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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!
Bluefield:
- Bluefield Evening Leader (April 8, 1906 - Dec. 31, 1910 issues)
Bramwell:
- Flat Top Monitor (Feb. 5, 1891 - April 9, 1891 issues)
Charleston:
- The Advocate (Feb. 7, 1907 - Nov. 14, 1912 issues)
- The Charleston Advocate (July 1, 1894 – Jan. 1, 1895 issues)
- The Guerilla (Sept. 9, 1862 – Oct. 3, 1862 issues)
- Kanawha Valley Star (March 2, 1858 and March 19, 1861 issues)
- The Labor Argus (May 24, 1906 - Dec. 28, 1911 issues)
- The Temperance Star (Nov. 30, 1874 issue)
- The West Virginia Journal (Oct. 26, 1864 – June 2, 1869 issues)
Charles Town:
- Spirit of Jefferson (Sept. 27, 1844 - Dec. 25, 1900 issues)
-
Virginia Free Press & Farmers' Repository (Jan. 6, 1830 - July 12, 1832 issues)
- Virginia Free Press (July 19, 1832 - Sept. 9, 1896 issues)
- West Virginia Democrat (Jan. 7, 1887 - Dec. 21, 1888 issues)
Clarksburg:
- The Clarksburg Telegram (Jan. 20, 1893 - Dec. 26, 1912 issues)
- Cooper’s Clarksburg Register (Nov. 12, 1851 - Nov. 19, 1858 issues)
- The Daily Telegram (Dec. 11, 1902 - Dec. 30, 1916 issues)
- The Sunday Telegram (Nov. 29, 1914 - Dec. 31, 1916 issues)
Ceredo
- Ceredo Advance (Oct. 15, 1885 - Nov. 17, 1915 issues)
- Ceredo Crescent (October 24, 1857 - Oct. 20, 1860 issues)
Fairmont:
- The Fairmont West Virginian (April 19, 1904 - Dec. 30, 1922 issues)
- The West Virginian (Dec. 09, 1914 - Dec. 30, 1922 issues)
Gauley Bridge:
- The Knapsack (Sept. 3, 1863 - Nov. 5, 1863 issues)
Grantsville:
- The Calhoun Chronicle (Jan. 15, 1884 – Dec. 27, 1923 issues)
Huntington:
- Huntington Advertiser (Jan. 15, 1874 - Feb. 24, 1876 issues)
- The Huntington Argus (May 24, 1872 - March 12, 1885 issues)
- Huntington Independent (April 24, 1873 - Jan, 8, 1874 issues)
- The Socialist and Labor Star (May 31, 1912 – Jan. 1, 1915 issues)
Keystone:
- The McDowell Times (May 9, 1913 - Nov. 28, 1941 issues)
Kingwood:
- West Virginia Argus (Sept. 8, 1877 - Dec. 28, 1916 issues)
Lewisburg:
- The Greenbrier Era (Jan. 14, 1854 – Aug. 19, 1854 issues)
- Greenbrier Independent (May 22, 1860 – Dec. 29, 1922 issues)
- Greenbrier Weekly Era (Sept. 16, 1854 – May 25, 1861 issues)
Martinsburg:
- American Union (Civil War paper printed by Union troops, July 4-11, 1861)
- Pioneer Press (Jan. 7, 1911 – Sept. 22, 1917 issues)
Morgantown:
- Monongalia Mirror (Jan. 03, 1852 - June 23, 1855 issues)
- The Morgantown Monitor (Feb. 14, 1863 – Feb. 13, 1864 issues)
- American Union (continuation of the Monongalia Mirror, June 30, 1855 – March 25, 1859 issue)
Philippi:
- The Old Flag (April 7, 1869 – Dec. 2, 1869 issues)
Point Pleasant:
- The Point Pleasant Register (April 7, 1909 - Dec. 28, 1910 issues)
- The Weekly Register (March 6, 1862 - Jan. 27, 1909 issues)
Pruntytown:
- The Family Visitor (Jan. 20, 1860 - Nov. 2, 1860 issues
Romney:
- South Branch Intelligencer (June 24, 1837 – Dec. 24, 1896 issues)
