Newspaper Navigator
Our Story
In 2023, I was frustrated to discover that Google News Archive held several historic newspapers relevant to my research, that I never found. Over a decade of research and these newspapers were hiding in plain site. I then partnered with Matthew Wheeler to catalog every newspaper that has a digital copy anywhere on the internet.
–Mitchell Lewis
Mitchell Lewis, CG®
co-founder
Professional Genealogist
Matthew Wheeler
co-founder
Software Developer
The Process
Publication details vary across sources—some include exact dates and locations, while others, like Google News Archive, may lack such information. We provide a consistent view to ensure ease of use, and our data collection methods are carefully aligned with each site’s Terms of Service.
Have any questions?
We have compiled a list of commonly asked questions about our catalog of digitized historic newspapers, how to interpret the results, and tips for searching specific publications or time periods.
Why can’t I find any newspapers for my town?
Many large towns in the United States do not have available newspaper holdings online. Every year, more and more newspapers are digitized and added to databases. Some newspapers may still exist only in physical archives or microfilm, and digitization efforts can be expensive and time-consuming. We recommend checking back periodically, as new databases are continually added and existing databases are regularly updated.
What’s the deal with Google News Archive?
In 2011, Google announced that it would no longer add content to their newspaper archive database. Since then, it has remained unchanged and is effectively abandoned. During our manual data collection of the site, we discovered that the provided time coverages were not consistent with the actual newspaper images. We also discovered that some newspapers had other newspapers intermixed. Most of these mistakes are corrected in our catalog. Based on our research, Newspaper Navigator has the only complete index of Google News Archive.
Why doesn’t the catalog cover other databases?
There are some exceptions where we are unable to include certain databases, but it’s probably because we missed it! Use the contact form and let us know!
How do you present newspapers from the databases?
With some exceptions, we use the exact details provided by our sources. We have discovered cases where the provided newspaper details are clearly incorrect, such as time coverage or location, but we have no systematic method to find and correct these mistakes. If a database corrects an error, that will be reflected in our routine updates.
Are the holdings complete for each database?
Our catalog generally contains all the available newspapers from the databases we cover. The exceptions are listed below:
- Fulton History contains other records in their catalog, which include directories, church records, and yearbooks. These were manually filtered out in our database.
- Some of the community databases for Advantage Preservation are restricted to in-person access. Those newspapers are not included in our database.
How do you determine locations for each newspaper?
No databases provide latitude and longitude coordinates for newspapers—only the town name. We use Nominatim to search OpenStreetMap data and geocode these locations into latitude and longitude coordinates. All coordinates are manually verified to ensure they match the correct state and country, though occasional discrepancies in geocoding may occur. Please let us know if you notice any inaccurate coordinates.