Colorado 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 April 2025)

Colorado is one of the states with a single central online state repository for searching historical newspapers, which is quite good. Several states use the Library of Congress Chronicling America site as their main central online site for searching old newspapers. Currently, Colorado has a few newspapers available 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 over 2,600 newspapers that have been published in the Centennial State – certainly not all of them are searchable online. But there are several that are indeed available. So go for it – find your Colorado 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)

Colorado Historical Newspapers

Free Sites:

Statewide Collections:

​Chronicling America – Colorado

The Links for Chronicling America go to the new Version 2.0

Google News Archive

Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection

County and Library Collections:

San Juan County Historical Society

  • Animas Forks Pioneer (1882-1886)
  • Daily Standard (1894-1894)
  • Democrat Herald (1885-1885)
  • La Plata Miner (1879-1886)
  • Red Mountain Pilot (1883-1883)
  • Red Mountain Review (1883-1883)
  • San Juan Courier (2015-2015)
  • San Juan Democrat (1888-1888)
  • San Juan Herald (1881-1885)
  • San Juan Mountain Register (1997-1998)
  • San Juan (1886-1901)
  • Silverton Democrat Herald (1885-1885)
  • Silverton Democrat (1883-1888)
  • Silverton Miner (1919-1920)
  • Silverton Standard (1889-1916)
  • Silverton Weekly Miner And Red Mountain Journal (1894-1896)
  • Silverton Weekly Miner And San Juan Democrat (1890-1916)
  • Silverton Weekly Miner (1890-1919)
  • The San Juan Mountain Register (1997-1998)
  • The Silverton Standard and the Miner (1933-2015)
  • The Silverton Standard (1914-1934)

Yuma Public Library

  • The Yuma Pioneer (1898-2013)

Student Collections:

Adams State University – Alamosa

Air Force Academy – Colorado Springs

Cathedral High School – Denver

Colorado Christian University – Lakewood

Colorado College – Colorado Springs

Colorado Mesa University – Grand Junction

Colorado School of Mines – Golden

Colorado State University – Fort Collins

Colorado State University – Pueblo

Fort Lewis College – Durango

Front Range Community College – Westminster

Metro State University – Denver

Mt. Carmel High School – Denver

Nazarene Bible College – Colorado Springs

Regis University – Denver

Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design – Denver

St. Joseph High School – Denver

University of Colorado – Boulder

University of Colorado – Colorado Springs

University of Colorado – Denver

University of Denver – Denver

University of Northern Colorado – Greeley

Miscellaneous Collections and Indexes:

Estes Park Newspapers

  • 1887 Loveland Reporter 
  • 1908 Mountaineer
  • 1912-1914 Estes Park Trail
  • 1915 Estes Park Alikasai
  • 1920 Trail Talk
  • 1921-1925  Estes Park Trail

Independent Voices – Alternative Newspapers

  • Big Mama Rag
  • Blue Screw
  • Bombay Gin
  • Freedom For Lt. Howe Newsletter
  • Getting Together
  • La Voz Hispana de Colorado
  • La Voz Nueva
  • NARF Legal Review

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Newspapers 1933-1942​

Small Town Papers

Old Fulton Postcards

Pikes Peak NewsFinder

Please check out the Obituaries page for Obituary Indexes, transcriptions, and other death/obituary information from historical newspapers.

Other Free Sites:

Colorado Springs

Denver

Granada

Pueblo

    Subscription or Pay Sites:

    Ancestry.com:

    There are currently 28 publications available on this site. See all the titles at Ancestry – Colorado Newspapers

    Genealogy Bank:

    There are currently 309 publications available on this site. See all the titles at Genealogy Bank – Colorado Newspapers
    ​
    Newspaper Archive:

    There are currently 55 publications available on this site. See all the titles at Newspaper Archive – Colorado

    Newspapers.com:

    There are currently 56 publications available on this site. See all the titles at Newspapers.com – Colorado. 

    And Finally:

    You also need to visit the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection site from time to time, which can tell you what is occurring in the state with regard to online newspaper availability. 

    Please note – even more may be available via a local or state 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 Colorado Collection Links in 24 Genealogy Categories, go to the By Location Page, click on Colorado, and then click on the category of interest.

    Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

    2 replies on “Colorado Online Historical Newspapers Summary”

    It’s an amazingly difficult process to find 19th century Colorado newspaper archives online. There seem to be scattered copies of a few papers but I’m still having trouble just finding out which Colorado papers were being published in my target year (1893) and which papers were the most prominent in the state.
    I’m kind of surprised Colorado doesn’t have a better archive than this. New York’s archive is magnificent in comparison and even Chicago’s is better. Colorado needs to get its act together.

    Hi Mara-
    I just stumbled upon your comment on theAncestorHunt.com site regarding your difficulty finding titles in Colorado newspapers for 1893. I am sorry that you have been having this difficulty. In late 2015 the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection (CHNC) migrated our collection to a new platform and have since added more than 1 million additional pages of historic Colorado content. There is greater searching capability on this new platform, and many more ways to interact with the great historic news available. I did a quick search for your target year and have found many newspaper titles that published in 1893. Here is a quick list of what I found.
    Colorado Daily Chieftain
    Herald Democrat
    Aspen Daily Chronicle
    Aspen Daily Times
    Leadville Daily/Evening Chronicle
    Avalanche, The
    Boulder Daily Camera
    Aspen Weekly Times
    Avalanche – Echo
    Greeley Tribune
    Bessemer Indicator
    Fort Morgan Times
    Colorado Transcript
    Pagosa Springs News
    Silver Cliff Rustler
    Fort Collins Courier
    Salida Mail
    Fairplay Flume
    Silver Standard
    Silverton Standard
    Mancos Times
    Rocky Mountain Sun
    Idaho Springs News
    Loveland Leader
    Castle Rock Journal
    Colorado Democrat
    Lamar Register
    Buena Vista Herald
    New Castle News
    Meeker Herald
    Saguache Crescent
    Queen Bee
    Walsenburg World
    Colorado Miner (Weekly)
    Candle (Creede)
    Pantagraph
    Svensk-Amerikanska Western
    Silver and Gold – University of Co…
    Rocky Ford Enterprise
    Marble City Times
    Fulford Signal
    Delta Independent
    Colorado Collegian – Colorado Coll…
    Rocky Mountain Collegian – CSU For…
    Hesperus – University of Denver
    Summit County Journal
    Littleton Independent
    Aspen Daily Leader
    I hope that you have had the opportunity to use our new(ish) site and that you are having more success with your searches and research. If you need help finding things – or want to know more information about the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection and how we grow our service – we would love to hear from you. https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/forum/forums/

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