LibGuides: GU-Q: Newspapers at Georgetown: Newspaper Archives

News as primary sources

You can use archival newspaper articles as primary sources to examine perceptions and reactions to important historical events of the last few centuries. Below you will find a collection of notable databases

US Historical News Sources

African American Newspapers, Series 1, 1827-1998 This link opens in a new window Online access to approximately 270 U.S. newspapers chronicling a century and a half of the African American experience. This unique collection features papers from more than 35 states—including many rare and historically significant 19th century titles.
Early American Newspapers This link opens in a new window Offers more than 700 historical American newspapers from 23 states and the District of Columbia printed between 1690 and 1876. Focusing largely on the 18th century, Series 1 is based on Clarence S. Brigham's "History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820" and other authoritative bibliographies.

Freedom’s Journal (Wisconsin Historical Society) Freedom's Journal was the first African-American owned and operated newspaper published in the United States. Founded by Rev. Peter Williams, Jr. and other free black men in New York City, it was published weekly as a four-page, four-column newspaper, starting with the March 16, 1827 issue. Freedom's Journal circulated in 11 states, the District of Columbia, Haiti, Europe, and Canada.

ProQuest Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window Complete historical coverage of The Atlanta Constitution, The Baltimore Sun, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. Click the "more" link below for direct links.
Historical coverage of The Atlanta Constitution, The Baltimore Sun, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.

Select World Historical News Sources

Caribbean Newspapers, 1718-1876 This link opens in a new window More than 140 newspapers from 22 islands, including Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominica, Grenada, Guadaloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Nevis, Puerto Rico, St. Bartholomew, St. Christopher, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Tobago, Trinidad, and the Virgin Islands.
Gale Primary Source Newspapers This link opens in a new window Provides cross-searching capabilities for several Gale digital collections, including 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers, 19th Century British Library Newspapers, 19th Century UK Periodicals, Illustrated London News Historical Archive 1842-2003, Times Digital Archive 1785-1985, Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive 1902-2006, Picture Post Historical Archive 1938-1957.
Asahi Shimbun Cross-Search This link opens in a new window Asahi Shimbun Cross-Search (formerly Kikuzo II Visual for Libraries) is a news retrieval service from the publisher of Japan’s second largest circulation newspaper, Asahi shinbun 朝日新聞. Coverage includes over 8,000,000 full-text articles from 1945 to the present. Eight (8) simultaneous accesses are shared among the consortium of currently ten (10) participating institutions.
Nineteenth Century British Library Newspapers This link opens in a new window The 19th Century British Newspapers collection contains full runs of 48 newspapers specially selected by the British Library to best represent nineteenth century Britain. This new collection includes national and regional newspapers, as well as those from both established country or university towns and the new industrial powerhouses of the manufacturing Midlands, as well as Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Special attention was paid to include newspapers that helped lead particular political or social movements such as Reform, Chartism, and Home Rule. The penny papers aimed at the working and clerical classes are also present in the collection.
Online Databases of Russian/NIS Publications This link opens in a new window Consists of several databases:Pravda Digital Archive (complete archive); Izvestiia Digital Archive (complete from 1917); Current Digest of the [Soviet and] Post-Soviet Press (complete archive); CIS & Baltic Periodicals; Russian Central Newspapers; Social Sciences & Humanities [periodicals]; individual titles (Far Eastern Affairs, International Affairs, Social Sciences, Voprosy Literatury); 2010 Presidential Election in Belarus, and Russian/NIS Newswires. The sources are in Russian and in English.

Audiovisual News

Associated Press Archive AP Archive is the film and video archive of The Associated Press -- the world's largest and oldest news agency. Our cameramen have been capturing the iconic moments that have shaped the world in which we live and we have over 1.7 million news, sports, entertainment and fashion stories dating back to 1895 to share with you, here and on our British Movietone channel
British Movietone Shot on 35mm film, this global archive contains many of the world’s enduring images and is rich in coverage of news events, celebrities, sports, music, social history, science, lifestyle and quirky happenings
British Pathe British Pathé was at the forefront of cinematic journalism, blending information with entertainment to popular effect. Over the course of a century, it documented everything from major armed conflicts and seismic political crises to the curious hobbies and eccentric lives of ordinary people. [...] Now considered to be the finest newsreel archive in the world, British Pathé is a treasure trove of 85,000 films unrivalled in their historical and cultural significance.
Colonial Film Database This website holds detailed information on over 6000 films showing images of life in the British colonies. Over 150 films are available for viewing online. You can search or browse for films by country, date, topic, or keyword. Over 350 of the most important films in the catalogue are presented with extensive critical notes written by our academic research team.

Films on Demand This link opens in a new window Use the filters "Newsreel or Primary Source" or "Producer" to limit to news

Where to find more

All News Databases
Browse through our full collection of News Databases or search with a keyword

GU-Q: Newspapers at Georgetown

Free Digitized Historical Newspapers

Chronicling America : Historic American Newspapers (1860-1920)

Contact your Librarian

News as primary sources

US Historical News Sources

Select World Historical News Sources

Audiovisual News

Where to find more