Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

The primary purpose of NewspaperArchive.com is to provide our valuable customers with access to billions of historical articles from the United States and countries around the world. Our goal is to make our users’ genealogy research as easy and convenient as possible by offering the largest collection available online, user-friendly search options, PDF article viewing and downloading capabilities, and even the opportunity to order prints!

Please visit our Learning Center to get started with your genealogy search today.

Our Members receive the benefit of access to the largest newspaper collection available online. NewspaperArchive.com proudly offers over 6,200 newspaper titles and more than 2 billion historical records from 1607 to present, with millions more added every month. Members are also granted the convenience of downloading, saving and printing their exciting finds with Adobe Acrobat Reader!

Additionally, a paid account allows visitors to customize their user preferences, save searches, newspapers and pages – ultimately saving valuable time.

Non-members have free access to newspaper articles from the daily perspective, with the ability to see how full images are displayed.

In order to see all of the archive’s historical pages, a paid Membership is required. This will also provide users with powerful search, browse and research tools. Hesitant about joining Newspaper Archive? We happily offer potential customers the opportunity to “Browse Available Papers” to see which publications are offered before committing to a subscription!

The most basic search can be performed using the engine at the top of the website. Type in the appropriate keywords and you will be offered all matches available in return. If the results are too many, take further control of your search by using the advanced option. Advanced capabilities include keywords, specific dates or date ranges, and location. Visit our Learning Center for more information.

Can’t find what you are looking for? Newspaper Archive is updated regularly and may be able to help you at a later date.

Newspaper Archive’s Advanced Search option permits users to narrow their results by specific publication date and/or location. To search within a range of years, select Between Years and specify beginning and ending years. To limit your selection to a specific date, choose Exact Date and specify a month, day and year.

Continue narrowing your results by choosing a location of publication, or, by providing Search Terms. Select the country, state and/or city of publication to narrow by location. On the city level, you will have the option to search within the selected city, or, by a specific newspaper title. When you have reached your choice of newspapers, type in your search terms in the field provided and click search.

For more help searching, visit our Learning Center for Search Tutorials.

NewspaperArchive.com’s digital collection is vast, so you may find yourself needing to narrow the search results! Users may access the Advanced Search option at the top of the website. By setting specific parameters for date and place of publication, you can narrow your results to smaller portions of our collections. For more information, see "How do I use the Advanced Search Option" or visit our Learning Center.

Make your searches more effective by utilizing the Advanced Search option and using at least two or three terms. Additional keywords will help you attain documents that are closely related to your preferred results.

The more specific you are, the better. Choose words that are unique and appropriate to your topic. For example, use historically accurate terms when searching subjects of the past (ex. the Industrial Revolution was not dubbed as such by historians until years later).

Avoid using words such as and, the, and to. They are generally discarded during a search.

For more tips on searching, visit our Learning Center.

Boolean searching allows users to combine words and phrases to limit, define or widen search results. Three common Boolean operators are AND, OR and NOT.

Using AND between two words will provide documents containing both words. For example, searching for pear AND apple will only offer results containing both words on the same page.

Using OR between two words will provide documents containing at least one of the words. For example, searching for pear OR apple will offer results containing one or both of the words on a page.

Using NOT between two words will provide documents containing the first word but NOT the second word. For example, searching for pear NOT apple will offer results containing the first word. If the page contains both, it will not be displayed as an option.

For more help searching, visit our Learning Center.

No, searches are not case sensitive.

Yes. Adobe Acrobat Reader must be installed in order to view newspaper pages. If the necessary plug-in is not already programmed, NewspaperArchive.com should automatically prompt you to download and install it when you attempt to view a page. If it does not automatically download, click here. Contact Customer Service if software problems persist.

Archive pages are large. Full-page scans must be compressed and formatted into PDFs in order for a quick download and easy viewing in your browser. The plug-in allows us to offer you faster access and more features.

If you are experiencing issues with your newspaper article, please contact us by clicking “Report a Problem” while viewing the page in question. This can be found above the article. Our technical staff will review the reported issue and correct it if necessary.

Use the Adobe Reader magnifying glass tool to zoom in or out of the newspaper page.

