New Jersey Online Historical Newspapers Summary

New Jersey is one of the states who do not have a central online 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. New Jersey just started adding digitized titles to that site. The online newspaper titles are available from several different sites, many free and some require a subscription. Below is a list of where the titles are stored and the link so that you can access them. 

There are around 2,000 newspapers that have been published in the Garden State – certainly not all of them are searchable online. But there are quite a few that are indeed available. So go for it – find your New Jersey 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. 

(Updated January 2024; recently added links are in BOLD)

New Jersey Historical Newspapers

Free Sites:

Statewide Collections:

Chronicling America – New Jersey

Google News Archive

New Jersey Historical Portal

  • Asbury Park
  • Belmar Twp.
  • Bernardsville News
  • Boonton
  • Caldwell
  • Carlstadt
  • Chatham
  • Cliffside
  • Cranbury
  • Cranford
  • Dover
  • Glen Ridge
  • Haddonfield
  • Hightstown
  • Hillside
  • Hoboken
  • Home News Tribune
  • Jersey City
  • Lake Hopatcong
  • Long Branch
  • Maplewood
  • Matawan
  • Metuchen
  • Morristown
  • New Brunswick
  • Nutley
  • Ocean City
  • Ocean Grove
  • Plainfield
  • Rahway
  • Red Bank
  • Ringwood
  • Secaucus
  • Somerville
  • Spring Lake
  • Summit
  • Tuckerton
  • Washington
  • Watertown
  • Westfield
  • Woodbridge

County and Library Collections:

Asbury Park Newspapers

Atlantic County Digitized Newspapers

Avalon Free Library

  • Avalon Coast Reporter
  • Avalon Herald
  • Avalon Yacht Club Magazine
  • Avalon-Stone Harbor Herald
  • The Round Table of Avalon
  • Avalon Report
  • Tidings

Belmar Newspapers

  • The Crab
  • Coast Advertiser
  • Ocean Grove Times
  • Coast Echo
  • Coast Advisor

Our Town Newspapers

  • Our Town

Ramsey Free Library

  • The Ramsey Journal
  • The Journal
  • The Waldwick Journal

Boonton Holmes Times-Bulletin

  • Boonton Weekly Bulletin
  • The Times Bulletin

Burlington County Newspapers

  • Burlington County Newspaper Notices Index  
  • Batsto Citizens Gazette  
  • Bordentown Register/Register News  
  • Central Record  
  • New Jersey Mirror  
  • Times-Advertiser/Community News Index

Burlington County Historical Society

  • The Burlington Mirror
  • The Central Record
  • The New Jersey Mirror
  • The New Jersey Mirror And Burlington County Advertiser

Cape May Court House Library (in-library access only)

Chatham Newspapers

  • Chatham Courier
  • Chatham News
  • Chatham Press

Cherry Hills Public Library

Chester Library (Library access only)

  • Observer-Tribune 
  • The Mendham-Chester Tribune

Clark Public Library Historical Newspapers 

  • Clark Patriot 
  • The Eagle 
  • Union County Local Source

Cranbury Public Library

  • Cranbury Press

Cranford Public Library

  • Cranford Chronicle 
  • Cranford Citizen & Chronicle
  • Cranford Citizen 

Elizabeth Public Library

  • Elizabeth Daily Journal

Englewood Public Library Newspapers

  • Englewood Press
  • Press Journal

Fanwood Memorial Library & Scotch Plains Public Library

  • The Scotch Plains – Fanwood Times Newspaper

Franklin Township

  • Record (1948-1958)
  • Franklin News (1954-1958)
  • Franklin News-Record (1958-1998)
  • Franklin Focus (1989-1997)
  • Spectator (1992-1998)
  • Strictly Somerset (1994-1997)

Haddon Heights Library

  • The Suburban
  • The Town Crier

Haddonfield Public Library

  • Haddon Gazette
  • Haddonfield Herald Weekly
  • The Haddon Gazette
  • The Haddon Gazette Suburban
  • The Haddon Herald
  • The Suburban
  • The Town Crier and Herald

Hightstown Newspapers

  • Excelsior
  • Hightstown Gazette
  • Village Record
  • Daily Graphic
  • Independent
  • Independent Weekly
  • Reporter
  • Windsor Herald

