News Archive Search Help
News archive search provides an easy way to search and explore historical archives. Users can search for events, people or ideas and see how they have been described over time. In addition to searching for the most relevant articles for their query, users can get a historical overview of the results by browsing an automatically created timeline. We provide two ways of searching: search articles, which presents articles in order of relevance to the query; and show timeline, which presents a timeline of events and articles associated with the query. The timeline is dynamically generated in response to each query.

Search Articles Results  -  Timeline Results  -  Frequently Asked Questions

Search Articles Results



1. Suggested dates – We identify and present key time periods related to your query. Clicking on these links allows you to limit your search to specific time periods. Note: these are suggestions and not a complete list. If you want to restrict search to periods/publications that you don't see in this list, you should use advanced news archive search.
2. Recommended dates – We believe that periods marked in this manner are of particular interest for your query.
3. Suggested publications – We identify and present key publications that have articles related to your query. Clicking on these links allows you to limit your search to specific publications.
4. Grouped results – Articles related to a single story or theme with a given time period are grouped together to allow users to see as broad a view of the events and viewpoints as possible.
5. Representative article – The representative article for a group is selected based on its relevance to your search.
6. Other articles – These are some of the other articles in the group selected based on their relevance to your search.
7. Articles in a group– These links allow users to view all articles in a group. Different articles in a group may present different versions of a story or different viewpoints on the story.
8. Related web pages–These links allow users to search the web for pages related to a group of articles as a whole. To facilitate this, we construct a suitable query based on the common themes of the articles in the group.
9. Article price – This appears only for results that require a fee to read the article. Note that there is no cost for clicking on these links and that you should be able to view at least a short preview of the article without payment. The fee should be required only to view the entire article.
10. Show Timeline – Displays a chronological view of the events/articles relevant to your query.

Timeline Results



1. Timeline dates–These dates are identified by our algorithms as being significant points in the timeline. Clicking on these links allows you to view a timeline for the selected period.
2. Grouped results – Articles related to a single story or concept with a given time period are grouped together to allow users to see as broad a view of the events and viewpoints as possible.
3. Representative article – The representative article for a group is selected based on its relevance to your search.
4. Other articles – These are some of the other articles in the group selected based on their relevance to your search.
5. Articles in a group– These links allow users to view all articles in a group. Different articles in a group may present different versions of the story or different viewpoints on the story.
6. Related web pages–These links allow users to search the web for pages related to a group of article as a whole. To facilitate this, we construct a suitable query based on the common themes of the articles in the group.
7. Search articles – Displays the search view of the results for your query.

Frequently Asked Questions

What content is included in News archive search?

News archive search searches across a large collection of historical archives including major newspapers/magazines, news archives and legal archives. Search results include both content that accessible to all users (such as BBC News, Time Magazine and Guardian) and content that requires a fee (such as Washington Post Archives, Newspaper Archive, and New York Times Archives).

How do I use News archive search?

From the Google News home page you can click on the link that says "News archive search" or you can go to http://news.google.com/archivesearch to use news archive search. In addition, for selected queries, results from News archive search will be integrated into Google Web Search as a separately marked group.

How do you create timelines?

Our timelines are generated entirely by computer algorithms. We look at all articles relevant to your query, try to identify the most relevant time periods, and select one or more results in each period. We then display the results in chronological order. Eg, the timeline for Duran Duran allows you to follow the band as it matures from teeny-bopper music to 80's MTV sensation and onward through multiple revivals. If the timeline is too long to display on a single page (as may happen for people, places or ideas that are of interest over a long time), we select the most recent subset and add a Before...>>  link to allow you to browse older sections of the timeline. Since no humans are involved, the timelines may not always be perfect -- but we'll keep working on learning new ways to automatically organize search results in this way.

What are the dates and publications on the left hand side?

When you perform a search, we automatically identify key time periods and publications for your query - these are likely to have interesting results. We present these time periods and publications as suggestions on the left hand side. Clicking on these allows you to restrict your search to specific dates/publications. Note: these are suggestions and not a complete list. If you want to restrict search to periods/publications that you don't see in this list, you should use advanced news archive search.

Why do some results have prices on them?

Some of the historical archives included in news archive search require a fee for viewing the complete article (such as Washington Post Archives, Newspaper Archive, and New York Times Archives). Note that there is no cost for clicking on these links and that you should be able to view at least a short preview of the article without payment. The fee should be required only to view the entire article.

How do I find articles that don't cost anything?

Depending on your query and time of interest, this may or may not be possible. You can try clicking on the "all related" links to check other articles in the group. You can also use advanced news archive search to restrict your search to articles for which we aren't aware of a price. We would like to warn you that since older articles often require a fee, such searches may miss quite a bit of history.

Does Google get paid when I purchase articles I find on News archive search?

No. We do not receive payment when users purchase articles. Nor do we accept payment for inclusion in news archive search. Our goal is to help our users find the most relevant articles for their queries.

How come there are no articles describing the Great Schism of 1944 in the International Dialectical Basket-weaving Association?

Many historical archives are still completely offline. Even many newspapers & magazines that have recent articles or recent archives online haven't digitized articles from 1944. We hope that with time, more news archives will be available online which will allow users everywhere to read even more of the history as it unfolded.

The older articles in your search are often from US sources. Does the rest of the world have no viewpoints or history?

We believe it is important to include archives from all over the world, to represent as many viewpoints, to help understand and how and why things happened the way they did. For recent time periods, we already include a large collection of articles from many countries. For older time periods, we are working with international partners to make it possible to find much more.

How can I submit my content to be included in News archive search?

If you have a historical archive that you think would be a good fit in News archive search, we would love to hear from you.

How do I request removal of a result from News archive search?

It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and other applicable intellectual property laws. If you find results in News archive search that you believe infringe on your rights, please see our Digital Millennium Copyright Act Page.

What if I still have questions?

Please contact us.