Historic Newspapers at Leddy Library

Digitized Historic Newspapers

Leddy Library subscribes to a number of databases that provide access to either the abstracts or full articles from newspapers published historically. Most of these titles are indexed in Omni, meaning that you can search Omni for the newspaper titles or the articles to discover the news. These resources provide access to the text content of the newspapers and may lack supporting imagery or other materials that would be found on the newspaper’s website. The following resources are divided geographically to aid in searching.

Indigenous

• Ammsa.com – Produced by the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society of Alberta, an Indigenous communications society, this is an archive of the following Indigenous news publications:
  • WindSpeaker
  • Alberta Sweetgrass
  • Raven’s Eye
  • Ontario Birchbark
  • Saskatchewan Sage
  • Buffalo Spirit

• Anishinabek News Archive – a tabloid-format newspaper designed to foster pride and share knowledge about Anishinabek Nation current affairs, culture, political objectives and accomplishments.
• The Metis Voyageur – updates and information on Metis history, culture, language and territory topics.
• The Turtle Island News – Canada’s only national native weekly newspaper, published every week at the Grand River Territory of the Six nations in southern Ontario.

Windsor-Essex

Between 1831 and 2022, Essex county residents had access to more than 110 newspapers ranging from large, long-term publications like the Windsor Star, to small, short-run publications like the Comber Gazette. For a comprehensive guide detailing local historical newspapers and their availability in print or digital format, please see The Windsor-Essex Local Historical Newspaper Finding Aid. 

• Southwestern Ontario Digital Archive (SWODA) – Part of the Leddy Library, SWODA is a key resource for local historical newspapers and other primary documents from between 1870 and 1970. Founded in 2010, SWODA’s goal is to make a wide array of unique and historically significant materials freely available online for researchers. Materials come from the Leddy Library collection as well as community organizations. Visit the SWODA Newspaper Collection, complemented by the Essex County Newspaper Database and Timeline.
• INK-ODW Newspaper Collection – One of the largest and most comprehensive digital newspaper collection in Canada, INK was a pilot project of OurOntario, this collection includes 52 community newspapers, representing over 100,000 complete issues, and over 1 million full pages of English and French content.
• Assumption College Purple and White – The Purple and White was the Assumption College (later Assumption University) student newspaper for almost 35 years. It began publication on November 15^th, 1924 and continued until February 11^th, 1959. With the February 26^th, 1959 issue, its name was changed to the Lance, the name the student newspaper still bears today. This collection was a SWODA digitization project.
• ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Windsor Star (1893-2010) – This title started as the weekly Windsor Record in 1888, becoming a daily and changing its name to the Border Cities Star in 1918, and then to the Windsor Daily Star in 1935. The current name of the Windsor Star was established in 1959. The collection covers the newspaper from 1893 until 2010.
• ProQuest Recent Newspapers: Windsor Star (2011 – Present) – Access and explore digital scans of print issues of the Windsor Star, starting from 2011. New issues are added after 2 weeks. This resource picks up from the ProQuest Historical Newspapers resource.

Ontario

• Abolitionist Newspapers of the 1850s – Ontario has a rich history of Black publishing. Three significant publications are available through the Abolitionist Newspapers of the 1850s portal: The Voice of the Fugitive; The Provincial Freeman, and The True Royalist and Weekly Intelligencer (pro-abolitionist, white newspaper).
• Our Ontario – A non-profit organization offering services and platforms that enable digital creation and sharing of community stories and history online to a global audience. In partnership with many Ontario cultural and heritage organizations including museums, archives, libraries, historical societies, community groups, government agencies, and private collections, this resource contains photographs, maps, videos, audio recordings, government documents, and other media pertaining to Ontario’s history, business, and scientific heritage. To browse newspaper articles, select newspapers from the home page. To search for newspaper articles, use the advanced search function and select newspapers from the media types box.
• Our Ontario Community Newspapers Collection – Searchable historical Ontario newspapers from 1810 onward. This resource brings together over 200 years of newspaper titles throughout South Western Ontario from as early as 1810. This collection contains over 100,000 complete issues of 52 community newspapers in both French and English. Originally scanned from microfilm, the content in this collection is fully searchable via Optimal Character Recognition (OCR) technology.

