Buffalo has over two centuries of newspaper history dating back to the Buffalo Gazette, which began publishing in 1811. These surviving newspapers are on microfilm in various libraries. They are gradually being digitized for online access. Below are the largest collections, online and offline, of Buffalo-area newspapers.
Most newspapers newer than 1927 are still protected by copyright, which is why you will see some but not a lot of newspapers online from the pre-computer period of 1928-1990.
If the newspaper you need is not online, keep scrolling for offline providers.
You may also like our Buffalo Deaths Page and this timeline of selected Buffalo newspapers, 1818 to the present.
And here’s a modest little tool: Time-Sliced News Search. It generates date-limited searches of several news search engines, including Google News, Google Books, Newspapers.com, and Chronicling America.
| Online Providers | Description | Cost |
|---|---|---|
 | The Buffalo News (BN) website has full text articles going back to 1988. The University at Buffalo has 1989 to present via Newsbank but only if you are on campus or affiliated with UB. For older BN issues, scroll down to Newspapers.com and NYS Historic Newspapers. | The BN website offers a mix of free and fee |
 | Chronicling America is the Library of Congress’s newspaper digitization program. Check here to see the progress for New York State. | Free |
 | FultonHistory is a private webmaster’s project. Has online newspapers from upstate & western NY and other parts of the country. You may prefer the alternative FultonSearch interface. | Free |
 | GenealogyBank has a few newspapers from Buffalo & Western NY. Has some 19th century papers but most date from around 2010 to the present. | Free trial, then fee-based |
 | The New York Times used to carry stories & obituaries from Buffalo. Has full text from 1851 to the present. Also online at Archive.org. | Mix of free and fee |
 | New York State Newspapers from Gale has full text, computer-era articles from the Lockport Union Sun & Journal, New York Times, Niagara Falls Reporter, Tonawanda News, Medina Journal-Register, and more central and downstate NY papers. | Free to residents of New York State. You will be authenticated by geolocation. |
 | Newspapers.com has the full text of all of Buffalo’s English-language newspapers, 1811 to 1923, plus the Buffalo News 1880-2022, courtesy of a partnership with The Buffalo History Museum. | Free trial, then fee-based. Can be used on site at the Buffalo History Museum by appointment. |
 | Libraries across NY are gradually contributing their newspaper microfilms for online, full-text access at NYSHistoricNewspapers. It is a grant-dependent process. | Free |
| Offline Providers | Description | Cost |
|---|---|---|
 | The Buffalo & Erie County Public Library has a large microfilm & hard copy collection of Buffalo newspapers. On-site researchers can also use these newspaper databases. | Free, plus they offer an inexpensive obituary look-up service |
 | The Buffalo History Museum has a large microfilm collection of Buffalo newspapers. On-site researchers can also use Newspapers .com. | Book your library appointment |
 | Chronicling America, a service of the Library of Congress, has a detailed list/directory of all known newspapers published in Buffalo. Click any newspaper name, then click on Holdings to see which libraries have a certain newspaper. | Free |
 | Butler Library has a large offline Courier-Express collection, 1926-1982. On-site researchers can also use these newspaper databases. | Free |
 | The NY State Library has a large collection of newspaper microfilm from across the state, available via interlibrary loan to any library anywhere. On-site researchers can also use these newspaper databases. | Free |
 | The UB Libraries have the Buffalo News on microfilm from 1881-1925, part of 1926, part of 1951, and 1954-2012. On-site researchers can also use these newspaper databases. | Free |
 | Here is a looong list of over 300 Buffalo newspapers in the libraries on the world. Click on the title to see who has copies. | Owning libraries may have nominal service fees for finding, making, and sending out copies of articles |
In case it isn’t clear, the folks at BuffaloResearch.com do not own any old newspapers. Instead, we watch for when owning libraries digitize them. Then we collect the links here. Since you read this far, here’s why libraries & museums do not want the newspaper you found in your wall.
BuffaloResearch.com 