There are a fair number of free historical newspaper resources for the US. They cover a broad swath of U.S. history -- from the 18th to the 21st century --and cover state, city, town, county, and regional newspapers. Headlines, articles, display ads, classifieds...they're all there for the taking.
Here are the archives I've come across so far, all free ...
(see page bottom for more free links to international archives, magazines, college papers, foreign language newspapers, and other great resources).
National and Regional
SmallTownPapers.com
This looks to be a growing collection that has sporadic coverage all over the US, with some (not many) issues dating back to the mid 1800's
Northwest History Database
Searchable collection of Northwest newspaper clippings. The date range is very poorly described, but seems to be early 20th century.
New York Times Archives
The Times being a national newspaper, of sorts, I included it here. All archives from 1853-1922 are free of charge, and some archives after that date are also free. Use the site's pull-down menu to select date ranges.
State, County and City Papers
Arizona
Casa Grande (near Phoenix) Newspaper Archives, 1912-2007, courtesy of the Casa Grande Public Library.
California
California Newspaper Archives, approx 1890-1905
A fairly meager collection, but hopefully, one that will grow.
Colorado
Colorado Newspaper Archives from 1859-1923
Florida
Florida Digital Newspaper Library archives, early 1800's to current. There's a lot here, though the collection is not well-described. Full text search and full image retrieval.
Boca Raton, FL newspaper archives, 1930's-current, courtesy of the Boca Raton historical society.
Georgia
Georgia Historic Newspapers 1750 to 1925
Hawaii
Hawaii Newspaper Archives (in Hawaiian) from the mid-1800's to 1920's.
An assorted collection of full image newspapers, browseable, but not searchable.
Illinois
Barrington Review, Barrington, IL, 1914-1930
Quincy Illinois Historical Newspaper Archive 1835-1890
Dziennik Zwiazkowy, a Polish language newspaper from Chicago, 1908-1917
(site was not working when last I checked).
Iowa
Adams County, Iowa Newspaper Archives, 1876-2000
Cedar Rapids Library Newspaper Archives includes a number of Iowa newspapers, 1857-1998.
Sioux County Newspaper Archives, in Iowa, from 1872-2000.
Kentucky
The Kentuckiana Digital Library has newspaper archives from 1886-1912 for papers across Kentucky, from the Bluegrass Blade in Lexington to the Owensboro Vindicator. Full text searching, but an awkward interface.
Maryland
The Marlyland State Archives have several newspapers online, mostly from the 1800's, though a few spill into early 1900's and one has issues from 1965. These are digitized directly from microfilm, and can be browsed by date, but not searched.
NewspaperArchive.com
Even with all the free resources available, I still find newspaperarchive.com to be the most valuable resource available for researching history. I've been a subscriber for years. Take a look: NewspaperArchive.com
Massachusetts
Barnstable, MA, on Cape Cod, has the Barnstable Patriot from 1830-1930, the Hyannis Patriot, and the Sandwich Observer, all with full text searching, courtesy of the Sturgis Library.
Michigan
The Saugatuck-Douglas Library in Michigan has digitized the Commercial Record, 1868-1959 (link in middle of page, but access was not available when last I checked).
Minnesota
The Winona State University Newspaper Archives in Minnesota include several papers from the 1855-1946. This is a surprisingly rich collection.
Missouri
Missouri Newspaper Archives appear to cover late 1800's to current, but dates not well described
Nevada
Las Vegas Age newspaper archives in Nevada, 1905-1924, with some gaps in coverage. Searching is on keywords rather than full text.
New Hampshire
New Hampshire Gazette, the first newspaper printed in New Hampshire. Only one 4-page newspaper is here, but it's from 1756, and worth a look.
New Jersey
Cranbury Press, Cranbury, NJ, from 1886-1926, courtesy of the Cranbury Historical and Preservation Society.
Atlantic County, NJ (includes Atlantic City), 1860-1923
Red Bank Register, (Middletown, NJ) 1878-1947. Full text searching. Additional dates to be added, to bring the collection through 1991.
New York
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 1841-1902
One of my favorites...a great glimpse into 19th century New York.
The New York Times archives, 1853-current.
All papers before 1923 are available free, and select papers after that date are also free. Use the site's pull-down menu to select date ranges.
Northern New York newspaper archives, 1844-2004
A scattered assortment of newspapers; can only be searched on paper at a time.
Freedom's Journal, 1827-1829, the nation's first African-American newspaper, published out of New York City. Archives can be viewed and searched issue by issue, but there is no archive-wide search function.
The Friend of Man, 1836-1842, Central New York. An anti-slavery newspaper, archived at Cornell University.
Suffolk County, Long Island, NY, roughly 1830's-1906, a good, diverse collection.
North Dakota
Frontier Scout, North Dakota's first newspaper, 1864-65. About 20 issues are available online in full image format, but they are not searchable.
Oklahoma
The Oklahoman, 1901-current. This is a fee-based archive, but can be searched for free, and headlines retrieved (the searching has been very slow on the few times I've visited).
Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, PA Jewish Newspaper Project, 1895-Present. Includes three publications.
Philadelphia Inquirer Civil War Archive, from a Northern perspective, 1860-1865
Lancaster County, PA Newspaper Archives, 1816-1889, and 1915-2001. Several newspapers online, including the curiously-named Columbia Spy.
Tioga County, PA Newspaper Archives, 1838-2006, courtesy of the Green Free Public Library in Wellsboro, PA.
Penn State Newspaper Archives, offers several papers in their Civil War collection, along with archives of student newspapers, and clippings from Lancaster Farming from the 1950's onward.
Smethport, PA newspaper archives, McKean County, 1833-1977. More than a dozen papers here, many of them with a heavy focus on the mining industry, and all courtesy of the Hamlin Memorial Library.
South Carolina
The New South newspaper archives, 1862-1866, published in Port Royal and Beaufort, during the Civil War. Archive is full-text searchable.
Texas
San Antonio, TX Daily Light, 1886-1907.
Utah
Utah Digital Newspapers Collection, varied papers, approx 1850s-1950s
Virginia
Richmond Then and Now, 1860-1989. A small collection of articles covering the history of this storied city. Text-only.
Washington
Washington State Newspaper Archives, approx. 1850-1890's
You must download a small viewer program to see the materials here.
Wisconsin
Wisconsin Newpaper Archives, mostly from the period 1860-1940, thousands of searchable newspaper clippings
NewspaperArchive.com
Even with all the free resources available, I still find newspaperarchive.com to be the most valuable resource available for researching history. I've been a subscriber for years. Take a look: NewspaperArchive.com
And some other archives to note:
Early America, 1750-1790
Only three pages on view here, one of the from Ben Franklin's Gazette.
The Stars and Stripes from WWI, 1918-1919
Here's a look at one of the seminal events of modern history.
The American Soldier's newspaper of World War I
Chronicling America, 1900-1910, the Library of Congress' rather scant collection of assorted newspapers.
Genealogy Images of History
This is a link to an odd commercial site...basically someone's personal collection of old newspapers. But it's well indexed, for looking up people and place names, in case you want to purchase the page with that name.
GenealogyBank
Worth noting, even though it's a subscription site. Deep collection, with newspapers and other assorted records going back to the late 1600's. Searching is free, and will pull up a snippet, but...naturally...you'll have to subscribe to see the full page images.
The Labor Press Project
Includes numerous examples of labor and socialist publications with titles like The Agitator. Not searchable, and not a deep resource, but there are many items here not available elsewhere. Site has a Pacific NW focus, and mostly early 20th century.
There's more on the next page!
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