
(Updated October, 2017)
Many family history and genealogy researchers who are used to searching for articles about our ancestors in old newspapers have gotten spoiled with the increasingly robust online collections that are available for free.
But did you know that there are other quite large collections that are available via your local library or a library that may require a little bit more drive time?
One example of such a service is Gale Digital Collections. They have many titles that are searchable, depending on the subscription that your library has invested in.
Check out their availability at your local library, state or county library, or at a college or university near you to see if Gale Digital Collections are available. You will be glad that you checked out these resources that are free if accessed at a library.
Here are some examples of what they have available with a link to find out the exact titles that are in each collection:
- 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers
- 19th Century U.S. Newspapers
- 19th Century UK Periodicals, Part II: Empire: Travel and Anthropology, Economics, Missionary, and Colonia
- Associated Press Collections Online: Washington, D.C. Bureau Collection, Part I
- Associated Press Collections Online: European Bureaus Collection
- Associated Press Collections Online: The Middle East Bureaus Collection
- Associated Press Collections Online: News Features & Internal Communications
- Associated Press Collections Online: U.S. City Bureaus Collection
- Associated Press Collections Online: Washington D.C. Bureau Collection, Part II
- British Library Newspapers: Part III, 1741-1950
- British Library Newspapers: Part II: 1800-1900
- British Library Newspapers: Part I: 1800-1900
- British Library Newspapers: Part IV, 1732-1950
- British Library Newspapers: Part V: 1780-1950
- Chatham House Online Archive: Module 2: Publications and Archives of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1980-2008
- Daily Mail Historical Archive, 1896-2004
- Financial Times Historical Archive, 1888-2010
- Gale World Scholar: Latin America and the Caribbean
- Illustrated London News Historical Archive, 1842-2003
- The Independent Digital Archive
- The Telegraph Historical Archive, 1855-2000
- The Times Digital Archive, 1785-2011
- The Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive, 1902-2012
If you have a library card you might just be able to login and search from home.
Newspapers are being digitized at an increasing rate, so make sure that you visit the old standby - your library.
Good luck and happy hunting!
For more free online (not library based) links for different states, provinces, and countries - please see the Newspapers! page on this website.