Newfoundland and Labrador Online Historical Newspapers Summary

​Newfoundland/Labrador is one of the Canadian provinces that does have a single central online repository for searching historical newspapers. Also, there are several free publications available on other sites and there are small collections available on subscription sites. Below is a list of where the titles are stored and the link so that you can access them. 

​So go for it – find your Newfoundland and Labrador 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 April, 2020; recently added links are in BOLD)

Free Sites:

Provincewide Collections:

Memorial University of Newfoundland: Newspapers

• Adelphian (St. Bonaventure’s College)
• Atlantic Guardian magazine
• Banner of Temperance
• The Daily News 1955-1963 
• Decks Awash magazine
• Digitized Articles from the Centre for Newfoundland Studies
• Evening Telegram (1879-1899) 
• Evening Telegram (1900-1918) 
• Evening Telegram (1919-1926) 
• The Fishermen’s Advocate 
• Le Gaboteur 1984-present 
• Lung Association of Newfoundland and Labrador Publications, 1943-1986
• Harbor Grace Standard 1859-1907  
• Morning Courier 1845-1854 
• The Morning Despatch (1892) 
• MUN Gazette
• The Muse
• Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association Publications, 1958-2008
• Newfoundland Patriot (1839)
• Newfoundland Quarterly
• Newfoundland Yearbook and Almanac
• Omphalina
• Osprey
• Periodical Accounts of the Moravian Missions
• United Church Archives
• Veteran​
• Plaindealer (1907-1922)
• St. John’s Daily Star (1915-1921) 
• Southern Gazette (1975) 
• The Twillingate Sun 1880-1953 
• The Western Star (1900-1952) 
• The Confederate
• The Independent
• Newfoundland Mercantile Journal

Memorial University of Newfoundland – Newfoundland Newspapers

• The Carbonear Sentinel And Conception Bay Advertiser July 27, 1837-Nov. 29, 1838. (26 issues)
• The Sentinel and Conception Bay Advertiser, Oct. 27, 1836 – 19 Nov 1844. (148 Issues)
• The Sentinel, Mar. 13-Oct. 30, 1845. (12 Issues)
• The Conception-Bay Man 03 Sep 1856 – 16 Feb 1859 (100 issues)
• The Confederate Volumes 1..14 for Apr. 7-July 16, 1948. (14 issues)
• The Daily Tribune Title varies: Daily Tribune Nov. 4, 1892-Dec. 2, 1893; Tribune, Dec. 7-31, 1893. (267 issues)
• The Enterprise 21 Oct 1896 – 03 Nov 1897 (103 issues)
• Fishermen’s Advocate Published Coakerville, St. John’s and Port Union N.L 1910-1980 (5 issues)
• The Independent Volumes 1..14 for Mar. 22-July 15, 1948 (14 issues)
• The Mercury And General Advertiser 03 Feb 1846 to 15 Oct 1846 (28 issues)
• Morning Advertiser and Shipping Gazette 1844-1845 (109 issues)
• Morning Despatch. Published St. John’s N.L. 1892-? (32 issues)
• The Morning Herald 1879-1880 (54 issues)
• The Newfoundland Commercial Journal 1855?-1892? (69 issues)
• Newfoundland Mercantile Journal Earliest issue located:Sept. 11, 1816 (no. 108). – Last issue located: June 7, 1827 (1 issues)
• Newfoundland Patriot Published St. John’s N.L. 1833-1890 (1 issues)
• The Newfoundland Times. 06 Sept 1941 to 20 Dec 1941 (8 issues)
• The Newfoundland Vindicator 02 Jan 1841 – 14 May 1842 (69 issues)
• The Newfoundlander. 06 Oct 1934 to 20 Dec 1934 (10 issues)
• Our Country 25 Aug 1883 – 14 May 1885 (152 Issues)
• The Plaindealer Published St. John’s N.L. 1907 – June 1922 (29 Issues)
• The Record 18 Jan 1862 – 29 Dec 1863 (94 Issues)
• The Register 11 Sep 1880 – 16 Dec 1880 (70 Issues)
• The Reporter 31 Jan 1856 – 25 Dec 1856 (47 Issues)
• The Sentinel Mar. 13-Oct. 30, 1845 (12 issues)
• The Star And Conception Bay Weekly Reporter 04 Fen 1874 – 06 May 1875 (39 Issues)
• The Star And Newfoundland Advocate 14 Nov 1840 – 14 Jan 1847 (295 Issues)
• The St. John’s Free Press And Daily Advertiser, The St. John’s Free Press And Semi-Weekly Advertiser 21 Apr 1877 – 22 Jul 1878 (82 Issues)
• The Vindicator And Brigus Reporter Earliest issue located: May 4, 1898 (v. 1, no. 2). Ceased publication: Oct. 28, 1903 (14 Issues)
• The Weekly Express Began publication: Jan. 6, 1858. – Latest issue located: Dec. 27, 1859 (102 Issues)
• The Weekly News Began publication: Mar. 29, 1894. – Ceased publication: June 1906. (36 Issues)
• The Weekly Herald And Conception-Bay General Advertiser Nov. 2, 1842(58) – June 28, 1854. (150 issues)
• The Colonist 1886-1891 (1602 Issues)
• The Newfoundland Colonist 1891-1892 (294 Issues)
• The Evening Advocate
• The Patriot And Terra-Nova Herald
• The St. John’s Daily News

