Barnstable Patriot and Register Digital Archive
Sturgis Library’s digital newspaper archive of the Barnstable Patriot and the Register newspapers cover Cape Cod and the Islands, with 20th century emphasis on the towns of Barnstable, Dennis, and Yarmouth. The Patriot archive covers the years 1830 to 2017, and the Register covers the years 1836 to 2017.
Our software provider and host ended our contract with them at the end of June 2024. At present the archive is unavailable for online research. (Listen/read a recent WCAI interview with Library Director Lucy Loomis about this issue HERE.)
We are currently working with Boston Public Library to transfer our archive to Digital Commonwealth, an online archive of historic collections across the state. It is estimated that it will take a year for us to transition to this new format. But in the end, it will mean that researchers will have access to newspaper archives, historic documents, photographs, and other materials, all in one place
In the coming weeks we will be back up and running at a new site called Small Town Newspapers. After hearing the WCAI interview (linked above) they have generously offered to host our archive until we go live with Boston Public Library & Digital Commonwealth. More details will be available soon.
In the meantime, the staff still has access to the scanned images of the paper which can be emailed to users, and researchers may also come and browse the newspaper on microfilm.
For more information, please contact Library Director Lucy Loomis at 508-362-8448 or at director@sturgislibrary.org.
Print Newspaper Holdings
The Library also has complete holdings of the Barnstable Patriot and the Register on microfilm from 1830 to date, and the Patriot in print from 1890 to date. Researchers may come into the library and use the microfilm in person, or may contact library staff at (508) 362-6636 or director@sturgislibrary.org for research assistance.
The Sturgis Library and Falmouth library both own microfilm copies of miscellaneous issues of Cape Cod and Boston newspapers, predominantly from Falmouth. They are held in the microfilm collections. Click here for a complete list of titles.
Other Cape Cod Newspaper Archives
- Falmouth Enterprise
- Provincetown Advocate Live!
- Chatham Monitor
- The digitized Harwich Independent and Cape Cod Republican newspapers are available for in-house use at the Brooks Free Library and at the Brooks Academy Museum, operated by the Harwich Historical Society.
More Cape Cod Newspapers
- Barnstable Patriot Online (Current Issues)
- Cape Cod Times (Current Issues)
- The Register Online [Dennis, Yarmouth, Barnstable] (Current Issues)
- Your CLAMS library card gives you access to newspaper databases that contain full-text articles of the Boston Globe (1980 to present) and the New York Times (1985 to present), through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and the Massachusetts Library System.
*The digital archive project is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the state of Massachusetts. Additional funds were provided by the Lothropp Family Foundation and the Town of Barnstable Community Preservation Committee. The Library is indebted to Vincent Golden, Curator of Newspapers and Periodicals at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester for his assistance with this project.