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)

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)

Clarksburg:

• The Clarksburg Telegram (Jan. 20, 1893 - Dec. 26, 1912)
• 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 Crescent (October 24, 1857 - Oct. 20, 1860)

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 (Oct. 8, 1863 issue)

Grantsville:

• The Calhoun Chronicle (Jan. 15, 1884 – Nov. 3, 1896 issues)

Huntington:

• The Socialist and Labor Star (May 31, 1912 – Jan. 1, 1915 issues)

Keystone:

• The McDowell Times (May 9, 1913 - Nov. 1, 1918 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. 9, 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. 14, 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 at present, more will be added)
• 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)
• Wheeling Times and Advertiser (Jan. 2, 1840 - Dec. 28, 1848)

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