Finding historical world newspapers at Princeton

To identify non-U.S. papers from a particular time and place, it is often sufficient to consult one of these general guides:

• Foreign newspapers held by the Center for Research Libraries. Compiled by Kristine Smets and Adriana Pilecky-Dekajlo. Chicago: Center for Research Libraries, 1992. RECAP Z6945 .C467 1992 -- best to use CRL's web site instead
• Newspapers in microform. Foreign countries. [Compiled and edited by the Catalog Management and Publication Division, Library of Congress]. Washington: Library of Congress, 1973-
  Trustee Reading Room Reference (DR): Firestone Z6945 .U515a
• Willing's press guide
  Annual guide; covers international press, including U.S.
  RECAP: Z6956.E5 W5 (1914-present); current volume in Ready Reference in the Trustee Reading Room.
• English language newspapers abroad; a guide to daily newspapers in 56 non-English-speaking countries [by] Dennis L. Wilcox.: Detroit, Gale Research Co. [1967]
  Trustee Reading Room Reference (DR): Firestone Z6941 .W5
• Newspaper press directory. Tonbridge [Eng.]: Benn, 1846-1976. We have 1904-1958. (Useful primarily for the indexes by place and by subject, and for information on the intended audience; no circulation information. Includes magazines. Some coverage of foreign countries.)
  RECAP 0404.674.
• Newspapers at the Library of Congress
  Various LC guides to their newspaper collections and to research using newspapers.
• Bowker's News Media Directory
  Annex A Z6951 .xW62; latest volume in SXF
• Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media
  RECAP: Z6951 .A97 (1987-1999)
  Firestone Z6951 .A97 (2000-2003)
  which has now been superceded by version in the online Gale Directory Library

Concrete information about a newspaper's ownership, circulation, and readership can be elusive. First, search for a book or article on the paper in which you are interested. Otherwise, consult a general directory of newspapers and periodicals for the period of interest (see above).

• For circulation figures for 20th-century papers, see Editor and publisher. International year book number. Firestone Oversize PN4700.E4q (covers 1938 to present).
• To locate books on the history of a particular newspaper, do a keyword search in the Main Catalog for the name of the paper, e.g. "manchester guardian"
• The world's great dailies: profiles of fifty newspapers. John C. Merrill and Harold A. Fisher. New York: Hastings House, c1980.
  Trustee Reading Room Reference (DR): Firestone PN4731 .M446
  Very useful essays on 50 major papers, U.S. and foreign.
• World press encyclopedia. Edited by George Thomas Kurian; indexed by Marjorie B. Bank and James Johnson. New York: Facts on File, c1982.
  Firestone Library (F) PN4735 .W6 1982
• The foreign press; a survey of the world's journalism. By John C. Merrill, Carter R. Bryan [and] Marvin Alisky. Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press [1970]. Firestone Library (F) PN4736 .M39 1970 [plus two previous editions, 1958 and 1964]

If Princeton does not hold the newspaper you need, you may be able to obtain microfilm of the paper through Interlibrary Loan. In particular, many newspapers are available on microfilm from the Center for Research Libraries, an organization of which Princeton is a member. CRL collects not only mainstream U.S. papers, but also U.S. ethnic papers (searchable by ethnic group in their online catalog) and foreign newspapers. 

The Library of Congress, state archives and libraries, local historical societies, and some large public libraries have substantial collections of local U.S. newspapers, in print and in microfilm, often including titles available nowhere else. The New York Public Library also has a substantial collection of newspapers. Much of this material is not available through Interlibrary Loan, so you must travel to the archive or library to see the paper you need. To find out where you might find a specific newspaper, check Worldcat or one of the guides listed above.

A useful (but dated) guide to several important newspaper collections is:
Untapped sources: America's newspaper archives and histories. Prepared for the American Society of Newspaper Editors' Newspaper History Task Force by the Gannett Foundation Media Center at Columbia University in the City of New York; written by Jon Vanden Heuvel; edited by Craig LaMay and Martha FitzSimon. [New York: Columbia University; 1991.]
 Firestone Z6951 .V26