View 1970 - present
• The Sydney Morning Herald
• The Text Archive
• The Times News (Idaho Newspaper)
• The U.F.A. / United Farmer
• The Varsity
• The Wanderer Collection
• Town Topics
• Trinity Christian College, Jennie Huizenga Memorial Library
• Ukrainian Canadian Students' Union
• United Farmers of Alberta fonds
• University of Memphis, University Libraries
• University of Victoria Women's Collective the Emily
• Victoria College (BC) Students' Newsletter the Microscope
• Visitacion Valley Grapevine 1996 - 2011
• Wartburg Trumpet
• Westminster College, McGill Library
• Winchester Public Library
• World of '68 Micros

As I said, there is not very much order in the presentation of either the collections or the thousands of random titles and issues.

Hopefully at some point I will add these to the links in the lists in Newspaper Research Links - (a few are already there, but not the majority).  Because of the disorganization of the content in the Internet Archive, it is an extremely labor intensive exercise.

There is definitely enough content here that you should include it in your repertoire of old newspapers to search for articles about your ancestors. Unfortunately, there is a lack of standards that "uploaders" follow in naming conventions and identifying the characteristics of all the newspapers.

So give it a try, and make sure you have patience!

​Good Luck!

---

___________________________________

Please Share!