Finding world newspapers at Princeton

Newspapers are extremely useful for historical research, as well as for following current events. Princeton University Library holds extensive collections of newspapers in print, microfilm and digital form. This guide aims to give the reader some orientation to Princeton's holdings of non-U.S. newspapers, and to disentangle the variety of formats in which they may be found.

The history of the newspaper begins with privately circulated manuscript news sheets in the 16th century, and the newspaper as we understand it today dates from the 18th century. Because newspapers were generally printed on inexpensive paper that quickly deteriorates, libraries have been microfilming old newspapers for preservation since the 1950s. More recently, some libraries and commercial services have begun digitizing old newspapers. And many current newspapers have both print and digital editions. This history accounts for the diversity of formats in which newspapers will be found in Princeton's collections.

This guide covers news published outside the United States in English and Western European languages. Please see Foreign news in Slavic, Asian and Near Eastern languages below for news in Russian and other Slavic languages; Chinese, Japanese and Korean; and Arabic and Hebrew.

Table of contents

• Current newspapers: late 20th & 21st century
• 20th century newspapers
• 19th & 18th century newspapers
• 16th & 17th century news
• Foreign news in English translation
• Foreign news in Slavic, Asian and Near Eastern languages
• Frequently-asked questions

Current newspapers: late 20th & 21st century

Princeton subscribes to many non-U.S. newspapers. In general, current issues are shelved in the Periodicals Reading Room. After a few months, most periodicals are microfilmed for preservation and may be consulted in the Microforms room. A list of our microfilm holdings is at Foreign Newspaper Holdings. The list is arranged by country and city. We also subscribe to several online services that provide news from around the world.

A few useful reference works:

• Bowker's News Media Directory
  Latest volume in both Pliny Fisk (SXF) in SSRC and Ready Reference in the Trustee Reading Room.
• Keesing's Record of World Events Online (1960+)
  Monthly digest of worldwide political, diplomatic and economic affairs.
• Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media
  RECAP: Z6951 .A97 (1987-1999)
  Firestone Z6951 .A97 (2000-2003)
  which has now been superceded by the online Gale's ready reference shelf
• FACTS.com (1940+)
  Provides digest of major news stories around the world.

And see Latin America, Spain and Portugal: Current information, newspapers and magazines for access to Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American newspapers.

20th century newspapers

Major non-U.S. papers for which Princeton holds long runs, in print, microfilm and/or digital format.

A note about the London Times:
Back issues of the Times of London are available through two different services. The first includes full text, and the second combines full text with an online version of the print index (Palmer's). Note that some readers prefer to consult the paper version of the index, which is shelved in the Microforms room at FilmB AI21.T5.

• Times (London) Digital Archive 1785-1985 [Infotrac]
• Palmer's Index to the Times 1790-1905 (with Palmer's Full Text Online, 1785-1870) [Chadwyck-Healey]

A note about the Irish Times:
Now available through ProQuest Historical Newspapers. See above.

• Irish political and radical newspapers of the twentieth century
  This large microfilm collection covers 1895-1941 and is available through Interlibrary Loan from the Center for Research Libraries.
• Democracy at War: Canadian Newspapers and the Second World War
• Irish Newspaper Archive [1763+]
  Princeton does not subscribe to this fee-based archive, but individual researchers may purchase access for themselves.
• Paper of Record
  Nineteenth- and twentieth-century papers from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico (plus a few papers from elsewhere). Princeton does not subscribe to this fee-based archive, but individual researchers may purchase access for themselves.
• NewspaperARCHIVE.com
  Nineteenth- and twentieth-century English-language papers from the U.S., Canada, U.K., South Africa, Jamaica, and Ireland. Princeton does not subscribe to this fee-based archive, but individual researchers may purchase access for themselves. There are some free archives on specific topics, such as the Winter Olympics, Titanic, and Abraham Lincoln.
• World Newspaper Archive
  Provides full-text access to historical newspapers. At the moment, only a rapidly growing Latin American Newspapers module is available.

