The Social History Archive: British Newspaper Archive

An 1869 law required one copy of every newspaper published in the United Kingdom to be deposited with the government, giving rise to one of the world’s great newspaper collections, housed at the British Library. By some estimates, newspapers in print and on microfilm held by the British Library cover 28 miles of shelves laid end to end. In 2011, the British Newspaper Archive database was created to digitize and provide access to these newspapers; today, over 90 million digitized pages—and growing—are in the database. At the beginning of 2025, however, access to the database was limited to people who paid for individual subscriptions or could use it onsite at the British Library.  

No longer. In June, the University of Pennsylvania Libraries became one of the first libraries in North America to buy this content through a product called The Social History Archive, which includes UK and Irish newspapers published from 1699 to the early 21st century. The Penn Libraries previously invested in selected historical newspapers of the UK by acquiring access to the backfiles of titles such as The Times of London, The Sunday Times, and The Financial Times, as well as collections such as the Burney Collection of 17th and 18th-century newspapers. The Social History Archive provides access at a scale that was previously unavailable, especially when used in tandem with our other UK newspaper and periodical collections. Content continues to be added to this collection, but it already plays an important role in supporting research and learning about the UK and issues relating to it, from Shakespeare to Oasis and beyond.

Penn students, faculty, and staff with a PennKey can access The Social History Archive through our catalog, where you can find it under the title The British Newspaper Archive.

Featured Image: Excerpt from Belfast News-Letter, 03 April 1778. The Social History Archive.