Hillside Public Library Newspapers

Jersey City Free Library

  • Bergen County Gazette and Jersey City Advertiser
  • Daily Courier and Advertiser
  • Daily Evening Times
  • Daily Sentinel and Advertiser
  • Daily Telegraph
  • Daily Times
  • Evening Telegraph
  • Jersey City Advertiser and Bergen Republican
  • Jersey City Daily Sentinel
  • Jersey City Daily Times
  • Jersey City Gazette and Bergen County Advertiser
  • Jersey City Telegraph
  • Jersey City Times
  • Jersey City Weekly Courier
  • The American Standard
  • The Argus
  • The Bergen County Courier
  • The Evening Sentinel
  • The Hudson County Courier
  • The Jersey City Advertiser and Hudson County Republican
  • The Jersey City Argus
  • The Jersey City Herald

Lake Hopatcong Newspapers

  • The Angular
  • The Breeze

Lambertville Free Library Newspapers

  • Beacon
  • Beacon and Lambertville Record
  • Lambertville Beacon
  • Peoples Beacon
  • The Beacon
  • The Lambertville Beacon

Lyndhurst Public Library

Maplewood Public Library

  • News Record

Matawan Aberdeen Public Library

  • Home News Tribune
  • Matawan Independent 
  • Matawan Journal 

Metuchen Public Library

  • Metuchen Recorder
  • Metuche Review

Millburn Archives

  • The Alert
  • The Budget
  • The Item of Millburn & Short Hills
  • The Thistle
  • The Township Tattle

New Brunswick Public Library

New Providence Memorial Library

  • Millburn-Short Hills Independent Press
  • Berkeley Heights New Providence Press
  • Berkeley Heights New Providence Independent Press
  • Chatham Independent Press
  • Berkeley Heights-New Providence Independent Press

Newark Public Library Digitized Newspapers

Ocean City Free Public Library Newspaper Archive

  • Daily Sentinel (in library)
  • Daily Reporter (in library)
  • Ledger (in library)
  • Ocean City News (in library)
  • Ocean City Sentinel (in library)
  • Cape May County Gazette (in library)
  • Somers Point Herald (in library)
  • Ocean City Sentinel Ledger (in library)

Ocean City Newspapers

  • Cape May County Gazette
  • Daily Reporter
  • Ledger
  • Ocean City Sentinel
  • Sentinel Ledger

Ocean County Library

Ocean Grove Newspapers

Paterson Newspaper Archive

Plainfield Historical Newspaper Collection

Princeton University Library

  • Princeton Herald
  • Princeton Recollector
  • Local Express
  • Town Topics
  • Princeton University Weekly Bulletin
  • Nassau Literary Review
  • Daily Princetonian
  • Princeton Press 
  • Princeton Standard 
  • Princeton Whig 
  • Princeton Womans 
  • Princetonian, The 
  • Working Mother

Rahway Newspapers

Randolph Free Public Library

  • Randolph News-Journal
  • The Home News Of Randolph Township
  • The Randolph Reporter

Red Bank Public Library

Riverton Historical Newspapers

Rockaway Township Free Public Library

Rutgers University Community Newspapers

  • Il Messaggero
  • The Messenger
  • Chronicle
  • Sunday Chronicle
  • The Paterson Sunday Chronicle
  • Messenger

Sadie Pope Dowdell Public Library

South Brunswick Public Library

  • Central Post
  • South Brunswick Post

South Plainfield Collection

  • The Chronicle (2003 – 2007)
  • Observer (1997 – 2002)
  • Observer (2003 – 2008)
  • Observer (2009 – 2012)
  • The Reporter (1990-1994, 2003)
  • Review (1947 – 2002)

Spring Lake Newspapers

  • Asbury Park Journal
  • Coast Echo
  • Coast Star
  • Manasquan Seaside

Summit Free Public Library Historical Newspapers

  • Herald
  • Observer
  • Dispatch
  • Herald-Dispatch
  • Union County Local Source
  • Record

Vineland Free Library

  • Vineland Times Journal

Watertown Newspapers

  • Post
  • Post Boy
  • Sunday Republican
  • Watertown Journal
  • Watertown News

Westfield Memorial Library Newspapers

  • The Westfield Leader
  • The Westfield Record Press
  • Union County Standard

Woodbridge Township Historic Newspapers

Student Collections:

