British Newspaper Archive - read historic newspapers online with a subscription to the British Newspaper Archive!

The Worksop Guardian was first published in March 1896.
It aimed to 'step forward' for the people of Worksop,
a market town in Nottinghamshire.  It was a lively read, 
with local news and some special interest subjects 
from gardening to 'Sherwood Forest Romances.'

With Halloween not far off, 
The Archive has compiled its old favourite superstitions from The Field
- have you heard of any of them?

 
. The Garstang Courier in Lancashire captures the community spirit,
giving a great insight into what life was like.
For instance, local advertisements, local events, 
even notices in the personal ads, give a flavour of local life.
If you're researching the family history, it can particularly give you an inkling  
of what the lives of your relatives might have been like. 

In Sussex, the Horsham Advertiser offers a fascinating look at
local businesses, agriculture, and the community spirit.
For instance, what were the events taking place, which societies were active?
What would life have been like, living in Sussex in the past?

 
The pages of the Alnwick Guardian give us an insight into events held around harvest time.
In Northumberland, the harvest festival is marked by a kern dinner.
The Alnwick Guardian has detailed descriptions of kern dinners held at Alnwick Castle 
for the Duke of Northumberland's staff. 
Workers and their families enjoyed  roasted meats, plum puddings, and of course, ale. 

Newspapers are a window into past times

They give a real flavour of what life was like, what was important, what mattered to people and what they wanted to hear about.  You can get a “feel” for the times and what was happening locally and nationally, day to day.  Can you imagine what people would have been discussing at the dinner table, or the events they would have been looking forward to at the weekend?  What would they have been tempted to buy as a result of the adverts in the papers?  Letters and editorials give you a really good idea of the views people held at the time of publication, and also of attitudes.  

So what can you search for with The British Newspaper Archive?

The Archive has an amazing search facility, to help you find what you're looking for.   You can search by newspaper, region, country, county, the type of resource you're looking for, and the date you're looking for, so it's a mine of information on things such as:

• News articles –events and issues of local, regional, national and international importance
• Family notices – birth, marriage and death notices, announcements about engagements, anniversaries, birthdays and congratulations
• Letters written to the editor by readers – what were they writing about? What did they care about? What did they want to share?
• Obituaries on the lives of notable people
• Advertisements – what were people wanting to buy, what did business want to sell?
• Illustrations – photos, engravings, graphics, maps, cartoons
  
  

Subscribe to the British Newspaper Archive here.

What else does the Archive have?

• Headlines from History looks at how papers reported happenings of the time, such as Pets in Parliament, the Jitterbug dance which divided Britain in the 1940s.  In August 2024, there was an article to "uncover the shocking history of the Brits Abroad stereotype".  
• New titles added – this is a round up of new papers added during the week
• Tips for using the Archive so that you can really make the most of it such as how to research local history
• Genealogy and family history – which papers are best to do your research with?
• Plus over 73 million newspapers to read!

The Archive is a partnership between the British Library and Findmypast.  The British Library’s collection is huge – it’s got newspapers from 1603 to the present day, as well as 300,000 reels of microfilm!

There are monthly, 3 month and 12 months subscriptions available as gifts, starting from £8.34 a month for 12 months.  You can do a month for £14.99 and three months for £11.17 a month. 

Can I see any of it without subscribing?

There’s about 4  million pages free to view as part of the collection, brought to you as a result of the partnership with the British Library.   The Archive and the British Library are committed to making historic resources available to increasing numbers of people, which is why so many are free to view.  You can see which papers they are here - not only is there a list of them, but also the years which are available to you.

Immerse yourself in history by delving into historic newspapers.   

Give a subscription to the British Newspaper Archive here