Newspapers at the BPL: Historical Newspapers -- Specialized
Specialized Newspapers
These are sets of newspapers that have been collected on microfilm around a particular subject or topic. The arrangement may vary from set to set. Some of the collections identify newspapers that contain current news and are targeted to clearly identified groups. More common types of special interest newspapers include those directed to ethnic or racial groups, labor unions, farming communities, religious groups, and political groups. This page is not all-inclusive but rather should give an idea of the kind of resources available within this group.
Alternative / Underground newspaper sets
- Alternative Press CollectionCall Number: PN4888.U5 A55 1986x
- Hoover Institute Supplement to Underground Press CollectionCall Number: PN4888.U5 U54 1988x
- Underground Newspaper CollectionCall Number: PN4888.U5 U53 1970x
American Civil War Series — BPL compilations
- Civil War Clippings and Newspapers Civil War Clippings and Newspapers. E461.C58 [Newspapers from 22 American states (including 6 that seceded to the C.S.A.), the District of Columbia, Canada, England and Panama, from 1861 to 1865. (Also includes 7 reels of clippings.] 30 reels
- Confederate Newspapers Confederate Newspapers. E482.C66 [Newspapers, primarily Richmond, VA, from 1861 to 1865 (7 other states are represented with a few issues each.)] 14 reels
- Emancipation Proclamation Emancipation Proclamation. E453.E4 [Boston newspapers, from January to June 1863] 1 reel
- GAR Encampments G.A.R. Encampments. E462.1.A1967 [Newspapers, primarily Boston, for the encampments of August 1890, and August 1904] 3 reels
- Secession Documents Secession Documents. E458.1.S43 [Newspapers, primarily New York, from 1859 to 1861] 4 reels
Anarchist Newspapers & Periodicals on Microfilm
- Aldino Felicani Collection. Newspapers Relating to Sacco & VanzettiSelected issues of ninety-nine American and European newspapers, ranging in date from 1873 to 1966, detailing the case of Sacco and Vanzetti and its impact on the world.
Civil Rights Collection -- Facts on Film (Microfilm), 1954 - 1971
Facts on Film [Microfilm Collection]
Southern Education Reporting Service, Nashville, TN
LB3062.S57
This is a collection focused on civil rights. The materials are housed in the library of the Southern Education Reporting Service, Nashville, TN. There are extensive clipping files of newspaper editorials, editorial cartoons, letters to the editor, newspaper clippings by general subject, newspaper clippings (subjects by state), and magazine articles, in addition to other materials.
- Facts on Film -- SupplementsThe original set of Facts on Film covered 1954 to 1958. It was supplemented annually from 1958 to 1971.
Disaster Series — BPL compilations
- Great Boston Fire of 1872 Boston Fire. F73.5.B74414 [Newspapers from 18 American states, the District of Columbia, and Canada, from November 1872] 4 reels
- Chicago Fire Chicago Fire. F548.42.C4 [Newspapers from 19 American states, the District of Columbia, and Canada, from October 1871] 4 reels
- Portland Fire Portland Fire F29.P9P95 [Newspapers from 21 American states, the District of Columbia, and Canada, from July 1866. 1 reel
- San Francisco Earthquake & Fire San Francisco Earthquake and Fire F869.S3S25 [Newspapers from 7 American states (14 cities), from April and May 1906] 10 reels
Entertainment Newspapers on Microfilm
Ethnic newspaper sets
Many of these materials could be classified as newsletters or periodicals, but are listed here with newspapers since the format is similar.
NOTE: these microfiche are currently in remote storage and inaccessible
Miscellaneous Negro Newspapers Series. E185.5.M58
[The Library of Congress filmed this set of ”Miscellaneous Negro Newspapers" for the Committee on Negro Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies. In our guide the papers are arranged by state, then by city, then by title. In many cases only a few issues are available for a year. The final column shows on which reel of the set that the newspaper can be found. 12 reels. The set has been digitized on Ancestry Library edition under the title "U.S., African American Newspapers, 1829-1947."
Labor newspapers
Presidential newspaper sets
James A. Garfield Papers (BPL compilation) E687.9.G37. 25
[Newspapers from 30 American states and the District of Columbia, plus 6 foreign countries, from September 1881] 16 reels
John F. Kennedy Memorial Collection, E842.M45 (BPL compilation)
Newspaper articles on the assassination of John F. Kennedy, November 1963. 10 reels
John F. Kennedy Papers. E842.9.J2 (Commercial set)
[Newspapers from 31 foreign countries, from November 1963] 11 reels
Abraham Lincoln Papers (BPL compiled set) E457.5.L69
[Newspapers from 28 American states and the District of Columbia, plus Canada, England and the Kingdom of Hawaii from April and May 1865. (Also includes unrelated New York Tribune Extras from the 1870s and 1880s).] 24 reels
William McKinley Papers (BPL compilation) E711.0.M33
[Newspapers from 19 American states, Arizona Territory and the District of Columbia, plus 15 foreign countries, from September 1901] 26 reels
Nixon Resignation (BPL compiled set) E860.P75
[Newspapers from 34 American states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, plus 6 foreign countries, from August 1974] 4 reels.
Religious Newspapers (and Periodicals)
- Religious Newspapers - Boston area on Microfilm (PDF) A partial list of religious newspapers & periodicals from Massachusetts.
Scrapbooks - selected miscellaneous
Scrapbooks vary in quality and organization. This is a sampling of those scrapbooks that have been microfilmed. You may find others in individual departments or branches, or by searching the BPL catalogs.
Several scrapbook sets have been digitized, with links to the electronic records from the BPL catalog.
- Journalism in Boston : Boston Herald and It's ContemporariesPublication Date: 1878
Women's Newspapers on Microfilm
Statue of Lucy Stone, editor of the Woman's Journal,
Boston Women's Mem
orial, Commonwealth Avenue.
Artist: Meredith Bergmann.
The Gerritsen Collection of Woman's History & the History of Women microfilm collections include many periodicals. Among them the Woman's Journal edited by Lucy Stone and Henry Browne Blackwell.
The Woman’s Era was published and edited by Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin. It was the first newspaper published by and for African-American women.
