Findmypast has renewed its landmark partnership with the British Library, continuing its mission to build the world’s largest digitised collection of historical newspapers online. This resource is transforming access to the past for academics, researchers and families alike.
First launched in 2011, the partnership has already delivered the most extensive mass digitisation of UK and Irish newspaper content to date, with more than 90 million pages made available online. Published as The British Newspaper Archive and accessible through Findmypast, the collection features thousands of regional, national and specialist titles dating from 1699 to the present day. Covering everything from global events to everyday family stories, the archive offers a rich and detailed account of shared history.
The renewed five-year agreement will see a further 70 million pages digitised. This will include newspapers from across the UK, Commonwealth countries and underrepresented communities, helping to create a more inclusive and comprehensive historical record.
As part of its commitment to open access, Findmypast has made 4 million pages available to view free of charge. Access through academic institutions is also expanding via the Social History Archive, launched in 2024.
The digitisation process is a collaborative effort. Scanning takes place alongside the British Library’s newspaper storage facility in Boston Spa, Yorkshire, where bound volumes of original newspapers and periodicals are carefully handled. Investment in advanced technology, including state-of-the-art A0 colour scanners, enables the capture of pages up to a square metre in size and allows for the inclusion of rare and fragile material.
Once scanned, the images are transferred to Findmypast’s operations centre in Dundee. There, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology is used to convert images into searchable text. When the pages are published, users can search names, dates, locations, keywords and phrases within seconds.
This renewed partnership marks a significant step forward in preserving and sharing the historical record, ensuring that millions of stories are made accessible for generations to come.
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