Bergen Community College – Paramus

Bordentown Manual Training School – Bordentown

Caldwell University – Caldwell

Centennary College – Hackettstown

College of New Jersey – Ewing

Drew University – Madison

Essex County College – Newark

Farleigh Dickinson University – Teaneck

Farleigh Dickinson University – Florham

Georgian Court University – Lakewood

Highland Park High School – Highland Park

John P Stevens High School – Edison Township

Kean University – Union

Monmouth University -West Long Branch

Montclair State University – Montclair

New Jersey City University – Jersey City

New Jersey Institute of Technology – Newark

New Jersey School for the Deaf – Ewing Township

North Plainfield High School – North Plainfield

Princeton University – Princeton

Rider University – Lawrenceville

Ramapo College – Mahwah

Rutgers University – New Brunswick

Summit High School – Summit

Seton Hall University – South Orange

St. Peters University – Jersey City

Stevens Institute of Technology – Hoboken

Stockton University – Galloway Township

The College of New Jersey – Ewing Township

Thomas Edison State University – Trenton

West Essex Regional High School – North Caldwell

William Paterson University – Wayne

Miscellaneous Collections and Indexes:

Independent Voices – Alternative Press

  • Common Sense
  • Fort Dix 38 Speak Out
  • Forward
  • Fragging Action
  • Mailing List of Organizations opposed to the War in Vietnam
  • New Directions for Women
  • New Directions for Women in New Jersey
  • Shakedown
  • SPD News
  • Talisman
  • Tamarisk

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Newspapers 1933-1942

Old Fulton Postcards

Small Town Papers

Newspaper Abstracts – New Jersey

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

Other Free Sites:

Bernardsville

Boonton

Burlington

Caldwell

Camden

Carlstadt

Clifton

Dover

Flemington

Fort Dix

Haddonfield

Hoboken

Lawrenceville

Long Branch

Maplewood

Matawan

Metuchen

Montclair

Morristown

Newark

New Brunswick

Nutley

Parsippany

Passaic

Paterson

Plainfield

Princeton

Secaucus

Trenton

Tuckerton

Washington

West Orange

Woodland Park

Subscription or Pay Sites:

Ancestry.com:

There are currently 30 publications available on this site. See all the titles at Ancestry – New Jersey Newspapers

Genealogy Bank:

There are currently 326 publications available on this site. See all the titles at Genealogy Bank – New Jersey Newspapers

Newspaper Archive:

There are currently 100 publications available on this site. See all the titles at Newspaper Archive – New Jersey

Newspapers.com:

There are currently 180 publications available on this site. See all the titles at Newspapers.com – New Jersey 

And Finally:

You also need to check out the New Jersey Digital Newspaper Project site, which can tell you what is happening in the state with regard to the newspapers that have been digitized and are becoming available via microfilm or online. 

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

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

9 replies on “New Jersey Online Historical Newspapers Summary”

Love your website and visit it daily! An update on the new availability of Freehold area publications at newspapers.com – about a month ago, The Freehold Transcript and Monmouth Inquirer 1888-1964 (66,358 pgs) was added. Although Freehold is the county seat for Monmouth County, the paper also covers Middlesex and Mercer Counties in central NJ during this time period.
And just this week they added: The Monmouth Inquirer 1833-1933 (22,587 pgs), Monmouth Inquirer 1821-1860 (887 pgs), Monmouth Press 1888-1890 (412 pgs), Monmouth Daily Inquirer 1858 (28), Monmouth Star 1820-1821 (44 pgs).
These represent most of the various incarnations of these venerable Freehold papers and am proud to say three of my direct ancestors were the publishers and editors over a 70 year span. You should also know that these were made available through a partnership between the Monmouth County Historical Society and newspapers.com. The Society tells me they also plan to add the Monmouth Democrat but are currently working out microfilm quality issues. Yes, one needs to subscribe to newspapers.com to access, but sure beats going to the MCHS library and scrolling through microfilm!

Thank you for that info Lee. I look forward to the Monmouth Democrat when it becomes available. I love newspapers.com !

I used to be a local reporter for the HOWELL BOOSTER NEWS and The CHALLENGER PRESS, both small town newspapers of Howell, NJ. I can find no collections or archives or morgue centers for either paper. Anybody have an idea where or whom I might contact about them? I have exhausted .all the sites that are seemingly available with my online searches ! Thanks for any help you can give.

I may have posted this in the wrong box! looking for archives, morgue or collections of the Howell Township newspapers; The Howell Booster News and the Challenger Press, I wrote for both papers during ther1970,s. Thank you for any help you may be able render.

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