What Newspapers.com is and who runs it
Newspapers.com is a searchable database of historical and recent newspapers run by Ancestry.com. It holds millions of pages from thousands of U.S. and international publications, going back to the 1700s in some cases. You search by keyword, date range, and publication name to find articles, obituaries, birth announcements, and other content that appeared in print.
The site is owned by Ancestry LLC, the genealogy and family history company. Ancestry also owns other record databases like FamilySearch partnerships and historical documents collections. Newspapers.com operates as a separate subscription product, though you can sometimes bundle it with an Ancestry.com membership.
Key Takeaways
- Newspapers.com lets you search millions of newspaper pages from the 1700s to today, with results appearing as digital images you can read and read.
- A subscription costs money per month or year, and the price varies depending on whether you choose a basic or premium plan and whether you commit to annual billing.
- You can search for free without an account, but you need a paid subscription to view full articles and read images.
- The database includes U.S. publications and newspapers from Canada, the UK, and other countries, though U.S. coverage is the most extensive.
- You can save articles to a personal collection, set up search alerts, and share links to articles with others who also have subscriptions.
How to search and what results look like
You can start searching Newspapers.com without paying anything. Type a name, date, place, or keyword into the search box and the site returns a list of matching articles. Each result shows the newspaper name, publication date, and a thumbnail of the page where the article appeared. The results are ranked by relevance, and you can filter by date range, state, or specific newspaper titles.
When you click on a result, you see the full newspaper page as a digital image. The text is searchable — the site has run optical character recognition (OCR) on the images so you can search inside articles — but the quality of the text depends on how clear the original newspaper page was. Very old or damaged papers may have OCR errors. You can zoom in and out, rotate the image, and read the article directly from the page.
Without a subscription, you can see the thumbnail and a small preview of the article text, but you cannot view the full page image or read anything. A subscription removes this restriction.
Subscription plans and pricing
Newspapers.com offers two main subscription tiers, though the exact names and prices change periodically. A basic plan typically costs less per month than a premium plan. The premium plan usually includes features like unlimited downloads, advanced search filters, and the ability to save more articles to your personal collection.
You can pay month-to-month or commit to an annual plan, which usually costs less per month than paying monthly. The site often runs promotions for new subscribers, especially around holidays. Existing subscribers sometimes see renewal offers at a discount. Prices vary by region and by the current promotion, so check the Newspapers.com website directly for current rates.
If you already have an Ancestry.com subscription, you may be able to add Newspapers.com access for an additional fee, or your plan may already include it. Check your Ancestry account settings to see what databases you have access to.
What you can do with a subscription
With a paid subscription, you can view and read full-page images of newspaper articles. Downloads are typically in PDF or JPEG format, and you can save them to your computer. This is useful if you want to keep a copy of an article or share it with family members offline.
You can create a personal collection and save articles you find to it, organizing them by topic or person. You can also set up search alerts, which notify you by email when new articles matching your search criteria are added to the database. This is helpful if you are researching a specific person or event and want to know when new content becomes available.
Premium subscribers can share articles with other people who have Newspapers.com accounts by sending them a link. The recipient needs their own subscription to view the full article. You can also print articles directly from the site.
What newspapers are in the database
Newspapers.com has the largest collection of U.S. newspapers, with coverage from all 50 states. The earliest papers date to the 1700s, though most extensive coverage begins in the 1800s. Major city newspapers are well represented, as are small-town and regional publications. The database includes both daily and weekly papers.
The site also includes newspapers from Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and other English-speaking countries, though the U.S. collection is by far the largest. Coverage of international papers is less complete and often focuses on major publications.
New newspaper pages are added regularly as Ancestry.com continues to digitize and index historical collections. You can check the site's "What's New" section to see which publications and date ranges were recently added.
How OCR and searchability work
Newspapers.com uses optical character recognition to convert the images of newspaper pages into searchable text. This means you can search for a name or phrase and find it even if you do not know which newspaper or date it appeared in. The OCR process is automated, so it is not perfect — old typefaces, faded ink, and damaged pages can produce errors in the text layer.
When you search, you are searching the OCR text, not the images themselves. If a word was misread by the OCR software, your search may not find it. For this reason, if you do not find what you are looking for on the first try, try searching with different keywords or browse by newspaper and date range instead.
The quality of OCR varies by newspaper and era. Newspapers from the 1900s onward tend to have better OCR accuracy than very old papers. If you find an article and the text looks garbled, you can read the actual page image to see what it really says.
Comparing Newspapers.com to other newspaper databases
Several other sites offer access to historical newspapers. Google News Archive and the Library of Congress Chronicling America project both have free newspaper collections, though their holdings are smaller than Newspapers.com. ProQuest Historical Newspapers is another subscription service with a large collection, often available through public libraries.
Newspapers.com's main advantage is the size of its U.S. collection and the integration with Ancestry.com, which makes it useful if you are doing family history research. The search interface is straightforward, and the ability to read and save articles is convenient. The main drawback is the cost of a subscription.
Many public libraries offer free access to Newspapers.com as part of their digital collections. If you have a library card, check your library's website to see if they provide this resource. This is often the least expensive way to use the service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I search Newspapers.com without paying?
Yes, you can search for free and see which articles match your search. You can view a small preview of the article text and see the newspaper page as a thumbnail. To view the full page image and read articles, you need a paid subscription.
Do I need a subscription to every newspaper, or is one subscription to the whole site?
One subscription gives you access to the entire Newspapers.com database. You do not pay per newspaper. The subscription tier you choose determines what features you can use, not which newspapers you can access.
How far back do the newspapers go?
The earliest newspapers in the database date to the 1700s, though coverage is sparse that far back. Most extensive coverage begins in the 1800s and continues to recent years. The exact date range varies by newspaper — some publications have only a few years of content, while others span centuries.
Can I get Newspapers.com through my library?
Many public libraries offer free access to Newspapers.com through their digital collections. Check your library's website or ask a librarian whether they provide this resource. If they do, you can use your library card to log in.
What happens to my saved articles if my subscription ends?
If you cancel your subscription, you lose access to view articles on the site, but the links to your saved articles remain in your account. If you resubscribe later, you can access your collection again. Downloaded files you saved to your computer remain yours to keep.