Given the rapid deterioration of paper files and the unwieldy and incomplete runs of microfilm, recent years have seen a great increase in efforts to digitize historical newspapers all over the world. Nearly every major library and many national and state governments have projects in process, making it impossible to list all the websites. The following list provides some useful links to meta-sites and major projects, with emphasis on freely accessible sites. Companies such as Readex, Gale, and ProQuest have subscription-based historical newspaper collections, which may be available via academic affiliation. Among those, the new Readex Mercantile Newspapers collection is especially relevant to business historians.
Meta-Sites (include both free and fee-based sites)
Meta-Sites (include both free and fee-based sites)
Online Historical Newspapers (maintained by genealogist Miriam Robbins Midkiff) [and see also her blog, where she posts news of updates)National and Trans-National Sites
Digital Historical Newspapers (Family Search genealogy site)
Online Digital Newspapers (Wikipedia)
Newspaper Digitization Projects (Center for Research Libraries)
Chronicling America (Library of Congress)The British Newspaper Archive requires a subscription. Canada does not have a national site, but many provincial libraries have digital newspaper projects, most of which are free; they are listed in the meta-sites, above, and at Historical Canadian Newspapers Online; the Canadiana Portal also provides a gateway. [Update: Donica Belisle and Keira Mitchell have since posted a comprehensive listing for Canada.] Google began a newspaper digitization project, but abandoned it in 2011. One can find the remnants at the Google News Archive site.
Trove Digitized Newspapers (Australia)
Delpher (Netherlands newspapers [site in Dutch])
Welsh Newspapers Online
PapersPast (New Zealand)
Europeana Newspapers (The European Library) [also includes links to digitized issues at other libraries]
ANNO--Austrian Newspapers Online
Caribbean Newspaper Digital Library
Gallica: Les principaux quotidiens (France)
ZEFYS (Berlin State Library, Germany)
Historical Jewish Press
L'Emeroteca Digitale (Italy; site in Italian)
Hemeroteca Nacional Digital de Mexico
Hemeroteca Spain