Newspapers

The Library & Archives has an extensive collection of Montana newspapers. Most of our collection is accessible on microfilm, over 70% is digitized, and some papers are only available in print.

Please view our newspaper index for a list of our holdings. The index lists the newspapers available on microfilm and shows what newspapers are digitized and where to find the digitized newspapers. The PDF index is searchable, and the XLSX version allows users to filter by city and county.

Newspapers Index (PDF) Newspapers Index (XLSX)

Newspapers on Microfilm

Over 95% of all newspapers published in Montana are available in our microfilm collection. These reels can be viewed in our Reference Room or borrowed through Interlibrary Loan.

Digitized Newspapers

We have over 70% of our newspapers digitized. All our digitized newspapers are available for free in-person in our Reference Room. Many of digitized newspapers are available for free online. Get access to the online newspapers by visiting our Digitized Montana Newspapers page.

Print Newspapers

We also have a collection of historical Montana newspapers in print, and we continue to collect recent issues of print newspapers from across Montana. Every year we preserve more of our print newspapers on microfilm or digitize them to make them more accessible to researchers. Our hardcopy papers are only accessible in our Reference Room. Please contact us for more information about our print holdings.

Other Resources

We hold several digital and printed newspaper indexes accessible to patrons in the Library & Archives Reference Room, including:

Index to Montana News Association Inserts:

The Montana News Association produced pre-printed content for various Montana Newspapers from 1916-1942. Richard Merritt created an index on more than 8,500 cards in the 1980s, and MTHS staff digitized the cards and compiled the index into a searchable PDF in the 2010s.

Printed Indexes

Bozeman Daily Chronicle, 1987-1998
Garfield County newspapers, 1913-1919
Great Falls Tribune, 1891-1922 & 1926-1932
Great Falls Tribune, 1934
Great Falls Tribune, 1987-1998
Havre Newspapers, 1893-1953
Yellowstone Journal, 1879-1900