Finding Older Newspaper Articles

While recent newspaper articles are reasonably easy to find (give or take a paywall), older newspaper articles can be a bit more challenging to locate.

If a newspaper article you are looking for is not available through the paper’s website, the following resources may be useful in tracking articles down:

  • The newspaper resources offered by your public library.
  • Check out your local university’s publicly available databases; you may find resources akin to UBC’s B.C. Historical Newspapers database.
  • Google News Archives Search – this provides access to archives of newspapers, both scanned and text-based. Searching is free, but there may be a charge to access the full text.
  • Lexis Advance Quicklaw – LAQ offers access to a number of newspaper titles although access will depend on your subscription
  • Library and Archives Canada’s Canadian News Online – this provides links to “a sampling of news resources” including historical newspapers.
  • Newspapers.com from Ancestry – this provides access to scanned newspapers covering the 1700s-2000s. While searching is free, you will need an account to see the results.

— <Susannah Tredwell

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