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U.S. Newspaper Collections at the Library of Congress

Reference Sources

Marjory Collins, photographer. Washington, D.C. Under the auspices of the Bureau of University Travel and the National Capital School Visitors' Council, over 200 high school students chosen for their intellectual alertness visited Washington for a week. Students examining books in the Library of Congress. 1942. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

There are several types of reference sources that can assist with and enrich newspaper research. Scroll down or click on the source type linked below to explore the sources available in the Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room (NCPRR) collections:

Within each section is a description of the type of source and how it can be used for newspaper research, links to significant titles of that source, and a search strategy to find that particular source in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

Please note that the records in the Library of Congress Online Catalog can sometimes be unreliable, and there may be more reference sources available beyond what you are able to find by searching only the Library of Congress Online Catalog. For questions or assistance with identifying or locating reference sources, please contact the Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room where reference librarians are happy to help!

Also included on this page are lists of repositories that hold various Newspaper Morgues and Newspaper Photographic Morgues.

Indexes

Newspaper indexes list articles classified by subjects, names, personal notices, advertising, illustration, or other items found in a newspaper. If you are looking for coverage of a particular person or event, you can use indexes to possibly find citations that will lead you to specific issues and page numbers for articles. Be aware that for newspapers, there are no comprehensive retrospective indexes covering multiple titles over long time periods, and many newspapers lack any of indexing at all. 

Below is a sampling of the newspaper indexes in the Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room reference collection; it is not a complete list of every index within the collection. The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Below is a list of some freely available online newspaper indexes.

State City Newspaper Archive Dates
District of Columbia Washington Rambler, Washington Star External 1912 - 1928
Florida Jacksonville Florida Times Union Index External 1986 - 1997
Hawaii Honolulu Hawaii Newspaper Index External
*Honolulu Advertiser, Star-Bulletin, and Star-Advertiser
1989 - current
Hawaii Honolulu Index to the Honolulu Advertiser & Star-Bulletin External 1929 - 1969
Iowa Des Moines Des Moines Register External 1959 - 1976
Kentucky   Northern Kentucky Newspaper Index 1800-1899 External 1835 - 1899
Kentucky Louisville Louisville Newspaper Obituary Index 1918-1987 External 1918 - 1987
Michigan Detroit Detroit News Index External
*Obituary name search
1879 - 1995
*approximate
New York Albany University of Albany, Scholar Archive 1982 - 1990
  New York New York Daily Tribune Index External 1875 - 1906
Ohio Cleveland Cleveland Necrology Index External
*Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland Herald, and Cleveland Press
1833 - 1979
*coverage varies per title
Oregon (Varied) Oregon State Library - Oregon Index External
*Multiple newspapers included
1975 - 2004
*coverage varies per title
Oregon Portland University of Oregon - Newspaper Index Search External
*Daily Emerald, Oregonian, and Register Guard
1852 - 2004
*coverage varies per title
Pennsylvania Philadelphia Philadelphia Press Index External 1898 - 1912
Tennessee (Varied) Newspapers Obituary Indexes in Public Libraries External
*A list of newspaper indexes and which library has them
1810 - current
*coverage varies per title
Virginia Fairfax County Historical Newspaper Index Search External
*Multiple newspapers included
1785 - 2000
*coverage varies per title
Virginia Richmond Library of Virginia Newspaper Index External
*Richmond Times Dispatch and Richmond News Leader
1940s - 1985
Virginia (Varied) Race & Place: Newspapers External
*Charlottesville Reflector and Richmond Planet
1890 - 1935
*approximate
Virginia Williamsburg Virginia Gazette Index External 1736 - 1780

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

The Lathrop Report on Newspaper Indexes is also freely available online.

The following title links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Digitized Editor & Publisher Yearbooks

Some volumes of the Editor & Publisher Yearbook from 1909 to 1922 are freely available to search online through HathiTrust External.

The following strategies will help you locate newspaper indexes in the Library of Congress Online Catalog:

  • Using the Advanced Search, enter the title of the newspaper in the first box and the word "index" the second box, leaving the default "all of these" and "within Keyword Anywhere (GKEY)" for each
  • Select "Add Limits" and choose "Newspaper & Current Periodical Reference Collection" from the "Location in the Library" drop-down menu

It can also be helpful to Browse the online catalog using Library of Congress Subject Headings. The following heading structures will assist you in locating newspaper indexes for particular states and regions. Using browse, select "SUBJECTS beginning with" and enter the subject words in order, as seen in the examples below:

Most newspaper indexes found in the Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room can be found within Call Number A121.