Google News Archive

• Harbour Grace – The Standard 
• St. Johns – Newfoundlander 
• St. Johns – The Evening Telegram
• St. Johns – The Newfoundland Express
• St. Johns – The Newfoundlander
• St. Johns – The Public Ledger
• St. Johns – The Public Ledger and Newfoundland General Advertiser
• St. Johns – The Royal Gazette and Newfoundland Advertiser
• St. Johns – The Telegram

Canadiana Online

• Evening Advocate – St. Johns
• Mail and Advocate – St. Johns
• Newfoundland Monthly Messenger – St. Johns
• The Carbonear herald and outport telephone – Carbonear
• The Carbonear herald and railroad journal – Carbonear
• The Collegian – St. Johns
• The Conception-Bay man – Harbour Grace
• The Daily Mail – St. Johns
• The Evening Telegram – St. Johns
• The Mail and Advocate – St. Johns
• The Morning Advocate – St. Johns
• The Newfoundland Magazine – St. Johns
• The Star and Conception Bay semi-weekly advertiser – Harbour Grace
• The Star And Conception Bay Weekly Reporter – Harbour Grace
• The Star and Newfoundland Advocate – St. Johns

Digitized Periodicals from the Centre for Newfoundland Studies

• The Cadet. Published 1914-1924
• Christmas Annual.
• Christmas Bells. Published 1892-19?
• Christmastide. Published 1907-?
• Colonial Commerce. Published 1915-1919
• Commercial Annual. Published 1916-1921?
• Curtis Academy Magazine. Published 1944-1956
• The Distaff. Published 1916-1917
• Easter Lily. Published 1917-?
• Forward. June 1946
• Imperial Oil Review. Vol. 25 No. 1 Spring 1941
• Military Gazette. Vol. 60 No. 9 September 1945
• Newfoundland News. Published 1939?-1945?
• Newfoundland Magazine (1917). Published 1917-192?
• New-land Magazine. Published 1962-1990/91
• Parsons’ Xmas Annual. Published 1899-1907?
• The Record. Published 1898-?
• Shortis Papers.
• Spencerian. Published 1921-1959
• Sports and Pastimes in Newfoundland. Published 1911?-1916?
• TickleAce. Published 1977-2003.

Newfoundland Newspaper transcriptions

• Notre Dame Bay
• Conception Bay North
• Conception Bay South
• St. John’s
• Free Press
• Daily News
• Newfoundland Express
• Newfoundland Quarterly
• West Coast Newspapers

Transcriptions – Newfoundland Grand Banks

Student Collections:

Memorial University – St. Johns

• The Muse

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

Other Free Sites:

Subscription or Pay Sites:

Ancestry.com:

There is currently 1 publication available at this site. See all the titles at Ancestry – Newfoundland and Labrador Newspapers

Paper of Record:

There are currently 2 publications available at this site. See the titles at Paper of Record – Newfoundland and Labrador

Newspaper Archive:

There are currently 4 publications available at this site. See all the titles at Newspaper Archive – Newfoundland and Labrador

And Finally:

You might want to check out the Memorial University’s Digital Archives Initiative site from time to time to see what is available online or otherwise. 

Please note – even more may be available via a local or provincial 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.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

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

For other Free Newfoundland and Labrador Links, click on the category of interest:​​