The Library has access to a wide range of historic newspapers, most of which have been digitised and made available online. Our strength is in British and Irish newspapers, but we do have some historic international collections as well (please choose the International News Sources button to view these).
Our collections date from the earliest date of news books and pamphlets of the 17th century right up to the present day. We have access to the individual archives of all the national broadsheet newspapers back to their first issue, as well as collections of regional newspapers, particularly from the 19th century. Access to these individual newspaper archives can be found below.
If you want to search across a range of newspapers, we suggest you start with Gale Primary Sources, as this gives access to nearly all our British newspaper archives, except for The Guardian and The Observer.
A large collection of seventeenth and eighteenth century English news media including pamphlets, proclamations, newsbooks and newspapers. The collection charts the development of the newspaper, and relates political, educational and economic situations from select cities in England, Ireland, Scotland and some British Colonies in the Americas and Asia.
For further guidance visit the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Newspapers Collection Learning Centre.
Provides an invaluable resource for the study of all aspects of British life in the 19th century – from art to business and from children to politics. Most of the materials in this extensive online collection have never been reissued since their original publication. It covers 600 titles, in two broad themes: Empire, and New Readerships.
See our blog post for more information.
A significant digital collection of British historic newspapers, covering regional and national titles, mainly from 18th and 19th centuries. (We have access to parts I-III and part V.)
A collection of searchable, full text copies of British periodicals from the late seventeenth to the early twentieth century. Topics covered include literature, philosophy, history, science, the social sciences, music, art, drama, archaeology and architecture. Useful for exploring a range of themes, such as popular culture, historic events, literary criticism and reviews, political satire, advertisements, and more.
This collection charts the rise and fall of fascism in Britain during the 1930s and 1940s, with a particular focus on Oswald Mosley’s blackshirt movement. The bulk of the documents are official BUF publications, including Fascist Week¸ The Blackshirt, The East London Pioneer, and Action. In addition, there are hundreds of Government documents relating to Mosley’s internment during the Second World War, including Cabinet Office, Home Office and Prime Ministerial papers.
Search across multiple historic national, regional and local newspaper and periodical archives. The collection includes historical archives from The Times, The Economist, The Financial Times, the Independent, The Daily Mail and The Telegraph as well as British Library Newspapers (1746-1950).
Digitised archive of Irish regional and national newspaper titles from the 17th century to date.
Fully digitised archives of 26 LGBT publications, mainly from the UK and USA. Coverage dates from 1954 to 2015 (depending on the specific publication).
The Daily Mail archive features searchable, digitised copies of this major UK national newspaper, published between 1896 and 2016. The newspapers contain advertisements, news stories, and images that capture twentieth-century culture and society. Also included is the Daily Mail Atlantic edition, which was published on board cruise ships that sailed between New York and Southampton from 1923 to 1931.
This is the fully searchable complete facsimile edition of The Economist, the weekly paper covering politics, current affairs, local and national news, and all aspects of business and trade worldwide. With more than 8,000 issues since it was founded in 1843 and more than 600,0000 pages. It offers full-colour images, multiple search indexes, a facility to browse each issue together with a gallery of front covers.
One of the best-known and most-respected newspapers in the world. Every article, advertisement and market listing is included, making it a highly valuable to anyone studying the economic and business history and current affairs of the last 120 years.
Historical archive of The Guardian (1821-2003) and The Observer (1791-2003) newspapers, digitised from the original, and covering all content, including images.
An extensive cover-to-cover collection of the long-running business magazine dating from its very first issue in February 1930 through December 2000. Fortune Magazine Archive is valuable to researchers of 20th-Century current events, politics and culture, as well as those interested in the history of business, advertising, and popular culture.
Archive of this late 20th/21st century newspaper, which is generally regarded as centrist, taking idiosyncratic views on the free market, social issues and culture.
See our blog post for more information about recent enhancements to this resource, including a short video with tips for searching historic newspapers.
Full colour archive of the weekly magazine produced by the BBC, which featured radio, and later television, broadcast transcripts and commentaries. The Listener is one of the few records of the content of many early broadcasts, it also previewed major literary and musical programmes and regularly reviewed new books.
This pioneering photojournalism newspaper featured a whole stable of extraordinarily talented photographers, and was read by an estimated 80% of the British population at its peak. An essential resource for studying international social and political issues of the day, and how they were brought into popular consciousness.
Read our blog post for more information about this archive.
The entire archive of what was once the world's most celebrated satirical magazine. Excellent resource for studying 19th and 20th history and society.
Read our blog post for more information about this archive.
This famous newspaper, which is editorially independent from The Times, features decades of news, comment and arts coverage, plus in-depth reports from its famous Insight Team.
See our blog post for more information about recent enhancements to this resource, including a short video with tips for searching historic newspapers.
Over a million pages of content from this important broadsheet, which was once the world's biggest-selling newspaper. Includes the Sunday Telegraph from its inception in 1961.
See our blog post for more information about recent enhancements to this resource, including a short video with tips for searching historic newspapers.
This contains full facsimile images of articles and pages. The entire newspaper is captured, including articles, advertisements and illustrations/photographs. The Times is also available via Nexis Uni from 1985 to date (text only).
See our blog post for more information about recent enhancements to this resource, including a short video with tips for searching historic newspapers.
Full online content of this celebrated literary and arts weekly. Current print issues are with periodicals at PER 800 TIM.
Read our blog post for more information about this archive.