World War I

Princeton University Library holds a generous selection of European newspapers and periodicals, especially in German, published during World War I. Many are in the RECAP remote storage facility. To find them, try searches in the Main Catalog for:

• World War, 1914-1918 Newspapers
• World War, 1914-1918 Periodicals

19th & 18th century newspapers

• Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Library Newspapers (1600-1800)
  Digital edition of newspapers from the Burney Collection at the British Library. Most are London newspapers of the 17th and 18th centuries, but there are also pamphlets and broadsides.
• 19th Century British Library Newspapers Digital Archive
  This collection contains full runs of 48 newspapers from the British Library. It provides a representative selection of papers from nineteenth century Britain, and includes national and regional newspapers from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
• Early English newspapers
  MICROFILM S00509
  English newspaper titles originally published between 1603 and 1890. A comprehensive collection of more than 800 early newspapers representing metropolitan London, areas outside London, and colonial possessions, excluding America. Most are from the eighteenth century, but seventeenth-century corantos, diurnals, and newsbooks are also included. There is a printed guide at FilmB Z6956.G6 R47. Princeton holds the entire series up through Unit 53, and new units/titles are added from time to time.
• China-Coast newspaper project [microform]
  MICROFILM S01538
  A collection of English-language papers published during the 19th and early 20th centuries in China. See the catalog record for details.
• Irish newspapers in Dublin libraries, 1685-1754
  MICROFILM S01536
• Le Temps 1861-1940 [France] MICROFILM S00912
  See below for index.
• Figaro (Paris) 1826-1894;1953 to date MICROFILM S00890
• North China herald (Shanghai) 1850-1941 MICROFILM S00782
• Japan Weekly Mail 1886-1916 MICROFILM S01542
• Moskovskiia Vedomosti 1813-1917 MICROFILM S00243; S01054
• Russkiia Viedomosti 1863;1890;1897-1927 MICROFILM S01079
• Epoca (Madrid) 1870-1909 MICROFILM S01489
• Australian Periodical Publications 1840-1845
• Papers Past: New Zealand Papers and Periodicals [1860-1910]
• Tiden: A Nordic Digital Newspaper Library [1640-1860]
• Hemeroteca Digital
  This digital archive is a project of the National Library of Spain. It consists of 143 titles representing a wide variety of Spanish newspapers, ranging from 1772 to 1933.

16th & 17th century news

For broadsides, corantos, and newsbooks, check:

• Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Library Newspapers (1600-1800)
• Early English Books Online (1475-1700)
• Early American Imprints/Evans Digital Edition (1639-1800)
• America's Historical Newspapers (1690-1922)
• Sixteenth and seventeenth century newsletters [microform]. Marlborough, Eng.: Adam Matthew, 2002-
  Firestone Microforms Services (Film) MICROFILM 11791
  Newsletters c. 1564-1667, and related papers c. 1607-1764, from the Public Record Office.
• Newsletters of Richard Bulstrode, 1667-1689: from the Harry Ransome Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin
  Firestone Microforms Services (Film) Microfilm 11782
• A bibliography of English corantos and periodical newsbooks, 1620-1642. By Folke Dahl. London: Bibliographical Society, 1952.
  Firestone Library (F) Z6956.E5 D3
  A useful bibliographic guide to the earliest English-language news publications. Note that the author's collection of early newsbooks, corantos, and newspapers is held in Princeton's Rare Books and Special Collections Department: see the finding aid at The Folke Dahl Collection of Early Newsbooks, Corantos, and Newspapers and the general description at Guide to Selected Special Collections under "Newspapers."

Foreign news in English translation

In addition to English-language newspapers published outside of the U.S., there are two services that provide English-language translations of foreign broadcast news: BBC Worldwide Monitoring (sponsored by the BBC in the UK), and FBIS/World News Connection (sponsored by the US government.) For more information, see Translation Services: FBIS, BBC and Beyond.

