Digitizing and sharing historical local newspapers is a top priority for communities of all sizes around Wisconsin. Local newspapers are an important source of community history, provide information for researchers, and are a key resource for people working on genealogy and family history. The Historical and Local Digital Collections Committee connects WPLC member libraries to resources and support to plan for and complete the important work of digitizing and sharing their historical newspapers.
Get Situated
All Things Newspapers Resources Document - start here to learn about options for digitizing historical newspapers, and for ways to access existing collections of digitized Wisconsin newspapers.
Wisconsin Historical Society List of Wisconsin Newspapers - the WHS maintains a list of historical Wisconsin newspapers and where to find them, whether in the Society's collection or elsewhere.
Wisconsin Historical Society Microfilm Digitization Lab - WPLC recommends using WHS' Microfilm Digitization Lab for newspaper digitization projects.
About the Archive of Wisconsin Newspapers & the WPLC Historical Wisconsin Newspapers Project
Archive of Wisconsin Newspapers - provides digital access to some of Wisconsin's historical newspapers. See the list of historical newspapers currently in the archive. All of the historical newspaper content contributed to the Archive by Wisconsin libraries between 2015 and 2020 is fully searchable through BadgerLink -- almost 600,000 pages from 40 different titles in 26 Wisconsin communities. Anyone with a Wisconsin library card can explore these historical newspapers by title, city, county or date, as well as more than 250 daily and weekly Wisconsin newspapers from 2005 to 90 days ago. The coordinated effort to digitize and add new content to the Archive of Wisconsin Newspapers remains on hold.
Progress Update (last updated: February 2023)
QUESTIONS?
Please email wplc-info@wils.org with any questions about the resources listed on this page.