22Titles
Explore publications and collections from the past.
Community History Archive Partner
Jersey City Free Public Library
Jersey City, New Jersey
Explore this community history collection to discover the people, places, organizations, and events of Jersey City.
1829 to 1891Dates represented
See individual titles for available dates.
176,084Archive pages
Historical pages reported for this collection.
Explore local history
Discover the people, places, and stories of Jersey City, New Jersey.
Discover another side of Jersey City, New Jersey through newspapers preserved in the Jersey City Free Public Library's digital archive. Its twenty-two titles include material from 1829 to 1891.
Opens in a new tab.
-
Selected titles
Selected titles from Jersey City Free Public Library include “Bergen County Gazette and Jersey City Advertiser” as well as “The Evening Sentinel”.
-
Free and open access
No subscription or payment required.
-
A closer look
A familiar name or event takes on another dimension in the newspaper coverage of its time, alongside the stories that mattered to the readers of that issue.
The reporting of earlier years offers a way to explore how events were understood as they happened and how local experiences became part of the historical record. A family story, a classroom project or curiosity about a familiar place can lead to a closer look at the community and the lives of earlier generations. Explore the archive online for free, without a subscription.
Explore the collection
Titles in this collection
Browse twenty-two titles and 176,084 digitized pages, with material from 1829 to 1891. Through a partnership with Advantage Archives, Jersey City Free Public Library shares these sources from the past. Some years or items may be missing between the dates shown.
Follow a family connection or a question about the community through the titles below and the history they preserve.
Bergen County Gazette and Jersey City Advertiser
508 pages from 1829 to 1831
Daily Courier and Advertiser
9,460 pages from 1858 to 1862
Daily Evening Times
3,466 pages from 1868 to 1870
Daily Sentinel and Advertiser
20,012 pages from 1848 to 1857
Daily Telegraph
23,154 pages from 1850 to 1859
Daily Times
332 pages in 1868
Evening Telegraph
580 pages from 1849 to 1850
Jersey City Advertiser and Bergen Republican
3,020 pages from 1838 to 1844
Jersey City Daily Sentinel
640 pages in 1855
Jersey City Daily Times
9,690 pages from 1864 to 1868
Jersey City Gazette and Bergen County Advertiser
1,494 pages from 1835 to 1837
Jersey City Telegraph
1,850 pages from 1847 to 1849
Jersey City Times
8,834 pages from 1870 to 1873
Jersey City Weekly Courier
110 pages in 1861
The American Standard
39,878 pages from 1859 to 1875
The Argus
21,896 pages from 1875 to 1884
The Bergen County Courier
368 pages in 1832
The Evening Sentinel
4,876 pages from 1845 to 1847
The Hudson County Courier
496 pages from 1856 to 1857
The Jersey City Advertiser and Hudson County Republican
744 pages from 1844 to 1846
The Jersey City Argus
17,094 pages from 1884 to 1891
The Jersey City Herald
7,582 pages from 1870 to 1889
Opens in a new tab.
About the Archive
About The Jersey City Free Public Library’s History Archives
The Jersey City Free Public Library , in partnership with Advantage Archives , offers a vast collection of digitized historical newspapers. These archives are an essential resource for uncovering the rich history of Jersey City and its surrounding areas.
About the Library
About The Jersey City Free Public Library
The Jersey City Free Public Library (JCFPL) is New Jersey’s largest municipal library, serving one of the nation’s most diverse cities. Founded in 1889, the library now offers over one million items and serves nearly 300,000 residents with a variety of programs, resources, and services to support lifelong learning and community engagement.
Library History
The History Of The Jersey City Free Public Library
The JCFPL opened in 1901 and has grown into a vital community hub over its 120+ years of existence. From a modest beginning with 15,515 books, the library now spans ten locations and includes a Bookmobile to reach every corner of Jersey City.
About the Community
About Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City, situated along the Hudson River, is one of the oldest cities in the United States, with a rich industrial history and a strong tradition of immigrant contributions that have shaped its character as a vibrant urban center.
More ways to explore and share local history
Research Guidance
Read a report in its time and place
The history of Jersey City includes individual lives as well as events remembered by the wider community. In the digital archive shared by the Jersey City Free Public Library, begin with a name, place or date connected with the story you want to explore. When using historical newspapers, try alternate spellings and nearby dates, then read the surrounding page to place a local story in its time. Compare later reporting or another available title to explore different perspectives rather than treating one account as the whole story. Check nearby issues or another listed newspaper when available. Differences in timing and wording can add perspective to a story, while the issue date and surrounding articles help show what kind of account you are reading.
Follow a promising report into a nearby issue or another title where available. Compare dates and surrounding coverage; a single account is one perspective on a story. Use the surrounding account to shape your next question, while keeping each source's perspective distinct.
Keep the title, date, page, or item reference with each useful finding. Separate the words in a historical account from your interpretation, and note conflicting perspectives rather than choosing one too quickly. These notes help connect a local story to its evidence and show what remains uncertain.
Community Partnership
Keeping local history a community resource
This community archive is made possible by the collaboration of the Jersey City Free Public Library, its community, and Advantage Archives. Together, these partnerships preserve local sources and give people a way to explore, learn from, and share the history around them.
Advantage Archives covers ongoing archive hosting, storage, development, and maintenance. The institution and its community do not pay a subscription, seat license, annual support contract, or other recurring archive-service charge. Local history remains a community resource, not a subscription to maintain.
Would you like to see more of your community's history preserved and accessible? Start a conversation with your library, newspaper publisher, historical or genealogical society, museum, or school about the materials they would like to share and a possible partnership with Advantage Archives.
Learn about partnerships
Stories, research tips, and archive news
Read All About It connects archive research with the people and institutions preserving local history. Explore partner and community stories, project updates, research ideas, and perspectives on digitization, education, and working with primary sources. Use the articles as a starting point for your next question or a new way to share a discovery.
May 7, 2025
Why Microfilm is still important in 2023
Preserving documents on microfilm has been a popular method of storage for many years, and it still holds many benefits today. Here…
Read article
May 7, 2025
Don’t Search For An Obituary By Only Searching For An “Obituary”
In the quest to trace our roots and understand our heritage, obituaries often serve as a crucial starting point. Obituaries are undoubtedly…
Read article
April 9, 2025
Unveiling the Hidden Mysteries: Exploring Cold Cases and Unconventional Clues
Even the most esteemed police forces in the county encounter perplexing cold case files. These unsolved mysteries often leave investigators and genealogists…
Read article
April 1, 2025
This Week in History: March 31st through April 6th
Discover History in The Community History Archives. This week in history, there is absolutely nothing to talk about… April Fools! April…
Read article
March 24, 2025
This Week in History: March 24th through March 30th
Discover History in The Community History Archives. It has officially been a year since I started writing This Week in History,…
Read article
March 18, 2025
It’s Your Community’s History, So Why Rent Something You Own?
We believe that history belongs to the communities where it was made - not locked behind paywalls or inaccessible due to budget restrictions. Subscription-based services and large content aggregators are generally more concerned with "content" and less concerned with the history that content contains. Their models typically involve a reoccurring charge for a plan that renews annually or licensing agreements with the library based on population served or circulation numbers. You are essentially Renting Access To YOUR History.
Read article