Directories

Newspaper directories identify titles published in specific locations or time periods.

The U.S. Newspaper Directory is an online directory of newspapers published in the United States since 1690, which can help identify what titles exist for a specific place and time, and how to access them. Use the drop-down menus to select a particular place and time, or use keywords to locate specific titles.

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Digitized Rowell's & Ayer's Directories

While no complete set of Rowell's or Ayer's is digitally available online, there is digital access to many of the volumes through various online sources, including HathiTrust, the Internet Archive, Google Books, and the University of North Texas (UNT). Below is a source list with links to the various available volumes found online.

Year Rowell's Ayer's
1869 HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
NA
1870 HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
NA
1871 HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
NA
1872 HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
NA
1873 HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
NA
1874 UNT Digital Library External NA
1875 UNT Digital Library External NA
1876 UNT Digital Library External NA
1877 HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
NA
1878 HathiTrust External NA
1879 HathiTrust External NA
1880 Internet Archive External HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1881 Internet Archive External HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1882 HathiTrust External HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1883 HathiTrust External UNT Digital Library External
1884 Internet Archive External HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1885 Internet Archive External HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1886 Internet Archive External HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1887 HathiTrust External None
1888 None HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1889 None HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1890 None UNT Digital Library External
1891 Internet Archive External Google Books External (vol. 1 only)
1892 None Google Books External (vol. 1 only)
1893 HathiTrust External HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1894 Internet Archive External None
1895 Internet Archive External HathiTrust External
1896 None UNT Digital Library External
1897 HathiTrust External UNT Digital Library External
1898 Internet Archive External UNT Digital Library External
1899 HathiTrust External HathiTrust External
1900 HathiTrust External UNT Digital Library External
1901 Internet Archive External HathiTrust External
1902 Internet Archive External HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1903 Internet Archive External HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1904 None HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1905 Internet Archive External HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1906 Internet Archive External HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1907 Google Books External HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1908 Google Books External HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1909 Internet Archive External HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1910 NA HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1911 NA HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1912 NA HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1913 NA HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1914 NA HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1915 NA HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1916 NA HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1917 NA HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1918 NA HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1919 NA HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1920 NA HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1921 NA HathiTrust External
1922 NA HathiTrust External
UNT Digital Library External
1923 NA HathiTrust External
1924 NA NA
1925 NA HathiTrust External

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

The following strategies will help you locate newspaper directories in the Library of Congress Online Catalog:

  • Using the "Advanced Search," search the various subject headings below in the first box and selecting "Subject: ALL (KSUB)" from the "within" box drop-down menu.

It can also be helpful to Browse the online catalog using Library of Congress Subject Headings. The following heading structures will assist you in locating newspaper directories for particular states and regions. Using browse, select "SUBJECTS beginning with" and enter the subject words in order, as seen in the examples below:

Bibliographies & Union LIsts

Newspaper bibliographies include the title, dates, place of publication as well as a paper's focus. Numerous bibliographies treat newspapers and newspaper history. Union lists present lists of newspapers in geographic arrangement according to place of publication, and specify which libraries or other institutions hold collections of those newspapers and the dates of their holdings. These can also be useful for tracking title changes throughout a newspaper's history.

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Below is a sampling of the state and regional union lists available in the Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room Reference Collection; it is not a complete list of every union list of this type within the collection. The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Chronological Index of Newspapers

Heather Thomas, photographer. View of book spines for the "Chronological Index of Newspapers" in the Library of Congress. 2020. Library of Congress Serial and Government Publications Division.

Commonly referred to in the Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room as "the Green Books," these volumes provide a list of the Division's newspaper holdings by year and geographical location, covering 1801 to 1967. These indexes are helpful with identifying what newspaper holdings the Division has in its collections that published in a particular city and state during a particular year. Please note that this source may contain some outdated holdings information and should not be the only reference source checked to find definitive holdings lists. However, these indexes are a good source to getting a general idea of what we have for a specific place and time.

Two sets of these volumes are available to browse in the Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room; one set is located behind the reference desk and the second set is available on the public shelves in the reading room.

The following strategies will help you locate newspaper bibliographies or union lists in the Library of Congress Online Catalog:

  • Using the "Advanced Search," search the various subject headings below in the first box and selecting "Subject: ALL (KSUB)" from the "within" box drop down menu.