In addition to these digital resources, in 1987 J. Brian Gilchrist compiled an Inventory of Ontario Newspapers, 1793-1986. Though out of date, this can still be a valuable resource in tracking down publication dates and titles and was used in the creation of The Windsor-Essex Local Historical Newspaper Finding Aid. The Leddy Library has one copy of this reference text in our collection.

Canada

• CBCA Complete (Canadian Business & Current Affairs) – A comprehensive Canadian periodical collection covering multiple subjects and topics, with millions of full-text records. The Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database features a diversified mix of publications, including scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, reports, radio and television transcripts, news, dissertations, and more. Newspapers can be searched by using the advanced search function and selecting newspapers from the source type options. This collection contains newspapers dating back to 1981.
• CPI.Q (Canadian Periodical Index) – Millions of articles from a list of Canadian and international journals, magazines, and reference content with a Canadian focus. Includes Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe and Mail; Maclean’s weekly magazine; Canadian News Facts; and reference materials, such as the Canadian Parliamentary Guide and Canadian Newsmakers. Canadian Periodicals Index Quarterly contains 11,973,520 articles with regular updates. This index includes newspapers published after 1980.

International

• ProQuest Historical Newspapers – Access the historical back-files of several Canadian and US newspapers including:
  • Chicago Defender (1909-1975)
  • Detroit Free Press (1831-1999)
  • The Globe and Mail (1844-2018)
  • The New York Times (1951-2018)
  • The Wall Street Journal (1889-2004)
  • The Washington post (1877-2005)
  • Windsor Star (1893-2010)
• Culture Crime News – Historical database of media reports about the looting of archaeological sites, the theft of art and antiquities, and all sorts of crimes and legal entanglements related to cultural objects. Sporadically updated, if at all.
• Illustrated London News Historical Archive 1842-2003 – Represents more than 150 years of social, political and cultural history in the form of the world’s first illustrated newspaper! From war and disasters to politics and the arts, it provides a vivid view of the people, places and events, covering politics, social history, fashion, theatre, media, literature, advertising and graphic design, as well as genealogy.
• Regional Business News – Full-text business coverage for all metropolitan and rural areas within the United States. Regional business News is a database that provides access to full-text coverage of more than 80 regional business publications – journals, newspapers, and newswires – covering all metropolitan and rural areas within the United States.
• Sunday Times Digital Archive – Covering 180 years and nearly 600,000 pages the Sunday Times magazine was the first newspaper magazine to hit the stands in February 1962 when it made its first appearance inside The Sunday Times. This magazine is entirely contained within the archive.
• Times Digital Archive – Every page as published from over 200 years of the London newspaper. Coverage runs from 1785-2006 and covers major international historical events from the French Revolution to the Falkland War.
• Waterloo Directory of English Newspapers and Periodicals, 1800 – 1900 – A bibliography of over 50,000 historical publications in 756 subjects. This resource does not provide access to the full text.

Historic Newspapers on Microfilm

In addition to our digital resources, Leddy Library also provides access to historic newspapers in microfilm format. You can use the search function in Omni to look for specific articles or papers which will tell you if we have the title in microfilm. See a Collection of the Library's Microfilm Newspaper Holdings. The microfilm collection is located in the basement of the Leddy Library Main Building, in the Media Centre. Please ask at the circulation desk for help viewing the collection.

Microfilm is an analogue storage method heavily used before the advent of digital technologies, that uses 35mm film to record and compactly store photographed images of documents, periodicals, or drawings. Microfilm comes on small reels and is fed through a microfilm reader machine, which magnifies the documents to a readable size onscreen. Because each image was photographed in succession on a single reel of film, it is necessary to fast forward or rewind between images, looking for specific dates of publication – no keyword searching is possible.  Many newspapers are still available only in microfilmed form, having not yet been digitized for easier searching.