Celebrating 100 Million Newspaper Pages on The Archive

Published on 16 February 2026 by

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Today is a momentous day. Some fifteen years after the launch of the British Newspaper Archive, we have achieved the milestone of 100 million newspaper pages available to search as part of our collection. 100 million pages of stories waiting for you to uncover, from the length and the breadth of the United Kingdom, Ireland and beyond, covering five centuries of news.

To celebrate this remarkable achievement, we’ll take a look at how we reached our 100 million newspaper pages landmark, exploring the history of the British Newspaper Archive and its partners. We’ll also take a look at some of your amazing discoveries made along the way, whilst presenting some of our top tips to navigate our 100 million pages strong collection.

Fundamentally, however, we’re not stopping here. 100 million pages represents a milestone moment in the history of the British Newspaper Archive, but we will continue to add brand new pages as we raise a glass to the next 100 million!

The road to 100 million pages

The British Newspaper Archive was launched in November 2011 in partnership with the British Library. Did you know that then, fifteen years ago, the aim was to digitise and publish 40 million newspaper pages? Fast forward to April 2022, and the British Newspaper Archive, together with the British Library, had published 50 million newspaper pages. The original aim comfortably surpassed, we continued to digitise and publish historical newspaper pages, arriving now at our landmark of 100 million pages.

This achievement would be impossible without the beating heart of our operation, the scanning studio at the British Library’s site in Boston Spa. Here our team of skilled digitisation operators work to scan from original hard copies and microfilm. Next, the scanned images are processed and quality checked by our newspaper operations team, and published by our dedicated engineering team.

Our partnerships, too, form an integral part in the road to 100 million newspaper pages. Our partnership with the British Library has seen us support projects like Heritage Made Digital and Living With Machines, whilst our work with publishers like Reach plc, National World, DC Thomson and Future has unlocked a wealth of national and regional newspaper content. Thanks to such partnerships, we’ve been able to dip our toes into the world of magazines too, with favourites like Jackie and the TV Times now available to explore as part of our collection.

Your discoveries

The most important aspect, however, of our 100 million pages milestone, are the discoveries you have made in our Archive along the way. As part of our celebration of this landmark, we reached out to British Newspaper Archive fans to learn more about their favourite discoveries and stories they have found in our newspaper pages.

We heard from Niki Salfranc on Facebook, who has been with us since 8 million pages. Niki told us how she had ‘by turns been thrilled, amazed and genuinely horrified and saddened by some of the things I have found in your pages.’

Meanwhile, Charnwood Genealogy reached out on X to let us know how ‘it is great to find those very unique and special newspaper articles that add an often unknown dimension to our family history, especially as things were often reported years ago that wouldn’t even get a mention today.’

Unexpected, shocking, emotionally charged, all of the world’s joys and troubles, warts and beauty spots, are to be found in the British Newspaper Archive. As the London Westminster & Middlesex Family History Society described to us on Facebook:

The British Newspaper Archive is just so important in adding unexpected details of individual family members but also of the society around them.

For example, the Daily Mirror of 29 June 1911 has a photo of seven out of fifteen boys from Chequer Street School, Bunhill Row, Old Street who had been invited to the King’s party at Crystal Palace but who had no boots or decent clothing. The image shows them putting on their new footwear, which was provided thanks to readers of the newspaper. An accompanying article describes how their old clothing was tied together with bits of string and was little more than rags. Twelve girls at the school also received new clothes – blue frocks with white pinafores – to wear to the party.

The BNA is a source we always go to – you never know what you might find!

Daily Mirror | 29 June 1911

We’ll return to some more of your discoveries in a little bit, but first, we wanted to bring to you some tips to navigate our 100 million newspaper pages.

Navigating 100 million newspaper pages

Although 100 million pages is a wonderful achievement, it may seem a little daunting to start navigating them. Here are some of our most reliable hints and tips to help you explore our ever-growing collection:

Start with a broad search. Chose the name, keyword or phrase you’re searching with and go with it. That way, you can see how many results you’re working with. You can then choose to filter your results by date and/or location.
The world is your oyster. As news was often syndicated, a story could travel from a Cornish village all the way to a town in the Scottish Highlands. You might find local stories travelling across Britain and beyond.
Think about changing terms. Searching for the ‘First World War’ during and in the aftermath of the conflict won’t bring you many results. How would the people at the time have described that experience? Many might have used the term the ‘Great War’ instead. Likewise with names. Women may be referred to by her husband’s name, like Mrs. John Smith.
Clear the noise by removing certain words from your search. If you’re looking to research the town of Buckingham, and you don’t want to find out more about Buckingham Palace, choose to exclude the word ‘palace.’

Remember, newspapers were the social media of their day. A road closed in Hartlepool, the weather in Larne, a cycling accident in Kilmarnock, a new play in Cardiff – more than you think is covered by our newspaper pages. That’s alongside the wonderful lists of births, marriages and deaths featured by most historical papers.

Why not discover some of our special guides to help aid your research? Explore our blogs dedicated to researching the history of your street, obituaries, Scottish, Welsh and Irish genealogy, and much more besides, here.

