The Library of Congress has several large collections of Hungarian materials - among them is a collection of newspapers. To make it easier for researchers to see what we have, we are providing a guide that attempts to:

• list all the Hungarian newspapers that our library has;
• provide information about what issues we have, and in what format;
• help researchers find out whether these have been reprinted in books, are available online or in databases;
• give a general idea of what exists, and where might one search for Hungarian newspapers;
• help researchers find newspapers and other primary sources from the 1956 revolution.

Newspapers by definition contain a broad range of news on all subjects and activities, and are not limited to any specific subject matter. They are intended either for the general public or for a particular ethnic, cultural, or national group. Print newspapers usually appear without a cover, with a masthead, and are normally larger than 12 x 17 inches (297mm x 420mm). Individual issues are listed chronologically or numerically, and usually appear at least once a week. These characteristics are qualified to allow for exceptions, but they define elements which clearly distinguish print newspapers from other serial publications (e.g., magazines, journals, newsletters, etc.) that also report general news.

This finding aid lists every Hungarian-language newspaper found in the collections of the Library of Congress. We collected information about newspapers from Hungary, i.e. those published within the boundaries of historical Hungary prior to 1920, and in Hungary within the new borders after 1920, in all languages. We are also providing information about newspapers printed in Hungarian in other countries.

This is an attempt to bring together into one place information for Hungarian papers in all formats: loose issues, bound volumes, microfilm, digital, and online versions.

Names for places from pre-1920 Hungary are given first in Hungarian, then in German (where applicable, in brackets), followed by the current name and country.

This finding aid provides the permanent links (permalinks) to the corresponding records in the Library of Congress catalog, and also to those in the catalog of the National Széchényi Library (Országos Széchényi Könyvtár -- OSzK). The OSzK catalog records are included because they provide full bibliographic descriptions for the entries (including subtitle, publisher, and place of publication changes, supplements, etc.), and have been used to determine the dates of publication. Where the OSzK record differs from the Library of Congress record, the OSzK record should be considered authoritative.

Nowadays there are many databases that allow easy access to newspapers, with the added advantage of full text search. Where such resources are available for the newspapers in our collections, we provide links to these resources, and information about the years that they digitized. As you can see, the Library of Congress sometimes has fewer years available, but sometimes it has issues that are not available online at the time of creating this guide.

Newspapers of course cover all important events, and our collection can be used to study many topics. In this guide we highlight primary sources available for studying the 1956 revolution, and our collection of Hungarian samizdat publications from the 1980s. Both of these collections provide reporting that was different from the official news published during the socialist regime. Other ways of organizing periodicals can be found in the lists of newspaper bibliographies provided, some of which are organized by geographic area, a group of people, such as Hungarians in exile, or Jewish people, and some collections are organized around historic events, such as the 1848 revolution.

Bibliographies of Library of Congress Holdings Used for this Guide

For information in this guide, holdings for bound volumes are taken primarily from the Newspapers of East Central and Southeastern Europe in the Library of Congress, edited by Robert G. Carlton (1965); the Check List of Foreign Newspapers in the Library of Congress: Supplement held at the circulation desk of the Newspaper and Current Periodicals Reading Room and published online as Foreign Newspaper Collections at the Library of Congress; and from a 1998 survey taken by the Library's Serial and Government Publications Division from the labels on the bound volumes, in preparation for shipping them to remote storage. Carlton provides the most detailed holdings information but is dated (1965), and therefore does not reflect changes in the paper collection since that time. The 2011 survey indicates only the inclusive date information printed on the spine or cover of the bound volumes themselves, rather than details of each issue in a bound volume. Discrepancies between Carlton's holdings information and the current survey of the bound volumes suggest that some papers may have been discarded after they were filmed, or after film was obtained. Holdings for microfilm have been determined by actual inspection of the reels, and also from the master card file of microfilm holdings located at the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room's circulation desk.

List of bibliographies used as reference for creating this guide:

• Library of Congress. Catalog Management and Publications Division Newspapers in microform. Foreign Countries 1948-1983. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1984. (NMFC) digital copy available at the Hathi Trust
• Library of Congress. Slavic and Central European Division. Newspapers of East Central and Southeastern Europe in the Library of Congress. Edited by Robert G. Carlton. Washington, 1965. Digital copy
• Library of Congress. Periodicals Division. A Check List of Foreign Newspapers in the Library of Congress, Newly Compiled under the Direction of Henry S. Parsons, chief, Periodical Division. Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1929. (Parsons) digital copy available at the Hathi Trust
• Library of Congress. Periodicals Division. A Check List of Foreign Newspapers in the Library of Congress. Supplement. Various volumes., [unpublished, held at the circulation desk of the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room] (FNLC-S)
• Library of Congress. Reference Department. Postwar Foreign Newspapers. A Union List. Washington: 1953. (PFN)
  digital copy available at the Hathi Trust
• Széplaki, Joseph. Hungarian Newspapers in Microform Available in the United States and Canada. Youngstown, OH: Catholic Hungarians' Sunday, 1977. (Széplaki)

• Library of Congress. Hungary 19th and 20th Century Newspapers in Original Format. (Bound Volumes) Inventory of Volumes Held in Remote Storage.

Selected Guides for Researching Hungarian Collections