Shepherdstown:
- Shepherdstown Register (Dec. 4, 1849 – Dec. 21, 1922 issues)
Sistersville:
- Sistersville Daily Oil Review (Aug. 6, 1902 – April 29, 1905 issues)
- Sistersville Daily Review (May 1, 1905 – June 30, 1905 issues)
- Sistersville Oil Review (Jan. 12, 1898 – Dec. 28, 1898 issues)
- West Virginia Daily Oil Review (July 15, 1898 – Aug. 5, 1902 issues)
Thomas:
- La Sentinella del West Virginia (Feb. 18, 1911 - May 11, 1912 issues)
Volcano:
- The Volcano Lubricator (Oct. 26, 1871 - March 19, 1874 issues)
- West Virginia Walking Beam (Aug. 13, 1879 - Dec. 4, 1880 issues)
Weston:
- The Democrat (Dec. 1, 1868 - Dec. 28, 1874 issues)
- The Weston Democrat (Jan. 4, 1875 - Dec. 25, 1880 issues)
Wheeling:
- Wheeling Daily Intelligencer (August 24, 1852 - November 11, 1859 issues)
- Daily Intelligencer (November 12, 1859 - June 24, 1865 issues)
- The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer (June 26, 1865 - December 31, 1900 issues)
- The Daily Register (September 08, 1863 - December 16, 1864 issues)
- The Wheeling Daily Register (December 17, 1864 - June 29, 1878 issues)
- The Wheeling Intelligencer (April 1, 1911 – Dec. 30, 1922 issues)
- Wheeling Register (Nov. 7, 1878 – Aug. 31, 1897 issues)
- Wheeling Sunday Register (Aug. 13, 1882 - Aug. 29, 1897 issues)
- Wheeling Times and Advertiser (Jan. 2, 1840 - Dec. 28, 1848 issues)
- Virginia Statesman (Jan. 2, 1828 - June 24, 1829 issues)
- Wheeling Compiler (July 1, 1829 - Dec. 29, 1830 issues)
- The Wheeling Repository (March 5, 1807 - May 5, 1808 issues)
Available to the public through Google News:
Berkeley Springs:
- The Morgan Messenger , 1980-2009, sporadic
Charles Town:
- Farmers Advocate , 1938 - 1948
- Spirit of Jefferson Farmer's Advocate , 1949 - 1953
- The Spirit of Thanksgiving , 2005 - 2008, sporadic
Elizabeth:
- Wirt County Journal , 2006 - 2009, sporadic
Glenville:
- Glenville Democrat , 1978 - 2009, sporadic
Hinton:
- Hinton News , 1945 - 2009, sporadic
Lewisburg:
- Mountain Messenger , 2005 - 2009, sporadic
Petersburg:
- Grant County Press , 1944 - 2009, sporadic
Pennsboro:
- The Pennsboro News , 1979 - 2009, sporadic
Spencer:
- Roane County Reporter , 1930 - 2008, sporadic
- Times Record , 1940 - 2008, sporadic
St. Marys:
- St. Marys Oracle , 1952 - 2009, sporadic
Sutton:
- Braxton Citizens' News , 2005 - 2009, sporadic
Wellsburg:
- The Brooke County Review , 1994 - 2009, sporadic
Westwood:
- The Preston County Journal , 2005 - 2009, sporadic
Williamson:
- Williamson Daily News , 1948 - 2000, sporadic
Additional Websites of WV Newspapers:
A selection of Mineral County and other newspapers have been digitized and are available through West Virginia Newspapers, thanks to the hard work of our colleagues at Potomac State College & Mary F. Shipper Library.
Cyndi's List's webpage of West Virginia newspapers lists various sites (free and subscription-based) which host WV newspaper content.
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