Be inspired by the discoveries of others

We’re continuing to shine a light on your discoveries as we mark our 100 millionth newspaper page. Don’t just take it from us; there’s a wealth of stories to be told from our newspaper pages.

Jorn Cooper, via Facebook, let us known how The Archive ‘solves many problems. I even found out what a Dodo tasted like!’

Illustrated London News | 19 April 1919

Meanwhile, Tracey Sevenoaks, also via Facebook, let us know how the collection is ‘invaluable for me as a local historian, tracking down information and finding new avenues to get lost down!’

We call this the rabbit hole effect. Searching for a family member but get distracted by a story about a heroic cat named Jim, who saved his owner from a fire? It happens.

The Tatler | 12 August 1903

Another key part of our 100 million journey is the revolution it has created in researching historical newspapers. As Hainsworth & Ward-Agius put it via Facebook:

The BNA has been an extremely valuable resource during our research for several non-fiction history books. To have access to such a breadth of information from your archive of newspapers and periodicals from the comfort and convenience of a home office makes the hundreds of hours spent researching so much easier. We would add that we also spent time in the British Library viewing material which at that time had not been scanned onto the digital archive (2018 & 19). If we’d had to do all our newspaper research that way – rolling microfiche films – we’d still be sat there to this day!

To have 100 million newspaper pages available to search now at just a touch of a button – there is something immensely magical about that.

Highlights from our 100 million pages

Asking us at The Archive to pick our favourite titles is like asking us to select our favourite children; a near impossible task. But to whet your appetite for further research, and to showcase some of the publications that are the closest to our hearts, we’ve selected different research themes and some suggested titles to go along with them for you to explore.

Research Theme	Suggested titles
Women’s history	Gentlewoman – illustrated paper for women The Suffragette – organ of the Women’s Social and Political Union Woman Teacher – paper for the National Union of Women Teachers
Labour history	Bee-Hive – focus on trade unions Clarion – late 19th century early 20th century socialist title Labour Leader – Labour party journal
Military history	Army and Navy Gazette – focus on militia and volunteer forces Good Morning – paper of the Submarine Brand Illustrated War News – illustrated First World War title
National papers	Daily Express – once the world’s biggest-selling newspaper Daily Herald – national supportive of the Labour cause Daily Mirror – national title known for its pioneering photo-journalism
Religious history	Jewish Echo – newspaper serving Glasgow’s Jewish population Local Preachers Magazine – organ of the Wesleyan Methodist Local Preachers’ Mutual-Aid Association Nonconformist – featuring Nonconformist opinion
Fashion history	Fashion and Craft (Creative Needlecraft) – fashion and sewing magazine Myra’s Journal of Dress and Fashion – affordable fashion title The Tatler – glossy society and fashion publication
Sport history	Field – historical title with a focus on sport and country pursuits Ireland’s Saturday Night – Northern Irish sports paper The Sportsman – racing and sport title
Crime history	County Courts Chronicle – news from county courts Illustrated Police News – salacious illustrated crime journal Police Gazette – details of crimes and criminals
Cinema history	The Bioscope – cinema industry paper Kinematograph Weekly – title devoted to the film industry Picturegoer – film fan magazine
Black history	African Telegraph and Gold Coast Mirror – focus on West Africa and Pan-Africanism African Times and Orient Review – another paper with a focus on West Africa and Pan-Africanism The Keys – Organ of the League of Coloured Peoples
Industrial history	British Miner – for working miners Cotton Factory Times – newspaper for cotton factory workers in the north west of England Ironworkers Journal (Darlington) – organ of the Associated Iron and Steel Workers of Great Britain
Scottish history	The Scots Magazine – Scots interest title, one of the world’s longest-running magazines The Scotsman – national Scottish paper Sunday Post – known as ‘Scotland’s favourite newspaper’
Theatrical history	Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News – illustrated sport and theatre magazine London and Provincial Entr’acte – focus on theatre and music halls The Stage – world’s longest-running magazine for theatre professionals
History of childhood and youth culture	Children’s Paper – Christian children’s paper Irish Emerald – Dublin story paper for Irish young people Jackie – iconic magazine aimed at teenage girls
Irish history	Belfast News-Letter – the world’s oldest English-language general newspaper still in circulation Irish Independent – best-selling Irish daily newspaper Lady of the House – magazine aimed at Irish women
Literary and music history	Bookseller – organ of the book trade Gramophone, Wireless and Talking Machine News – title covering advances in radio and audio technology Ladies’ Field – woman’s magazine covering art, music and drama
Railway history	Herapath’s Railway Journal – paper that traces the development of Britain’s railways from their earliest days Railway News – sheds light into the economic history of the railways Railway Press – paper designed to support railway workers
Agricultural and rural history	Country Life – long-running glossy magazine with a focus on rural affairs Farmer’s Gazette and Journal of Practical Horticulture – Irish paper focused on gardening and agriculture Landswoman – magazine of the Women’s Land Army
Emigration history	American Settler – emigration guide to the United States British Australasian – news from Australia and New Zealand, with emigration advice Emigrant and Colonial Advocate – organ for emigrants

It’s just for us to say happy browsing, be sure to continue sharing your discoveries with us, and thank you for being there along our journey to 100 million newspaper pages – we couldn’t have done it without you!