Search historic newspaper photos using Newspaper Navigator
An experimental search and browse application to find historic newspaper images by visual similarity (retired 2025)
Quick read
A retired experimental web app that used machine learning to let users search and browse over 1.56 million historic newspaper images by visual similarity. Visit to learn about the project, access its dataset and code, and read related presentations and papers.
- Visual similarity search of 1.56 million newspaper images
- Downloadable dataset and GitHub repository available
- Links to papers, talks, and project documentation
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A closer look at Search historic newspaper photos using Newspaper Navigator
What Newspaper Navigator was
Newspaper Navigator was an experimental web application created to search and browse historic newspaper images by visual similarity. It used machine learning to find visually similar images extracted from the Chronicling America database of digitized historic newspapers. The project was conducted in 2020 as part of the Library of Congress’ Innovator in Residence program and was hosted by the Library from 2020-2025.
What you could do there
The site let users search a collection of images rather than full-text, using visual similarity to locate pictures across digitized newspaper pages. The experiment produced a dataset of extracted visual content from 16,358,041 historic newspaper pages in Chronicling America and included a machine learning pipeline and related code and materials linked from the project. The page points to a GitHub repository and recordings/papers that document the experiment and dataset.
Who will find it useful
Researchers, digital humanists, and librarians interested in visual content from historic newspapers or in machine learning applied to cultural heritage will find the project material relevant. People who want to study image datasets, reproduce the experiment, or learn about the project's methods can use the linked repository, dataset descriptions, presentations, and papers.
Questions people ask about Search historic newspaper photos using Newspaper Navigator
- Is Newspaper Navigator still available as a live search tool?
- The application was hosted by the Library of Congress from 2020-2025 and is described as retired in 2025.
- Can I get the data or code used in the project?
- Yes; the project page links to the Newspaper Navigator GitHub repository and to dataset documentation and papers describing the extracted visual content and pipeline.
- Who led the Newspaper Navigator experiment?
- The experiment was conducted in 2020 by Benjamin Lee as part of his Innovator in Residence work at the Library of Congress.
Search historic newspaper photos using Newspaper Navigator was shared on NexURLs by Nexis on October 20, 2026, in News.
What we found on this site
- Served through
- Cloudflare
- Home page answered in
- 246 ms
- Trackers
- None found
- Ads
- None found
- RSS feed
- No
- Set up for phones
- Yes
- Real-visitor speed
- Not enough visitors for Google data
- Popularity
- Top 10,000 domain (Cloudflare)
- Google safety check
- No threats found
- Domain registered
- 1997
- Domain renews
- July 2027
Checked October 23, 2026 from the site’s own code and public records. See how the rest of the web compares in the NexURLs Internet Report.
Quick answers
What is Search historic newspaper photos using Newspaper Navigator?
Search historic newspaper photos using Newspaper Navigator (news-navigator.labs.loc.gov): A retired experimental web app that used machine learning to let users search and browse over 1.56 million historic newspaper images by visual similarity. Visit to learn about the project, access its dataset and code, and read related presentations and papers.
Who shared Search historic newspaper photos using Newspaper Navigator on NexURLs?
It was shared by Nexis in October 2026. Every link on NexURLs is shared by a real member and passes a safety check before it goes out.
What are some sites like Search historic newspaper photos using Newspaper Navigator?
Members found these close to it: Papers Past, OldNYC, Trove. The full list is on this page under Sites like Search historic newspaper photos using Newspaper Navigator.
Sites like Search historic newspaper photos using Newspaper Navigator
- Papers Pastpaperspast.natlib.govt.nz
- OldNYColdnyc.org
- Trovetrove.nla.gov.au
Trove is Australia’s free online research portal run by the National Library of Australia with many partner...
- Old Maps Onlineoldmapsonline.org
- Historypinhistorypin.org
Historypin is a community-driven platform for sharing photos, audio, and video tied to places on a map. People visit...
- Chronicling Americachroniclingamerica.loc.gov
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