Newspaper articles can be a great source for an essay or dissertation on a historical topic. The Library offers a number of different online archives, but which archive should you use?
Most of the resources below can be accessed from the A-Z list of Online Resources.
Archives of single newspapers
The following British newspaper archives are all useful for historical topics. You will see the pages as they were originally published, including images, advertisements, etc.
Times Digital Archive, 1785 – 2014 – a British newspaper of record.
Sunday Times Archive, 1822 – 2006 – provides analysis and commentary on the week’s news.
Financial Times Historical Archive, 1888 – 2010 – useful for economic history.
Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive, 1902 – 5 years ago – useful for literature.
Scotsman, 1817-1950 – useful for Scottish topics.
Archives covering multiple newspapers
The following archives cover many different newspaper titles. Note that the years digitised vary widely. 20th century coverage is particularly variable.
British Library Newspapers – covers from the 18th century up to 1950 and includes many British local and regional newspapers.
Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Newspapers Collection – some of the earliest English news media, including pamphlets, newsbooks and newspapers.
British Periodicals Online – late 17th to early 20th century. Includes many literary periodicals containing book reviews.
Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals – contains periodicals and magazines which document 19th century British life. Useful for researching topics relating to women, leisure and empire.
Chronicling America – American newspapers digitised by the Library of Congress. Covers 1777–1963.
US state newspaper archives – see list at https://libguides.stir.ac.uk/history (Online Primary Sources – American History)
Elephind – Covers newspapers of Australia, Mexico, New Zealand and Singapore, but the coverage of the United States is the most useful.
Caribbean Newspaper Digital Library
Contemporary archives
Nexis – International coverage, over 23,000 titles included. Very up to date (articles generally appear on the date they are published), but there are no images and only the last 20 years or so are covered.
Still have questions?
Contact your Academic Liaison Librarian.
Helen Beardsley
Academic Liaison Librarian