Washington Online Historical Newspapers Summary

Washington has a sizable state-wide free online collection for searching historical newspapers. Many states use the Library of Congress Chronicling America site as their main central online site for searching old newspapers and currently, Washington has quite a few newspapers also available on that site. There are 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 3,000 newspapers that have been published in the Evergreen State – certainly not all of them are searchable online. But there are several that are indeed available. So go for it – find your Washington 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 February 2024; recently added links are in BOLD)

Washington Historical Newspapers

Free Sites:

Statewide Collections:

Chronicling America – Washington

Google News Archive

Washington Digital Newspapers

County and Library Collections:

Clallam County Digital Newspaper Archives

  • Clallam County Journal
  • The Democrat
  • Democrat Leader
  • Dungeness Beacon
  • Forks Forum
  • The Herald
  • Model Commonwealth
  • The Olympic
  • Olympic Leader
  • Olympic Tribune
  • Peninsula Herald
  • Port Angeles Beacon
  • Port Angeles Daily Herald
  • Port Angeles Leader
  • Port Angeles Olympic
  • Port Angeles Olympic Leader
  • Port Crescent Leader
  • Weekly Herald

Clark County Historical Museum Newspapers Archive

  • The Vancouver Independent

Washington State Library – Olympian Index (Index only)

  • Bunchgrass Historican
  • Clark County History
  • Columbia Magazine (Washington State Historical Society) 
  • Columns (University of Washington) 
  • Cowlitz Historical Quarterly
  • Eastside Week 
  • New Pacific 
  • Pacific Northwest Historical Quarterly 
  • Pacific Northwest Magazine 
  • Peninsula Magazine 
  • Puget Sound Business Journal 
  • Seattle Magazine 
  • Seattle Weekly 
  • The Olympian
  • Washington CEO 
  • Washington Journal
  • Washington Magazine 

Pend Oreille County Library District

  • The Newport Miner
  • The Newport Pilot
  • The Cheney Free Press
  • Newport Miner

Longview Public Library

  • Longview Daily News

Student Collections:

Bellevue College – Bellevue

Central Washington University – Ellensburg

Clark College – Vancouver

Eastern Washington University – Cheney

Ellensburg High School – Ellensburg

Evergreen State College – Olympia

Gonzaga University – Spokane

Green River College – Auburn

Lake Washington High School – Kirkland

Mercer Island High School – Mercer island

North Thurston High School – Olympia

Pacific Lutheran University – Tacoma

Roosevelt High School – Seattle

Saint Martins University – Lacey

Seattle Central Community College – Seattle

Seattle Pacific University – Seattle

Seattle University – Seattle

Shoreline Community College – Shoreline

Spokane Falls Community College – Spokane

University of Puget Sound – Tacoma

University of Washington – Bothell

University of Washington – Seattle

University of Washington – Tacoma

Walla Walla University – College Place

Washington State University – Pullman

Washington State University – Vancouver

Western Washington University – Bellingham

Whitman College – Walla Walla

Whitworth University – Spokane

Miscellaneous Collections and Indexes:

Independent Voices – Alternative Newspapers

  • “A” Company Underground
  • “B” Company Unbridled Voice
  • 1sT Of The Worst
  • And Aint I a Woman (Seattle)
  • B Troop News
  • Blue Suede Shoes
  • Co-Ambulation
  • Counterpoint
  • Draft Resistance Seattle News
  • Fed Up
  • Helix
  • HOW BTRY TIMEs
  • Laughing Bear
  • Lewis-McChord Free Press
  • Lilith
  • Northwest Passage
  • Pandora
  • Puget Sound Sound Off
  • Retaliation, The
  • Sacstrated
  • Shitlifer
  • Tacoma Movement News

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Newspapers 1933-1942

Kimble Northwest History Database (Clippings)

The Labor Press Project – Pacific Northwest Labor and Radical Newspapers 

Japanese American Historical Newspapers Collection

Pacific Northwest Regional Newspaper and Periodical Index

American Prison Newspapers, 1800-2020

Swedish American Newspapers

Small Town Papers

Old Fulton Postcards

Newspaper Abstracts – Washington

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

Other Free Sites:

Bainbridge Island

Blaine

Camas

Home

Lakebay

Olympia

Port Townsend

Seattle

Spokane​

Tacoma

Walla Walla

Woodinville

Subscription or Pay Sites:

Ancestry.com:

There are currently 23 publications available on this site. See all the titles at Ancestry – Washington Newspapers

Genealogy Bank:

There are currently 224 publications available on this site. See all the titles at Genealogy Bank – Washington Newspapers

Newspaper Archive:

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

Newspapers.com:

There are currently 116 publications available on this site. See all the titles at Newspapers.com – Washington

And Finally:

You also need to visit the Newspapers at the Washington State Library site from time to time, which can tell you what is occurring in the state with regard to online and other format 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 Washington Collection Links in 24 Genealogy Categories, go to the By Location Page, click on Washington, and then click on the category of interest.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

One reply on “Washington Online Historical Newspapers Summary”

I own 1914 through 1917 every weekly edition of “Fenwicks weekly What’s Doing”, they are the run samples taken from each weekly run of Tacomas weekly edition of “What’s Doing”, near perfect condition. The collection has been cropped and bound into 2 book style volumes for preservation. A ton of old Tacoma photographs and political articles, I’m interested in selling the collection, no known other copies that were aware of,. Please contact me if anyone is interested

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