If you are interested in downloading a newspaper page to your computer, click “SAVE” in Adobe Reader. Select your preferred location in the dialog box, check to make sure that the file type is set to “Adobe PDF Files (*.pdf), and save.

Newspaper pages provided by NewspaperArchive.com may only be used for personal or professional research. Please read the Copyright Information.

In order to have the best possible experience using our website, the following computer requirements must be met:

BROWSER

• Internet Explorer version 5.0 or later
• Netscape version 6.2 or later
• America Online version 5.0 or later

PDF VIEWER

• Adobe Acrobat Reader version 5.1 or later

Download Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Due to varied file sizes, some newspaper pages may take longer to load than others. To load pages faster, try clearing your browser’s cache.

For Internet Explorer, select Tools > Internet Options from the top menu. Click the General tab, followed by the Delete Files option. Select box titled Delete all offline content and then click OK.

For Netscape Navigator 6.x-7.x, select Edit from the top menu. Click Preferences, followed by Advanced. Select Cache, Clear Cache, and then OK.

If you are using Internet Explorer and are unable to log in to your account, go to Tools in the top menu. Select Internet Options, followed by the Privacy tab. Click the Advanced button, and then select the Override Automatic Cookie box. Accept 3rd and 1st Party Cookies. Then click OK to close both windows.

Deleting your cookies may also help. Select Tools from the top menu, Internet Options, and Delete Cookies.

In order to have the best possible experience using our website, the following Mac computer requirements must be met:

BROWSER

• Safari version 1.2 or later
• Firefox version 1.5.0.3 or later
• Netscape version 7.1 or later
• America Online version 5.0 or later

PDF VIEWER

• Adobe Acrobat Reader version 5.1 or later

Download Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you are using the Adobe Reader 7.0 plug-in, you must use Safari to view PDFs in the web browser.

Make sure that your internet browser is supported and that you have Adobe Reader version 5.1 or later installed. In order to view newspapers, download the appropriate Adobe plug-in for the Mac OS here. If you are using Internet Explorer on OSX and Adobe 7.0, the plug-in is NOT supported for in-browser PDF viewing. Please use Safari, which can be downloaded here. If the problem persists, try our other PDF plug-in option.

If you are still experiencing problems, please contact us at customerservice@newspaperarchive.com. Please specify your internet browser and version, your operating system, and the version of Adobe. Include any error messages or events occurring when you try to view newspaper articles.

Log in to your account and select My Account, located in the My Tools menu on the left-hand side of your screen. Click the Edit Account Info button located under your account information, and make the necessary changes.

Log in to your account and select My Account, located in the My Tools menu on the left-hand side of your screen. Click the Edit Credit Card Info button located under your account information, and make the necessary changes.

Log in to your account and select My Account, located in the My Tools menu on the left-hand side of your screen. Click the Upgrade Membership button located under your account information to upgrade or change your membership.

You can cancel your account online by going to Billing in the My Account section. You can also email us at customerservice@newspaperarchive.com

If you would like to reactivate a cancelled membership, you still have login capabilities. Open your account and click the My Account button at the top of the page. Next, select Reactivate Membership, located below your billing history. If you experience any issues, please contact Customer Service by emailing customerservice@newspaperarchive.com

Log in to your account and click the My Account button at the top of any page. Your billing activity/history is located under your account information.

For marketing purposes, NewspaperArchive.com may share information (such as your name, address and email address) with companies with which is has a commerce relationship and through which you reached this site. In such circumstances, you will be considered their customer as well. Customers who object to such use may opt-out by email request. Your password or other personal information will not by shared with any other party under any circumstances.

Log in to your account and click the My Account button at the top of any page. Check or uncheck your email list preferences at the bottom of the page.

NewspaperARCHIVE.com can only accept debit cards with a VISA, MasterCard or American Express logo.

Items must be canceled prior to shipment. Please contact the Customer Service Department by emailing
customerservice@newspaperarchive.com

To check the status of your order, please contact the Customer Service Department by emailing
customerservice@newspaperarchive.com

NewspaperArchive.com offers two mailing options:

• Tube Mailer: prints per tube. The tube mailer protects prints better than a flat mailer, but will curl the paper.
• Flat Mailer: 20 prints per mailer. The flat mailer will keep prints flat but holds a higher risk of damage during shipping.