Newspapers at the BPL: Historical Newspapers — Original
Original Newspaper Backfiles
The Boston Public Library holds of one of the major newspaper collections in the country, and served as the center for the Massachusetts Newspaper Program. Due to the fragility of these materials however, the Library can only provide very limited access to original newspaper files. The majority of original newspaper files are stored off site at our Archival Center and are not available for direct handling. In most cases people will be required to use microfilm copies of the files when available. If microfilm copies are not adequate and a higher quality image is required, an ILL request using the ILLiad link can be made for copies from the originals. This process generally requires around 2 weeks. Exceptions may be made for viewing post-1950 newspapers at the discretion of the staff on a case by case basis, if no other format is available.
Contact us at ask@bpl.org or through our contact page for help in locating or obtaining copies from original newspapers. Pre-1820 newspapers are held in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Department.
Original Newspaper Holdings — Boston Public Library
Catalog Searching Help: This guide will give you general introductory help on searching our catalog
The easiest way to locate our holdings of original newspapers is to search our catalog here for the name of the newspaper as a title, then limit the results to the location "Archival Center." Most pre-1950 original newspaper are kept at that location so that is the easiest way to find them. More recent titles may still be kept in the building until they can be microfilmed or processed for permanent storage. It is not recommended to limit by the format "newspaper" since that designation was not always used on older records.
Original Newspaper Holdings - National
- Chronicling America This link opens in a new windowChronicling America is a Website providing access to information about historic newspapers and select digitized newspaper pages, and is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). NDNP, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Library of Congress (LC), is a long-term effort to develop an Internet-based, searchable database of U.S. newspapers with descriptive information and select digitization of historic pages. Supported by NEH, this rich digital resource will be developed and permanently maintained at the Library of Congress. An NEH award program will fund the contribution of content from, eventually, all U.S. states and territories. Coverage: 1690 to present
- WorldCat This link opens in a new windowWorldCat is the world's largest free catalog of library-based content.
However, not all library holdings appear in this database, including the BPL
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Ballou's Pictorial 1859
Ballou's Pictorial Drawing Room Companion was a 19th-century illustrated periodical published in Boston, an online of which can be read here that was created from our original paper copy.
