Skip to Main Content

In-person research at Wisconsin Historical Society : Finding Newspapers

Newspaper Databases

The databases below are only accessible when at the Wisconsin Historical Society or other UW-Madison Libraries. Be sure to save PDFs of anything you find to a Google drive, flashdrive, or other place you can access after you leave the library

Newspapers in Print and on Microfilm

Many newspapers are not digitized and can only be found in the Wisconsin Historical Society's physical collections. 

Microfilm Newspaper Collection

The Society owns over 150,000 reels of microfilm, including a rich and diverse collection of Wisconsin newspapers, colonial and early American newspapers west of the Appalachians, and the largest collection of labor and trade union papers in the nation. 

Print Newspaper Collection

The society has a continually growing collection of over 230 weekly newspapers. All titles are in the catalog, but the newest issues in a series may not appear on the catalog record. 


> Search for microfilm and print newspapers in the library catalog.

or

> Consult these online bibliographies to discover what is available in the collections:
 

About Newspapers

Newspapers are often excellent primary sources for your National History Day project. This page suggests ways to access newspapers that are only available when you are at the Wisconsin Historical Society. For newspaper databases you can access from anywhere see this resource list:

National History Day Research Portal: Newspapers