Historic Maryland Newspapers

Pratt Library Resources

The Pratt Library has many resources available online and in person to help you find historic Maryland newspapers. To browse collections in person, visit the Maryland Department and Periodicals Department at the Central Library.

Your Pratt Library card gives you access to online databases, including Current & Historical Newspaper Archives, Black Newspaper Archives, and Maryland Newspapers. These databases allow you to browse and download a wide variety of publications dating back to the 1890s.

Baltimore Sun historic newspaper, digital 1913 page scan available online from the Proquest database

Baltimore Sun bound volumes from the past are stored in the Maryland Department, available for research

Other Resources

Couldn’t find what you needed in the Pratt Library collections? The following websites contain digitized versions of many Maryland newspapers.

• Afro-American Black History Vault: Digitized editions of the newspaper over the last 100 years.
• Carroll County Times Digital Archive (1911–2014): Includes full-text and images. Basic and advanced search or browse by date.
• Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers: Library of Congress Project. Includes digitized newspapers from 1836–1922. Also includes a directory of U.S. Newspapers, 1690 to present.
• Google News - Newspaper Archive: Historic newspapers from around the world. Search Maryland newspapers by title, subject or advanced search.
• Maryland Early State Records Online (1802–1965): Scanned microfilm images that can be browsed by date. Includes the Cambridge Chronicle, Maryland Gazette, Baltimore Clipper, Whig newspapers, and more from the Maryland State Archives.
• Preserving Somerset: A Digital Collection: Includes five Somerset County newspapers, back to the early 19th century, in addition to judicial county records from 1701–1792 and administrative county records from 1685–1785.
• Slaves and Free African Americans, Reports and opinions from the newspapers of Hagerstown, Washington County and Cumberland, Allegany County, Maryland, 1790–1864: Collection of announcements on slavery and African American life in Western Maryland. Includes runaway slave advertisements, slave sales and other news that affected the life of African Americans, including emancipation. From WHILBR, Western Maryland’s Online Historical Library.
• Historic Newspaper Indexing Project—Washington County Free Library: Ten Hagerstown, Maryland newspapers online covering 1845–1857 and 1860–65. Print editions also available in the Maryland Department.
• Index to St. Mary's Beacon: Searchable index for the period 1852–1890 to the St. Mary's County Maryland weekly that was published through 1980. For access to articles found in the index or in later issues, please contact the Maryland or Periodicals Departments.