The Times Digital Archive, 1785-2019*
Study the best-known and most cited newspaper in the world online in its original published context
*Customers who purchase this archive after 1st June 2021 will have the full archive from 1785-2019. Customers who previously purchased the original archive covering 1785-2014 can purchase the years 2015-2019 to extend their existing archive. Please note that the module is only available as an add-on to institutions that have the original archive and is not available as a standalone purchase.
The Times Digital Archive is an online, full-text facsimile of more than 200 years of the Times, one of the most highly regarded resources for eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century news coverage, with every page of every issue from 1785 to 2019. This historical newspaper archive allows researchers an unparalleled opportunity to search and view the best-known and most cited newspaper in the world online in its original published context.
Read by both world leaders and the general public, the Times has offered readers in-depth, award-winning, objective coverage of world events since its creation in 1785 and is the oldest daily newspaper in continuous publication.
Beginning in 1986, the Times expanded its sports and cultural coverage with the increase of weekend supplements, giving the researcher of today even broader insight into our modern world.
The archive supports research across multiple disciplines and areas of interest, including business, humanities, political science, philosophy, and numerous other subjects with coverage of all major international historical events.
The Times (London) is the world's oldest continuously published newspaper. Readers have turned to the Times for its in-depth news coverage, parliamentary reports and commentary, editorial opinion, and unique view of history from the major reporters and editors of the period. The Times Digital Archive, 1785-2013 allows users to see the complete page of every issue published over parts of four centuries. To facilitate precise searching, each article is assigned to one of twenty-six subcategories within seven main categories, including:
- Advertising—revealing insight into contemporary life
- Editorial & Commentary—covering every conceivable topic
- Business—home markets, continental bourse, money markets, stocks and shares, company news
- People—extensive coverage of births, deaths, marriages, and obituaries
- Features—books, cinema, theater, opera, music, radio, television, sports, weather, bridge, crosswords
- News—from the smallest news item to a story breaking worldwide
- Picture Gallery—photographs, drawings, or any pictorial item not associated with an article
Coverage of notable events found in the 2015-2019 supplement include:
- Eastern Aleppo falls (2016)
- North Korea missile and nuclear tests (2016)
- Zika Virus (2016)
- Rohingya refugee crisis (2017)
- NFL Anthem protests (2017)
- Trump presidency (2017)
- Brexit
- #MeToo movement (2017/2018)
- Harry & Megan wedding (2018)
- Cambridge Analytica scandal (2018)
- Hong Kong protests (2019)
- Abdication of Japan’s emperor Akihito (2019)
- Death of Toni Morrison (2019)
- First all-woman spacewalk (2019)
- Amazon rainforest wildfires (2019)
As the most famous English-language newspaper of this period, the Times (London) is a critical resource for studying a range of subjects. Examples of topics covered:
- Science and technology: The invention of the telephone, the telegraph, a huge number of home appliances, and space exploration, the Internet, mobile phones, cloning
- Geopolitics: The Russian Revolution, the creation of Israel, the end of the Cold War, and the rise of global terrorism
- War: The Crimean War, World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War, the collapse of Yugoslavia, the Gulf Wars, and the conflict in Afghanistan
- Disasters: The sinking of the Titanic, the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, genocide in Rwanda, the Boxing Day tsunami, and the Kobe earthquake
- Politics: The civil rights movement, the suffrage movement, the Thatcher-Major-Blair years in the UK, the second Reagan administration, and the George W. Bush presidency
- Sport: Coverage of Olympic games and major sports tournaments, plus controversial sports stories such as Roger Bannister's sub-four minute mile and Ben Johnson's drug-fueled win in Seoul in 1988
- Economics: The Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, the savings and loan crisis, the growth of China as a financial power, and the Asian banking crisis
- Business: The Industrial Revolution, the dotcom bubble, the rise of Microsoft and Apple
- Culture: The trial of Oscar Wilde, the death of Elvis Presley, the emergence of rock and roll and the "kinema" (later known as cinema), the rise of the paperback book, the Young British Artists movement, and the entry of hip-hop music into mainstream culture
FEATURED REVIEW
“We called this 'a dream of a database,' a full-text archive providing access not only to articles from The Times but also to advertising and classified ads, editorials, birth and death notices, book reviews, crossword puzzles, letters to the editor, and the Court Page, which details the activities of the royals.”
- Booklist
Additional Details
subjects covered
- Asian Studies
- Business & Economics
- British Studies
- European Studies
- Gender & Women's Studies
- Humanities & Social Sciences
- Religion & Philosophy
- U.S. History
Platform Features & Tools
Term Frequency
Researchers can see the frequency of search terms within sets of content to begin identifying central themes and assessing how individuals, places, events, and ideas interact and develop over time.
Topic Finder
By grouping commonly occurring themes, this tool reveals hidden connections within search terms—helping to shape research by integrating diverse content with relevant information.
Cross-Search Capability
Search across the materials of complementary primary source products, including books, in one united, intuitive environment, enabling innovative new research connections.
Reviews & Testimonials
“The Times Digital Archive comprises searchable images of every page of every issue of The Times (London) from 1785 to 1985, making it a terrific source of information about 19- and 20th-century history.”
“A fascinating and valuable primary source for history, social science research, arts, and humanities courses. . . . Recommended for school, public, academic, and special libraries both for its content and the intuitive InfoTrac interface.”
“. . . sophisticated search interface and features makes The Times Digital Archive an asset in public and academic institutions and for anyone from scholars to history enthusiasts.”
“One of my favourite online resources.”
