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Newspapers

Overview

The West Virginia and Regional History Center holds the largest collection of historical West Virginia newspapers in existence, dating from 1791 to the present. We have a large collection of microfilmed newspapers, some physical copies of newspapers, and some digitized newspapers that are available online.

A variety of West Virginia newspapers are available through Chronicling America, Google News, and additional websites and services.

Digitized Newspapers in Chronicling America, by location:

WV Newspapers Online

A variety of West Virginia newspapers are available through Chronicling America, Google News, and additional websites and services.

Available to the Public through Chronicling America:

Some of our West Virginia newspaper holdings can be accessed online through the  Chronicling America website hosted by the Library of Congress. A list of newspapers currently available is below, organized by city--more will be coming soon!

Charleston:

Charles Town:

Clarksburg:

Ceredo

Fairmont:

Gauley Bridge:

Grantsville:

Huntington:

Keystone:

Lewisburg:

Martinsburg:

  • American Union  (Civil War paper printed by Union troops, July 4-11, 1861)
  • Pioneer Press  (Jan. 7, 1911 – Sept. 22, 1917 issues) 

Morgantown:

Philippi:

Point Pleasant:

Pruntytown:

Romney:

Shepherdstown:

Sistersville:

Thomas:

Volcano:

Weston:

Wheeling:

Available to the public through  Google News:

Berkeley Springs:

Charles Town:

Elizabeth:

Glenville:

Hinton:

Lewisburg:

Petersburg:

Pennsboro:

Spencer:

St. Marys:

Sutton:

Wellsburg:

Westwood:

Williamson:

Additional Websites of WV Newspapers:

This webpage lists various sites (free and subscription-based) which host WV newspaper content:  http://www.cyndislist.com/us/wv/newspapers/

Available to WVU Community Members:

These databases are available on-campus to anyone in the WVRHC, and are available off-campus to current WVU-Morgantown students, faculty, and staff.

America's News
Full-text U.S. newspapers, including 26 from West Virginia. Includes staff-written articles, obituaries, editorials, announcements, real estate and other sections.

Newspaper Source (Courtesy of WVInfoDepot)
Includes the Morgantown Dominion Post plus cover-to-cover full text for 28 national(US) and international newspapers and selected full text for more than 260 regional newspapers. Provided by the West Virginia Library Commission with funds from the WV State Legislature and the Library Services and Technology Act administered by the Institute of Library and Museum Services.

West Virginia Newspapers at the WVRHC

Need an Obituary or Article?

If you are looking for a specific obituary or article but cannot visit us in person,  contact us! To request an obituary search, tell us the name, exact date, and place of death. To request an article, tell us the title or subject, date, and newspaper you want us to search. Staff can conduct a limited search for a fee of $20, payable whether or not the search is successful.

Searching for Newspapers in the Catalog:

Users can research the Center's newspaper holdings using the  WVU Libraries' online catalog, WorldCat.

To determine newspaper holdings for a particular West Virginia city or town, combine the word 'newspaper' with the name of the town in a keyword search. Example: charleston newspaper. Then in the Formats box on the left side of the screen, check the "Newspaper" box.

Alternatively, start with the  WorldCat Advanced Search. In the Keyword box, type the name of the city and/or newspaper. In the Formats dropdown menu, select "Newspaper".

If you do not find the results you are looking for, help is available in the library at service desks or online at  Ask a Librarian.

Searching for Uncataloged Newspapers:

Most of the WVRHC newspaper collection is on microfilm and can be found by searching our online catalog (see Searching for Newspapers in the Catalog, above).

Some of our newspapers cannot be found in the online catalog—these include our microfilmed miscellaneous newspapers (papers for which we only had a few issues), microfilmed special edition newspapers, and original newspapers. To find and use uncataloged newspapers, please contact the  WVRHC at  1-304-293-3536 .

Recent Issues:

Current issues of West Virginia newspapers are available in the Periodicals Department on the 2nd level of the Downtown Library Complex until they are transferred to the WVRHC. For a list of currently received newspaper titles, please see the  West Virginia Newspapers: Current Subscriptions. The list includes links to websites for West Virginia newspapers.

The Charleston newspapers are the only papers that are indexed on a regular basis. Please see  Charleston Newspapers' News Library for access to this index. Also, the Charleston Newspaper Index from 1973 to 1988 is available in book format. Other indexes available in book format are for Clarksburg newspapers for the years 1810 to 1825, Kanawha Valley newspapers from 1855 to 1865, the Martinsburg Gazette published from 1810 to 1855, and Mannington newspapers from 1890 to 1899.

Borrowing or Buying Newspaper Microfilm:

Because of the high demand for access to the newspaper collection, only duplicate reels of newspaper microfilm are available through Interlibrary Loan. Please see our  Interlibrary Loan page for our  Duplicate Microfilm Inventories.

Digitized Microfilm:

The WVRHC has digitized a select few of its microfilm reels; the digital copies are available to view at the Center.

  • Buckhannon:  Record Delta, January-June 1994
  • Chapmanville:  Guyandotte Voice, January-December 1994
  • Hamlin:  Lincoln Journal, January-December 1994
  • Holden:  Four Wing News, December 10, 1942 – June 23, 1949
  • Madison:  Coal Valley News, January-December 1992
  • Weston:  Weston Democrat, January-December 1994