Newspaper Collections of the Hoover Institution Library & Archives

The Hoover Institution's collecting history regarding newspapers spans over 80 years. Newspapers became an integral core component of the "Hoover War Collection" soon after it was established in 1919 as a repository of materials on World War I and the states and societies involved in it. The subsequent widening of focus to cover the themes of "War, Revolution, and Peace" caused the collection to grow further in scope and volume into a variety of directions. 

Throughout the 20th century, newspapers were a crucially important means of public and political communication—be it in peacetime or during wars, under pluralistic or authoritarian regimes. Given their manifold functions and possible uses as media for reporting and mass information, arenas for political discussion and debate, or channels for education and propaganda, newspapers have played an outsized role in 20th-century societies. As a consequence, they remain an indispensable source for understanding political, social, economic, and cultural developments during this period in almost all regions of the world.
The Hoover Library’s paper copies of newspapers have been accumulated over a period of more than 80 years. The paper copies alone—i.e. not including the microfilm holdings—comprise, in total, more than 5,000 different titles, occupying more than 11,000 feet of shelf space. These newspapers come from many dozen different countries and date from a period of more than 150 years. A large number of these papers deserve to be called rare; hundreds of them appear not to be held by any other public or research library in North America except the Hoover Institution Library & Archives, and there are many titles for which hardly any other possessing library could be established worldwide.

This research guide comprises collections and titles that were cataloged and published during and after the Hoover Offsite Newspaper Project which took place from 2018-2022. The titles included represent the majority of the newspaper fund. The list of microfilmed newspapers from the Hoover newspaper collection is also included. 

This research guide does not hold information about newspaper titles within the SAP/SIP (Soviet and Post-Soviet independent press) collection or other newspaper titles that are not currently classified within a newspaper country collection. See more here.