Searching for historical newspapers may involve visiting other libraries, either within Glasgow or further afield.

• To find out what was written in historical newspapers you will often need to consult a printed index – for help with finding printed indexes please contact your Faculty Librarian.
• Many historical newspapers are available in microfilm format.
• It may be necessary to travel to another library to access the newspaper(s) you require.
• It is often advisable to contact any libraries which you wish to visit in advance as microfilm readers may need to be booked and newspapers may be stored remotely.
• If you know exactly which article(s) you wish to read you may be able to request via the ILL service.
• Remember to adhere to copyright restrictions – one single copy of an article or a page can be made for private study or non-commercial use.

How can I read old copies of the Scotsman?

The Scotsman is available at The Mitchell Library in Glasgow from 1817 – 1988. It is advisable to contact the Mitchell Library in advance of a visit to check any access requirements: info@glasgowlife.org.uk.

The National Library of Scotland provides electronic access to the Scotsman archive. See their website for more information. 

The Scotsman is included in the Nexis and Factiva databases. Coverage is as follows: Nexis 1st January 1993 to 4th April 2022; Factiva - 29th August 1981 to present

How can I read old copies of the (Glasgow) Herald?

The Glasgow Herald is available at The Mitchell Library in Glasgow from 1805 – 1992. It is advisable to contact the Mitchell Library in advance of a visit to check any access requirements: info@glasgowlife.org.uk.

The Mitchell Library also has indexes to the Herald from 1906 to 1984.

From 1992 onwards the Herald is included in Nexis (see below).

How can I search the contents of British broadsheets?

A useful place to start is the Humanities Index (see below). This can be used as an index to the following British broadsheets:

• The Daily Telegraph;
• The Sunday Telegraph (and magazine);
• The Guardian;
• The Observer;
• The Independent;
• The Independent on Sunday;
• The Sunday Times (and magazine);
• The Times (you may wish to use The Times Digital Archive - see below - as an alternative).

Coverage will vary, the Humanities Index may not include the most recent materials – see below for information about Nexis.

To search the Humanities Index use the Advanced Search option and enter one of the above newspapers as the Publication title. Enter a topic, or a date range and a list of results will be displayed.

To obtain articles which you wish to read you can either:

• Use Library Hub Discover to find a local library with the printed newspaper for the dates you require;
• Use the Inter-Library Service to obtain a copy of the article.

For recent newspaper articles use the Nexis service. As well as indexing UK broadsheets, Nexis will also search tabloids and local and regional UK and international newspapers.

To find older copies of local or regional newspapers within the UK it would be worth contacting either the nearest university library, or the local public library service.

To find out which libraries have which newspapers try a search using Library Hub Discover.

The British Library has extensive newspaper collections, coverage includes some international newspapers.

The British Newspaper Archive is a subscription service, but you can use it as an index free of charge. It can be useful in finding a specific story which you can then source from a local library.

To find historical Scottish news, try the index at Ambaile which covers six titles from the Highlands dating from 1800s to the early 1900s.

Chronicling America: Historical American newspapers 1789-1924;

Europeana: Access to over 10 million digitised newspaper pages from across Europe;

Trove: Access to digitised Australian newspapers;

Caribbean Newspaper Digital Library: Access to Caribbean newspapers and gazettes;

ICON: This site lists newspaper digitisation projects country by country and US state by US state;

This British Library blog posting: Has some other recommended newspaper digitisation projects.

Strathclyde languages students may be interested in the following historical newspaper archives:

• Italy;
• Francophone newspapers;
• French newspapers;
• Spanish historical newspapers – Biblioteca Virtual de Pensa Historica.