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Chronicling America: A Guide for Researchers

This guide provides an overview of Chronicling America, a searchable digital collection of historic newspapers published through 1963.

Introduction

Notice

The Library of Congress has transitioned the longstanding Chronicling America website to a new digital environment alongside other Library of Congress digital collections. This change includes an updated interface and search infrastructure for Chronicling America. Preview the new BETA site.

While we are maintaining both sites into 2025, after March 1, 2024, please visit the new Chronicling America website for the most recent newspaper additions. On a future date yet to be announced, existing URLs to Chronicling America pages will re-direct to the new environment. Use our online form to ask a librarian for help or to submit feedback. Visit the Chronicling America Website Migration page or subscribe to the Chronicling America Historical Newspapers email list for updates.

Washington Times front cover detailing the use of new print press machines.
The Washington Times (Washington, D.C.) February 14, 1902, Image 1. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress Serial & Government Publications Division.

Chronicling America (ISSN 2475-2703) is a searchable and freely accessible digital collection of historic newspaper pages. It contains millions of newspaper pages from nearly every state and territory in the United States published through 1963. The website also provides access to information about historic newspapers and is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

NDNP, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Library of Congress, is a long-term effort to develop an Internet-based, searchable database of U.S. newspapers with descriptive information and select digitization of historic pages. Supported by NEH, this rich digital resource is developed and permanently maintained at the Library of Congress. An NEH award program will fund the contribution of content from, eventually, all U.S. states and territories.

More information on program guidelines, participation, and technical information can be found on the Library of Congress website and on the National Endowment for the Humanities website.

This guide provides an overview of the Chronicling America historic newspapers digital collection as well as recommended search topics, search strategies, website features, and frequently asked questions.


Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers Resources

Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries Resources

Chronicling America RSS Feed

Chronicling America

"We Love Old News!" Chronicling America is our flagship digital newspaper database which provides access to information about historic newspapers and select digitized newspaper pages, and is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

Subscribe to regular updates from Chronicling America by RSS and e-mail for all of the updates on new content, points of interest, research, and re-use of the Chronicling America digitized newspapers.

About the Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room

The Serial & Government Publications Division maintains one of the most extensive newspaper collections in the world. Beyond its newspaper holdings, the Division also has extensive collections of current periodicals, government publications, and comic books. These collections are accessed in the Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room which is located in Room LM-133 in the James Madison building in Washington, D.C.