Arkansas Online Historical Newspapers Summary

The Ancestor Hunt regularly adds and updates new collection links, as well as searches for and fixes broken links.
(This page's most recent update is October 2024)
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​Arkansas is one of the states that does not have a single central online state repository for searching historical newspapers. Several states use the Library of Congress Chronicling America site as their main central online site for searching old newspapers and currently, Arkansas has been adding quite a few newspapers on that site. There are several free online newspapers available on other sites and there are collections available on subscription sites. Below is a list of where the titles are stored and the link so that you can access them.

There are almost 2,000 newspapers that have been published in the Natural State – certainly not all of them are searchable online. But there are several that are indeed available. So go for it – find your Arkansas ancestors and all the interesting articles that capture the stories of their lives. 

Please note that I have not always entered the dates that are included in the collections, as I suspect they will change as more items are digitized. Also, I suspect that some of these links may change over time – so if there is a dead link – please use your favorite search engine to find their new location. 

(Recently added links are in BOLD)

Arkansas Historical Newspapers

Free Sites:

Statewide Collections:

Chronicling America – Arkansas

The Links for Chronicling America go to the new Version 2.0

Google News Archive

Index Arkansas

  • Arkansas Gazette
  • Arkansas Democrat
  • Arkansas Traveler
  • Northwest Arkansas Times
  • Grapevine

Online Arkansas Newspapers – some have archives, some do not

County and Library Collections:

Sebastian County
Fort Smith Public Library

  • Arkansas Developer
  • Belle Grove School Journal
  • Daily News Record
  • Daily Southwest American
  • Entertainment Fort Smith
  • Evening Call
  • Fort Smith Bulletin
  • Fort Smith Daily Herald
  • Fort Smith Daily Time and Herald
  • Fort Smith Elevator
  • Fort Smith Enterprise
  • Fort Smith Herald
  • Fort Smith Herald and New Elevator
  • Fort Smith New Era
  • Fort Smith News Record
  • Fort Smith Southwest American
  • Fort Smith Standard
  • Fort Smith Times Record
  • Fort Smith Tri Weekly Bulletin
  • Fort Smith Tri Weekly Herald
  • Fort Smith Weekly Herald
  • Fort Smith Weekly New Era
  • Fortnightly Club Papers
  • News Record
  • Ouachita Conference Journal
  • South West Independent
  • Southwest American
  • Southwest Times Record
  • Sun
  • The Lincoln Echo
  • Thirty Fifth Parallel
  • Times Record
  • Tri Weekly Fort Smith Herald
  • War Times
  • Weekly New Era
  • Western Independent
  • Wheelers Daily Independent
  • Wheelers Independent
  • Wheelers Western Independent

Quapaw Quarter Association

  • The Quapaw Quarter Chronicle
  • Quapaw Quarter Association

Student Collections:

Arkansas State University – Jonesboro

Arkansas Tech University – Russellville

Bentonville High School – Bentonville

Black River Technical College – Pocahontas

Central Baptist College – Conway

Commonwealth College – Mena

Harding University – Searcy

Henderson State University – Arkadelphia

John Brown University – Siloam

Little Rock Central High School – Little Rock

Lyon College – Batesville

Northwest Arkansas Community College – Bentonville

Ouachita Baptist University – Arkadelphia

Philander Smith College – Little Rock

    University of Arkansas – Fayetteville

    University of Arkansas – Little Rock

    University of Central Arkansas – Conway

    University of the Ozarks – Clarksville

    Williams Baptist University – Walnut Ridge

    Miscellaneous Collections and Indexes:

    Independent Voices – Alternative Newspapers

    American Prison Newspapers, 1800-2020

    Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Newspapers 1933-1942​

    Southern School News Archive 

    Small Town Papers

    Old Fulton Postcards

    For Obituary Indexes, transcriptions, and other death/obituary information from historical newspapers, please check out the Obituaries page.​​

    Other Free Sites:

    Camp Pike

    Denson

    Dyess

    Fayetteville

    Fort Chaffee

    Little Rock

    McGehee

    Rohwer

    Stuttgart

    Subscription or Pay Sites:

    Ancestry.com:

    There are currently 26 publications available on this site. See all the titles at Ancestry – Arkansas Newspapers

    Genealogy Bank:

    There are currently 267 publications available on this site. See all the titles at Genealogy Bank – Arkansas

    Newspaper Archive:

    There are currently 57 publications available on this site. See all the titles at Newspaper Archives – Arkansas

    Newspapers.com:

    There are currently 234 publications available on this site. See all the titles at Newspapers.com – Arkansas 

    And Finally:

    You also need to visit the Arkansas Digital Newspaper Program, which can tell you what is occurring in the state with regard to newspaper projects. They also have nice searchable databases for microfilm-based collections throughout the state.

    Please note – even more may be available via a local library where a library card is required. And of course, there is always microfilm for those that have not been made available online as yet.

    For more links for different states, provinces, and countries – please see the Newspaper Links page on this website.

    For all Free Arkansas Collection Links in 24 Genealogy Categories, go to the By Location Page, click on Arkansas, and then click on the category of interest.

    Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

    8 replies on “Arkansas Online Historical Newspapers Summary”

    E O Elley Short in Sebastian Co., Ark with wife Minnine & daughters in 1910 Census. I was told he was a telegraph operator for a mine and died July 1914 probably mine union fights associated. I haven’t found his obituary. E O was born 1882. There is a Henry Short on the mine memorial. [ E O’s dad was William Henry Short b 1869 in 7 Itawamba, MS. & went to Van Zandt Co, TX … E O was oldest.]
    Ark vital records didn’t find him listed. Thanks for any help. Joy B

    Under Arkansas Online Historical Newspapers Summary and the section “Online Arkansas Newspapers – some have archives, some do not”, the link for the Gurdon Times (Gurdon) is incorrect.

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