.

Historic Long Island Newspapers

 Historic L.I. Newspapers

  

Searchable or browseable newspapers, portions of newspapers, and selected collections

  • Suffolk Historic Newspapers [1822-1974 & 1996-2007] A project of Suffolk Cooperative Library System, participating Member Public Libraries, Newspaper Publishers, and Historical Societies; providing runs of 12 historic weekly newspapers of Suffolk County, N.Y., searchable simultaneously, selectively, or all at once.  Currently included are the: 
    • (1)  Babylon Beacon, 1967-1972  (Babylon, in southwestern Suffolk, is a thriving village then and now, and seat of Babylon Town, was originally colorfully named by use of a Biblical aspersion)  
    • (2)  Corrector, 1822-1911  (of Sag Harbor, which was, in the early 19th Century, an official U.S. port of entry, like New York, with its own Customs House, which still stands and may be visited, and was once a rowdy sailor's and whaling town; it also has a strong literary tradition) 
    • (3)  County Review, 1904-1950 (of Riverhead village, Town of Riverhead, was also the county seat; this once being the official newspaper of Suffolk County, N.Y.; coverage includes both world wars, and in between, the Roaring Twenties, prohibition, rum running, the Depression Era, and early post-WW II era in Riverhead -- at the junction of the north and south forks of L.I. -- on the East End of L.I., and in Suffolk.)
    • (4)  Islip Bulletin, 1962-1965 (Islip village, also the seat of Islip Town, was named after Islip, England, near Oxford, home of William Nichol, son of the English admiral who conquered New Netherlands in 1664) 
    • (5)  Long Island Traveler, 1872-1898 (of Cutchogue and Southold, on the North Fork of Eastern L.I., was published iduring the Gilded Age, in two of the earliest English settlements on L.I. and in New York State, Southold Village being also Town seat of the same name, having been settled in 1640) -- note:  As is true of most newpapers, just because it was issued between certain dates does not exclude coverage of earlier periods; and in the Traveler, accounts of the past often provides a rich mine of information.
    • (6)  Long Islander, 1839-1974 (of Huntington, seat of the Town of Huntington, in northwestern Suffolk, a large village with a thriving cultural life, was settled in 1653; Walt Whitman, who grew up in very nearby West Hills, was once editor of this long-running still extant newspaper; courtesy of Huntington Historical Society)
    • (7)  Mid-Island Mail, 1935-1941 (of Medford Station, NY, Brookhaven Town, in central Suffolk, traces the course of the late Great Depression locally in several nearby villages, and also contains many articles on the rise and fall of [Nazi] Camp Siegfried, in Yaphank)
    • (8)  Patchogue Advance, 1926-1948  (Patchogue, in Brookhaven Town, with its 3 dammed streams was an early mill center south central Suffolk; the newspaper covering the KKK, Great Depression, WWII, and beginning of the postwar baby and building boom, locally; the newspaper is still published today, as the Long Island Advance)
    • (9)  Port Jefferson Echo, 1892-1931 (Port Jefferson, with its ferry connection to Bridgeport, CT, even then, and earlier, was an often rough and tumble shipbuilding center, and busy port on the north shore of Brookhaven Town, in central Suffolk; as opposed to todays much more attractive tourist desination)
    • (10) Sag Harbor Express, 1885-1898 (provides overlapping coverage with the Corrector - above - for a portion of the Gilded Age, leading up to the Spanish-American War)
    • (11)  South Side Signal, 1869-1879 (of Babylon, NY, provides a local glimpse into post-Civil War, Gilded Age on southwestern Suffolk County; and a much earlier view of Babylon village and Town than that of the Babylon Beacon, above)
    • (12)  Suffolk County News, 1888-1953 & 1996-2007 (of Sayville, which originally had to be renamed from Seville, affected something of a Spanish pronunciation, due to a postal conflict with an upstate village, previously named Seville; a long-running newspaper from the Age of the Robber Barons to the present, this is today's Official County Newspaper)
  • Brooklyn Daily Eagle Online, 1841-1902 (Brooklyn Public Library.  Brooklyn Collection) - This daily (as opposed to weekly) newspaper covered not only Brooklyn, but Long Island communities from Brooklyn to Montauk & Orient, and points in-between.  It rewards searching.  Brooklyn Public Library is working on a post-1902 sequel.  Rapid increase in the number of pages per issue in subsequent years, renders its analysis and preparation a slower, far more labor intensive process.  See also the Eagle's Selected Subjects link (lower left-hand column) -- clickable subject areas, listed from A to W -- as well as information on the history of the newspaper, and on its digitization. 
  • Local History (East Hampton Star) - interesting selection of historical articles, primarily from 1998, in celebration of East Hampton's 350th anniversary, also including place name oddities, per issue; well worth browsing 
  • Patchogue, L.I., N.Y. in the Spanish-American War (and Its Immediate Aftermath) [Patchogue Advance, Jan.-Dec. 1898] - selected articles and bibliography, courtesy of the Long Island Advance (Patchogue-Medford Library) - searchable using Control + F(ind).
  • Collections of Long Island Newspapers (Long Island Library Resources Council. Long Island Memories) - Nassau County:  The Observer, Farmingdale Observer, Farmingdale Post (Farmingdale, NY); Daily Review of Nassau County, Freeport News, South Side Messenger, Queens County Review, Nassau County Review, Nassau Post, The Leader 
  • Long Island Newspapers (Stony Brook University.  University Libraries.  Subject Guides Home. News Sources)
  • Also Note:  The New York Times Historical Edition, 1851-2007 may be searched at the Patchogue-Medford Library, via the Library's in-house subscription, as may the "current edition", 1995-   ; both of which include selected L.I.-related historical information.

-- Genealogically-oriented newspaper indexes

-- New York State-level holdings 

-- U.S. level-holdings

  • Historical Newspapers Online (University of Pennsylvania.  Libraries.  History Research Guides) -- Arranged alphabetically, by state; NYS is about 2/3rds of the way down the page
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