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Community History Archives

Community History Archive Partner

Portsmouth Public Library

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Explore this community history collection to discover the people, places, organizations, and events of Portsmouth.

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3Titles

Explore publications and collections from the past.

2016 to 2025Dates represented

See individual titles for available dates.

186,120Archive pages

Historical pages reported for this collection.

Explore local history

Discover the people, places, and stories of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Get to know Portsmouth, New Hampshire in earlier years through the newspapers shared in the Portsmouth Public Library's digital archive. Its three titles include material from 2016 to 2025.

You can open the archive using the link below.
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  • Selected titles

    In the collection shared by Portsmouth Public Library, you will find “Portsmouth Herald” and “The Portsmouth Herald”.

  • Free and open access

    No subscription or payment required.

  • A closer look

    An earlier generation comes into view through the stories its newspapers chose to report, placing familiar names and events within the concerns of their time.

Historical newspapers can connect a family name with the events and everyday concerns of an earlier time, offering more than a date or a name on its own. Bring a family connection, a question about a familiar place or an interest in local history, and see where the sources lead. Explore the archive online for free, without a subscription.

Explore the collection

Titles in this collection

Browse three titles and 186,120 digitized pages, with material from 2016 to 2025. A partnership between Portsmouth Public Library and Advantage Archives makes this collection available. Some years or items may be missing between the dates shown.

If you are tracing a family connection or exploring local history, the titles below offer a place to begin and a thread to follow.

Portsmouth Herald

296 pages in 2023

The Portsmouth Herald

185,760 pages from 2016 to 2025

The Portsmouth Herald

64 pages in 2022

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About the Archive

About the Portsmouth Public Library's History Archives

The Portsmouth Public Library offers free access to historical resources through its digital archives, provided in partnership with Advantage Archives . The Portsmouth Public Library has digitized thousands of pages from the Portsmouth Herald , capturing the city’s rich history and making it available to the public for free exploration.

Portsmouth Public Library photo 1

About the Library

About the Portsmouth Public Library

The Portsmouth Public Library engages the community by providing resources and services that foster education, innovation, and cultural enrichment. Committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, the library serves as a hub for learning and discovery, supporting the intellectual and creative growth of its patrons.

Library History

The History of the Portsmouth Public Library

Founded as a center for lifelong learning, the Portsmouth Public Library has evolved over the years to meet the changing needs of its community. The library offers a variety of programs and services while preserving Portsmouth's rich history through its archives.

About the Community

About Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Portsmouth, located on the seacoast of New Hampshire, is a city with deep historical roots and a vibrant cultural scene. Known for its well-preserved historic buildings and lively waterfront, Portsmouth is a place where history and modernity meet.

Local History

Did You Know?

  • Portsmouth is home to Strawbery Banke Museum, one of the oldest continually operating living history museums in the U.S.
  • The library plays a key role in preserving local history while supporting future generations through education and resources.

More ways to explore and share local history

Research Guidance

Look for the story behind a result

Start with something you would like to understand about the past of Portsmouth. It might be a person, a neighborhood or an event remembered in your family. Use the digital archive shared by the Portsmouth Public Library to follow that question into the historical record. 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. Search a person, place, or event with a second term, then compare the date and context of each result. A repeated name needs more evidence before it identifies the same person or connects two parts of a story.

After recording the issue and page, search a second term tied to the result and compare the surrounding dates and accounts. Keep matching names provisional until the place and context fit. This can turn one result into a better question without turning a repeated name into a confirmed story.

Capture the title, date, and page or item location for a detail you may want to revisit. Label your interpretation as your reading, not the source's own words. Keep enough context with the note that another reader can retrace it.

Review collection titles

Community Partnership

Keeping local history a community resource

This community archive is made possible by the collaboration of the Portsmouth 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
Read All About It

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.

Newest published articles

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.
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