• BBC Worldwide Monitoring [1939+]
  • Summary of World Broadcasts 1939- is available in microform. Search the Main Catalog for Author British Broadcasting Corporation. Monitoring Service for details and call numbers.
  • Lexis-Nexis [1979+] -- in the Guided News Search, specify "BBC Monitoring" under Step Five: Search this Publication Title
• Foreign Broadcast Information Service [1946+]
  FBIS provides daily coverage of non-U.S. radio broadcasts and other media. It is organized by region, and the regions have changed over time: Asia and the Pacific, Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, China, South Asia, Soviet Union/Central Eurasia, Western Europe.
  • FBIS Daily Reports 1946-1951 (Annex A: 14102.914 and .2, .3, .4 and .5)
  • FBIS Daily Reports 1952-1974 (Microfilm S01854)
  • FBIS Daily Reports 1975-1996 (Microfiche -- in cabinets at C-16-F)
  • There is an online index to FBIS [1975-1996]; see Foreign Broadcast Information Service Electronic Index in the Articles & Databases list. This is an index only; you must then locate the actual items you need in the microfilm or microfiche (you will need to note the Region, date, and page number from the online index.) For the period before 1975, search by known dates or regions.
  • World News Connection [1994+]
• Joint Publications Research Service ([1953-1995]
  The Joint Publications Research Service (JPRS), operating within the Foreign Broadcast Information Service, was a similar translation service for information from newspaper, journals, and speeches covering topics including agriculture, business, science and technology. See Translation Services: FBIS, BBC and Beyond for more information.
• Mideastwire
  Mideastwire is a service which provides translated news stories appearing in the media of 22 Arab countries, Iran and the Arab Diaspora. The news archives goes back to 2005 and is searchable using the advanced search option.

Foreign news in Slavic, Asian and Near Eastern languages

For news in Russian, see Russian Studies and Slavic Resources -- Slavic Newspapers. See also:
Universal Database of Russian Newspapers
News from the post-Soviet period. Provides access in Russian or English. Searches submitted in English will yield results in English. Searches in Russian may be conducted using a drop-down keyboard or using Library of Congress Transliteration.

Princeton subscribes to several services that provide news in Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Please see East Asian Library for more information. See also the lists of digital resources at:
Chinese Studies
Japanese Studies

For news in Hebrew, see:

• Index to Hebrew Periodicals
  In order to access this database, Hebrew fonts must be loaded. Indexes articles in Hebrew language periodicals and a few monographs, as well as articles in other languages dealing with all aspects of Israeli life and culture. Files which make up the database include Eretz Israel Database, Tel-Hai Index to Hebrew Newspapers, and the Bar-Ilan Indexing Project.
• Early Hebrew Newspapers Project Jewish National and University Library, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
  Offers access to major titles of the early Hebrew press (19th and early 20th century).The project currently contains: Halevanon (1863-1886), Hamagid (1856-1903), Havazelet (1863-1911),Hazefirah (1862-1931). Produced by Hebrew University, Jewish National and University Library.
• Middle Eastern & Central Asian Studies
  An index to journal and newspaper articles, books, and web sites on the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa. Coverage is from 1900 to the present.

Frequently-asked questions

• I need the [name of paper].
• What papers were published in [time, place]?
• If Princeton doesn't have the newspaper I need, how can I get it?
• I need circulation figures for [name of paper].
• I need a paper with a [conservative/liberal/religious/ethnic/etc.] perspective.
• Is there an index to ...?
• Where else could I look ...?

If you know the name of the newspaper you need

All our print and microfilm newspaper holdings, and many of our digital newspaper holdings, are included in the Main Catalog. For microfilm, also see the list at Foreign Newspaper Holdings.

