Guides: History: Newspapers

Newspaper Archives

Daily Mail Historical Archive, 1896-2004

Access to the Daily Mail archive for all articles published between 1896 and 2004. The archive also includes access to the Atlantic editions, published between 1923 and 1931.

Described by the New Yorker as "the newspaper that rules Britain", the Daily Mail has been at the heart of British journalism since 1896, regularly changing the course of government policy and setting the national debate. Its website is among the most visited news sites in the world. The Daily Mail Historical Archive includes more than one hundred years of this major UK national newspaper, viewable in full digital facsimile form, with copious advertisements, news stories, and images that capture twentieth-century culture and society.
As well as the regular edition of the newspaper, the Daily Mail Historical Archive also includes the Daily Mail Atlantic Edition, which was published on board the cruise ships that sailed between New York and Southampton from 1923 to 1931. Copies were printed and sold to passengers on every day of the five- day voyages, with news transmitted from London and New York to the middle of the Atlantic by wireless radio transmission. These editions published different content to the regular London version of the paper and contained articles specifically commissioned for the journey, with a heavy emphasis on American content.
Admin: reviewed 16/07/2024
Gale Primary Sources

Research tool which allows you to search across multiple collections of primary source documents (historical newspapers, manuscripts, rare monographs and archive collections).

Gale Primary Sources brings the thoughts, words, and actions of past centuries into the present for a comprehensive research experience. With authoritative content and powerful search technologies, this platform has been thoughtfully designed to help students and researchers examine literary, political, and social culture of the last 500 years and develop a more meaningful understanding of how history continues to impact the world today. All of the collections on the Gale Primary Sources platform are meticulously indexed to improve discovery, analysis, and workflow for every user who is looking to push past the traditional boundaries of research.
Admin: reviewed 16/07/2024
The Times Digital Archive

Access The Times of London from 1785 - 2019. The entire newspaper is captured, including all articles, advertisements and illustrations/photos.

The Times Digital Archive is an online, full-text facsimile of more than 200 years of The Times, one of the most highly regarded resources for eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century news coverage. This historical newspaper archive allows researchers an unparalleled opportunity to search and view the best-known and most cited newspaper in the world online in its original published context. Read by both world leaders and the general public, The Times has offered readers in-depth, award-winning, objective coverage of world events since its creation in 1785 and is the oldest daily newspaper in continuous publication. With over 12 million articles available, the archive supports research across multiple disciplines and areas of interest, including business, humanities, political science, and philosophy, along with coverage of all major international historical events.
All articles included in The Times Digital Archive are displayed as digital page images and all allow full-text searching. These digitized pages, also known as facsimile images, let you view the pages as they originally appeared in print. Years of coverage depend on your library's subscription and are displayed in the product banner on the homepage.
Admin: reviewed 16/07/2024
UKPressOnline (Daily Express)

Access to over two million pages of the 19th-21st Centuries’ newspapers, from 1835 to today, all as published on the day they were published and all searchable by name, word, phrase and date. The ukpressonline database is a resource for histors and anyone who wants to explore history as seen by the reporters and commentators who were there.

Online Newspapers

To look for recent articles from UK and international newspapers you may find the following databases helpful.

Lexis+ UK Newspapers

Lexis+ UK Newspapers provides full text access to UK national and regional newspapers. Date coverage varies by individual title from 1980s to today.
For international newspaper content visit Nexis.
Nexis Uni

Full text access to business information and major international newspapers including foreign language sources. Date coverage varies by individual title from 1980s to today.