Indiana Newspapers on Microfilm

Indiana Newspaper Project

In 1980, we created an outreach service called the Indiana Newspaper Project to help preserve our oldest newspapers from repositories all over the state. During the years 1988 to 1991 and 1993 to 1996, we participated in the United States Newspaper Program funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 2006, we drew these activities to a close due to advances in digital technology in the newspaper field.

We have in our collection more than 1,200 titles comprising of over 9 million pages of Indiana newspapers. More than 19,000 reels of film are available for purchase by the public and libraries for research purposes.

Ordering Microfilm

Browse or search the Microfilm Catalog and use the results to complete the order form. After your order has been submitted, you’ll be directed to complete payment. Please note we have been informed by our vendor that vesicular microfilm, which we used to make microfilm positive copies, is no longer being manufactured due to low demand. The option we have chosen to use is diazo microfilm; this film has a blue-black background with white text. This film is not intended to be archival, so wear may be more noticeable.

Indiana Newspapers Available Online

In 2011, IHS entered into a contract with Newspaper Archive to digitize more than 2.5 million images from the Indiana Newspaper Project and make them available on a website co-hosted and supported by Newspaper Archive. All pre-1924 newspaper on microfilm is now digitized and available for online research at our William H. Smith Memorial Library at no cost. For remote researchers, subscription to Newspaper Archive is available at www.newspaperarchive.com.

Additional Indiana newspapers have been digitized by Chronicling America, a project of the Library of Congress, and the Hoosier State Chronicles, a project of the Indiana State Library. Access to these databases is provided free of charge through the provided links.