Newspapers: A Primary Resource for Social Studies/History Students
WEAC Convention Oct. 27-28, 2005


Digital Newspapers

There are several companies that have been digitizing newspaper microfilm for the past five years. This resource allows for all pages of a newspaper's history to be searchable. Several of the primary companies working on digital projects are listed below. Subscriptions to these resources vary.


  • Newspaper Archive (www.newspaperarchive.com/DesktopDefault.aspx)
  • Proquest Historical Newspapers (www.proquest.com/proquest/features/feature-04/default.shtml)
  • NewsBank's Archive of Americana (http://www.newsbank.com/promo/aofa.pdf)
  • Gale - The London Times Digital Archive (http://www.gale.com/Times/)
  • Olive Software (http://www.olivesoftware.com/clients/index.asp)


    The preservation of our country's history found in newspapers is a current project that is funded and headed by the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Several links to this project are below.


  • National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP)
  • U.S. Newspaper Program
  • The New York Public Library
  • University of Kentucky
  • University of Florida


    Digital newspaper pages will offer researchers quick access to stories and ads. No more tedious scrolling through the microfilm. Two states that have started digitizing newspapers are Colorado and Utah. The Utah Digital Newspaper project began in 2001 at the University of Utah. The Colorado project, Colorado's Historic Newspaper Collection, began in earnest in 2003 with the cooperation of the Colorado State Library and Colorado Historical Society.

    Many Wisconsin newspapers have been partially digitized by Heritage Microfilm's Newspaper Archive project. The cost of an annual subscription to NewspaperArchive is $50.

    The Wisconsin State Journal is looking into the possibility of digitizing its complete collection of microfilm but it's impossible to say at the moment how quickly that technology will become affordable for mid-size newspapers. In the meantime, the State Journal has started a project that packages digital stories on a single topic. The first topic is on the Sterling Hall bombing.

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