It can also be helpful to Browse the online catalog using Library of Congress Subject Headings. The following heading structures will assist you in locating newspaper bibliographies or union catalogs for particular states and regions. Using browse, select "SUBJECTS beginning with" and enter the subject words in order, as seen in the examples below:

Newspaper Histories

Comprehensive histories of U.S. newspapers document the diversity and progress of newspaper publishing and offer a good introduction to the topic. Newspaper histories may refer to specific stories or columnists for which the newspaper is known.

Most major newspapers have a published history of the newspaper compiled by the newspaper itself or by independent historians. They may be useful starting points to finding information about journalists—as long as the researcher knows the newspaper for which these particular journalists worked.

Other works cover the history of the printers and printing of newspapers in a state, county, or region more generally, and provide more condensed histories of the editors, journalists, and evolution of the newspapers in a specific area.

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Below is a sampling of the individual newspaper histories available in the Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room Reference Collection; it is not a complete list of every individual newspaper history within the collection. The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Below is a sampling of the state newspaper histories available in the Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room Reference Collection; it is not a complete list of every state newspaper history within the collection. The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

The following strategies will help you locate newspaper histories in the Library of Congress Online Catalog:

  • Using the "Advanced Search," search the various subject headings below in the first box and select "Subject: ALL (KSUB)" from the "within" box drop-down menu.

It can also be helpful to Browse the online catalog using Library of Congress Subject Headings. The following heading structures will assist you in locating newspaper histories for particular states and regions. Using browse, select "SUBJECTS beginning with" and enter the subject words in order, as seen in the examples below:

Newspaper Morgues

With the term "morgue" in the title, it sounds like this is a place where newspapers go to die. On the contrary, a newspaper morgue refers to where paper collections of newspapers go to live on. These morgues are composed of physical newspaper archives and supplemental materials, which may include bound volumes of the newspapers, newspaper morgue materials, institutional records, and personal papers of people associated with the newspaper. Currently, no physical newspaper archive has fully digitized these supplemental materials.

State City Newspaper Archive
California San Bernardino San Bernardino County Sun
Donated its paper archives to San Bernardino County Historical Archives External and California State University, San Bernardino's John M. Pfau Library External.
California San Francisco San Francisco Examiner
The paper archive 1888-1956 is at the University of California, Berkley's Bancroft Library External.
District of Columbia Washington Washington Afro-American
The paper archive is located at the Afro-American headquarters External in Baltimore, Maryland.
District of Columbia Washington Washington Star
The paper's photo archive is in the Martin Luther King Library's Star Collection External (DC Public Library).
Massachusetts Boston Boston Herald
Boston University's Beebe Communications Library External houses a collection of newspaper clippings from the late 1800s to the early 1980s, most or all of which once belonged to the Boston Herald's library.

Cambridge Public Library External has a collection of Boston Herald photographs, 1924-1997.
Maryland Baltimore Afro-American
The paper archive is located at the Afro-American headquarters External in Baltimore, Maryland.
New Jersey Newark Newark Evening News
The paper morgue is at the New Jersey Archives External.
New York New York New York Herald Tribune
The paper archive from 1925-1966 is at the Briscoe Center for American History External, University of Texas at Austin.
New York New York New York Journal American
The photographic morgue is held by the Harry Ransom Center External at the University of Texas at Austin. The Center also holds a nearly complete set of microfilm for the paper. The clippings morgue is held across campus at the Briscoe Center for American History External.
New York New York New York Times
The morgue from 1910-1989 is at the Briscoe Center for American History External, University of Texas at Austin.
Ohio Cleveland Cleveland Press
The Cleveland Press Collection External (morgue) is at Cleveland State University.
Ohio Dayton Dayton Daily News
The morgue 1890-2004 is at Wright State University Libraries, Special Collections & Archives External.
Pennsylvania Philadelphia Daily News
The clipping files 1958-1962 are at the Urban Archives External, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, PA.
Pennsylvania Philadelphia Philadelphia Bulletin
The clipping files 1900-1982 are at the Urban Archives External, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, PA. The Urban Archives also has the newspaper index 1908-1975.
Pennsylvania Philadelphia Philadelphia Record
The clipping files 1918-1950 and the newspaper photographs archive 1900-1946 is at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania External.
Tennessee Nashville Nashville Banner
The archive of clippings and photos is at the Nashville Public Library External.