Montana 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)
______________________________________

Montana has a single central online state repository for searching historical newspapers, and they use the Library of Congress Chronicling America site also as another site for searching old newspapers. There are many free online newspapers on other sites and 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 1,100 newspapers that have been published in the Treasure State – certainly not all of them are searchable online. But there are several that are indeed available. So go for it – find your Montana 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)

Montana Historical Newspapers

Free Sites:

Statewide Collections:

Chronicling America – Montana

The Links for Chronicling America go to the new Version 2.0

Google News Archive

Montana Newspapers

County and Library Collections:

Billings Public Library

  • Billings Gazette 
  • The Billings Gazette 
  • The Billings Daily Gazette

Havre Hill County Library

  • Daily News 
  • Havre Daily News 
  • Havre Hill Daily News 
  • Havre Hill News
  • Hill County Sunday Journal 

Student Collections:

Bozeman High School – Bozeman

Carroll College – Helena

Lincoln High School – Eureka

Montana State University – Billings

Montana State University – Bozeman

Montana State University – Great Falls College

Montana Tech – Butte

Rocky Mountain College – Billings

University of Montana – Missoula

University of Montana Western – Dillon

Miscellaneous Collections and Indexes:

Independent Voices – Alternative Press

  • Borrowed Times

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Newspapers 1933-1942​

Bozeman and Great Falls Newspaper Index (Index only)

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:

Butte

Subscription or Pay Sites:

Ancestry.com:

There are currently 37 publications available on this site. See all the titles at Ancestry – Montana Newspapers

Genealogy Bank:

There are currently 150 publications available on this site. See all the titles at Genealogy Bank – Montana Newspapers

Newspaper Archive:

There are currently 182 publications available on this site. See all the titles at Newspaper Archive – Montana

Newspapers.com:
​
There are currently 690 publications available on this site. See all the titles at Newspapers.com – Montana 

And Finally:

You also need to visit the Montana Resources site, which can tell you what is occurring in the state with regard to newspaper projects. They also have a list of other digital resources available.

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

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

5 replies on “Montana Online Historical Newspapers Summary”

I am chronicling a story that was reported secondarily in “Nearly Perished,” HELENA WEEKLY HERALD on December 16, 1880, p. 8. This story was subheaded “December 7, MESSENGER.” I am trying to find what Montana town had a newspaper in 1880 named the MESSENGER. The story concerned people aboard a stagecoach at night in a blizzard between Sheridan, Montana and Twin Bridges, Montana, wherein they crossed Wisconsin Creek before snow stopped the coach’s progress. Did Sheridan ever have a newspaper called the MESSENGER? If not, what town near these places had such a named newspaper?

Lee, I would I go to the Chronicling America site. There is a directory of all newspapers published in the u.s. From there you can search for the paper you are seeking. Let me know if you need help or if you found it. Good luck.

My fathers family moved to Hinsdale Montana in 1918 where my brother and his twin were born. Hinsdale Tribune was the local newspaper which later merged with another publisher. My father during WWII would write articles from his ship in the waters off of Okinawa. I have a partial of his article that was published for the “folks back home”. I would greatly appreciate any help in finding the Hinsdale Tribune collection if it exists. Hinsdale STILL has a population of 250 people. A number I recall from summer visits back in the 1960’s!

Hi Sheila, I know this might be a little late, so I hope you see it. The Montana Historical Society has the Hinsdale Tribune on microfilm.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *