Cover-to-cover reproductions of hundreds of rare newspapers and millions of issues, America's Historical Newspapers is fully text-searchable. The digital series is based on the microfilm collection currently offered by Readex. Clarence Brigham's History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820 provided the foundation for the original filming project, the core of which is formed by the AAS collection of colonial and early national period newspapers.

The following collections are within America's Historical Newspapers:
Early American Newspapers, 1801-1900
American Civil War Newspapers, 1840-1877
African American Newspapers, 1827-1998
Caribbean Newspapers, 1718-1876
Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980