The Huntington's specimen newspaper collections illustrate the development of journalism from the 16th century through the 20th century. The collection includes precursors of newspapers, including corantos and news-books, from the 16th and 17th centuries such as the Newe Zeytung. Single-event reporting and early commentary is well represented by the Huntington's collection of broadsides. The evolution of free speech is documented in political pamphlets and periodicals produced by controversial presses. Modern newspapers in the form of bi-weeklies, weeklies and dailies can be traced back to the Oxford Gazette and run through the 20th century.
Holdings are strongest for the United Kingdom and the United States; however, a limited number of foreign titles are also part of the collection. More complete retrospective coverage of selected newspaper titles may be accessed through the library's databases or microfilm collections. The library also holds the Los Angeles Times records, the Lozano family papers and the papers of a few prominent local columnists.
In addition to searching the library catalog, the following reference resources may prove useful when searching for newspapers at The Huntington:
Check list of English newspapers and periodicals before 1801 in the Huntington Library, compiled by Anthony J. Gabler
Cambridge: Printed at the Harvard University Press, 1931.
Call number: Z6956.E5 H45; available online via JSTOR.
A survey of the first English newspapers, 1620-1650: based on original pamphlets and news-books in the Henry E. Huntington Library, by Marjorie Lamont Foskett
[S.l.], 1934
Call number: PN5115.F6
United States newspapers in the Huntington Library, compiled by the California Newspaper Project of the United States Newspaper Program
San Marino, Calif.: Henry E. Huntington Library, 1996.
Call number: Z6945.U6 1996
Rare newspapers and their precursors, 1515-1918: an exhibition, by Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery
San Marino, Calif.: Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, 1931.
Call number: Z6945 .S3 1935; available online via HathiTrust.
Card files
Although many entries are replicated in the sources above, specimen newspapers are listed in four card files located in the Central Hallway of the Old Library building: Chronological file of California Newspapers; Newspapers by Place, United States; Newspapers by Place, Great Britain; and Newspapers by Place, Foreign.
For a list of electronic resources providing access to digitized newspaper collections, see the Additional Resources page.