If you do not know the name of the newspaper you need

To identify non-U.S. papers from a particular time and place, it is often sufficient to consult one of these general guides:

• Foreign newspapers held by the Center for Research Libraries. Compiled by Kristine Smets and Adriana Pilecky-Dekajlo. Chicago: Center for Research Libraries, 1992.
  General and Humanities Ref. (DR): Ready Reference. Z6945 .C467 1992
• Newspapers in microform. Foreign countries. [Compiled and edited by the Catalog Management and Publication Division, Library of Congress]. Washington: Library of Congress, 1973-
  General and Humanities Ref. (DR): Ready Reference Z6945 .U515a
• Willing's press guide
  Annual guide; covers international press, including U.S.
  RECAP: Z6956.E5 W5 (1914-2005); current volume in Ready Reference in the Trustee Reading Room.
• English language newspapers abroad; a guide to daily newspapers in 56 non-English-speaking countries [by] Dennis L. Wilcox.: Detroit, Gale Research Co. [1967]
  General and Humanities Reference (DR) Z6941 .W5

There are a number of guides to the newspapers of particular countries or regions:

• Great Britain & Ireland
  • British Library Newspaper Catalogue
  • Tercentenary handlist of English & Welsh newspapers, magazines & reviews. London: The Times, 1920. Section I. London and suburban press -- II. Provincial press.
    General and Humanities Reference (DR)Z6956.E5 T5
  • British newspapers and periodicals, 1641-1700: a short-title catalogue of serials printed in England, Scotland, Ireland, and British America: with a checklist of serials printed 1701-March 1702 and chronological, geographical, foreign language, subject, publishers, and editor indexes, 1641-1702. Compiled by Carolyn Nelson and Matthew Seccombe. Modern Language Association of America, 1987.
    General and Humanities Reference (DR) Z6956.G6 N44 1987
  • The Waterloo directory of English newspapers and periodicals, 1800-1900. John S. North, [editor]. Waterloo, Ont.: North Waterloo Academic Press, 1997-
    General and Humanities Reference (DR) Z6956.E5 W38
  • The Waterloo directory of Irish newspapers and periodicals, 1800-1900. John S. North.
    Waterloo, Ont.: North Waterloo Academic Press, 1986.
    General and Humanities Reference (DR) Z6956.I7 N67
  • The Waterloo directory of Scottish newspapers and periodicals, 1800-1900. John S. North. Waterloo, Ont.: North Waterloo Academic Press, 1989.
    General and Humanities Reference (DR) Z6956.S36 N67
  • The Encyclopedia of the British press, 1422-1992. Edited by Dennis Griffiths. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1992.
    Firestone Library (F) PN5114 .E53 1992
  • The newspaper press in Britain: an annotated bibliography. Edited by David Linton and Ray Boston. London; New York: Mansell, 1987.
    General and Humanities Reference (DR) Z6956.G6 L56 1987
• France
  • Dictionnaire des journaux, 1600-1789. Sous la direction de Jean Sgard. Paris: Universitas, 1991. General and Humanities Reference (DR) Z6956.F8 D527 1991 This is the standard guide to French newspapers before the Revolution.
  • Annuaire de la presse, de la publicité, et de la communication. Paris: Écran Publicité, 1987-
    General and Humanities Ref. (DR): Ready Reference Oversize Z6956.F8 A6q [current issue; check the catalog for holdings, which are irregular but begin with 1904]
• Germany
  • Stamm Leitfaden durch Presse und Werbung = Annual directory through press and advertising. Essen: Stamm Verlag GMBH, 1972-
    CURRENT VOLUME IN: General and Humanities Reference (DR) Ready Reference Z6956.G3 L4
    Earlier volumes, back to 1950, in the Annex.
  • Iben, Icko. The Germanic press of Europe; an aid to research. Munster [Westf.]: Fahle, 1965.
    Firestone Library (F) 30125.485
  • Bibliographie der Zeitschriften des deutschen Sprachgebietes bis 1900. Hrsg. von Joachim Kirchner. Stuttgart: Hiersemann, 1969-1989. [covers 1831-1900]
    General and Humanities Reference (DR) Z6956.G3 K53
• Italy
  • L'Italia del Risorgimento: giornali e riviste nelle raccolte della Biblioteca del Senato (1700-1918). Roma: Biblioteca del Senato della Repubblica, 1998.
    Firestone Library (F) Oversize Z6956.I8 I85 1998q
• Africa
  • African newspapers in the Library of Congress. Compiled by John Pluge, Jr.; Serial and Government Publications Division, Research Services. 2nd ed. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress: For sale by the Supt. of Docs., 1984.
    General and Humanities Reference (DR) Z6959.Z9 L53 1984
  • The Black press in South Africa and Lesotho: a descriptive bibliographic guide to African, Coloured, and Indian newspapers, newletters, and magazines, 1836-1976. Les Switzer and Donna Switzer. Boston: Hall, c1979.
    General and Humanities Reference (DR) Z6960.S6 S94

How to obtain newspapers not held by Princeton

If Princeton does not hold the newspaper you need, you may be able to obtain microfilm of the paper through Interlibrary Loan. In particular, many non-U.S. newspapers are available on microfilm from the Center for Research Libraries, an organization of which Princeton is a member. See the printed catalog listed above or check their web catalog (click on the Foreign Newspapers link under "Newspaper Collections.") Also, the Library of Congress has a substantial collection of non-U.S. newspapers, in print and in microfilm, often including titles available nowhere else. See Newspapers at the Library of Congress for various guides to their newspaper collections and to research using newspapers.

Ownership, circulation and political orientation

Concrete information about a newspaper's ownership, circulation, and readership can be elusive. First, search for a book or article on the paper in which you are interested. Otherwise, consult a general directory of newspapers and periodicals for the period of interest (see above).

• To locate books on the history of a particular newspaper, do a keyword search in the Main Catalog for the name of the paper, e.g. "manchester guardian"
• The world's great dailies: profiles of fifty newspapers. John C. Merrill and Harold A. Fisher. New York: Hastings House, c1980.
  General and Humanities Reference (DR) PN4731 .M446
  Very useful essays on 50 major papers, U.S. and foreign.
• World press encyclopedia. Edited by George Thomas Kurian; indexed by Marjorie B. Bank and James Johnson. New York: Facts on File, c1982.
  Firestone Library (F) PN4735 .W6 1982
• The foreign press; a survey of the world's journalism. By John C. Merrill, Carter R. Bryan [and] Marvin Alisky. Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press [1970]. Firestone Library (F)PN4736 .M39 1970 [plus two previous editions, 1958 and 1964]

Newpaper indexes

Before the advent of full text digital newspapers, in most cases the only way to find newspaper coverage of a particular topic was to skim the paper for a range of dates. However, indexes have been compiled for some major papers, including the Times of London (see above). For newspapers that have not been digitized, an index can be an invaluable help in locating coverage of interest.

• Index, Le Monde [1944-present].
  Firestone Microforms Services (FilmB) AI21 .M583
• Tables du Journal "Le Temps". Préf. de Jacques Godechot ... Introd. de Pierre Albert ...
  Paris, Ed. du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1966- [covers 1861-1900]
  Firestone Library (F) AI21 .T375
  Firestone Microforms Services (FilmB) AI21 .T375
• The Guardian index. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms International, c1986-
  Firestone Microforms Services (FilmB) AI21 .G82 [Manchester Guardian, UK]
• El país. Indice del año ... Madrid: Ediciones El País,
  Firestone Microforms Services (FilmB) AP60 .P34 [covers 1976-1996]
• The Times of India, Bombay. Index. Bombay: Microfilm and Index Service, Reference Dept., Times of India
  Firestone Microforms Services (FilmB) AI21.T65 T55 [covers 1973-1979]

News magazines

Another source of news coverage is weekly news magazines, such as:

• Der Spiegel (Germany, 1956-2005) Firestone Oversize 0902.868q; current issues in PR
• Paris-Match (France, 1955-2005) Firestone Oversize 0904.6985q