The Times Digital Archive includes every page, editorial, news item, announcement, obituary and advertisement from The Times newspaper from 1785-2019.

The Times of London is widely considered to be the world’s ‘newspaper of record’ and its archive is an invaluable resource to historians.

  • Go to LibrarySearch or access it via the University Services on your Blackboard.
  • Log in using your CCCU username and password. If you are away from campus, or connecting with your own device over Wi-Fi, you will need to include @canterbury.ac.uk after your CCCU username.
  • Select Find Databases A-Z, then click on T, finally click on the link to The Times Digital Archive 1785-2019 to open it in a new tab.
  • Type your search terms into the box and click on Search
  • Use double speechmarks to search for a phrase.
  • Use the Keyword option to limit to articles where your search terms appear in the title and/or the citation but not in the full text.
  • You can limit your search to a specific publication date range
  • Your search results will display on the next screen.
  • You can use the left-hand side bar to further refine your results.
  • To view the full-text click on Article.
  • Use View Page to see the article on the full page as it appeared originally.
  • To limit to news articles select Article Type from the drop-down menu then click on News
  • You can email, save or print your results.
  • Mark the article citations you want by ticking the boxes.
  • When you have selected the ones you want click on the Marked Items link at the top.
  • On the Marked Items screen you can Print , Download or Save your chosen citations

After you have accessed Times Digital Archive, go to the Accessibility page for further information.

Try searching Times Digital Archive by following the steps outlined below. You’ll practice using some of the most common functions and be ready to search for information for your assignments.

  1. If you were interested in finding out about the Great Reform Bill of 1832, think about how you might search it. Firstly, do you know if this is what it was called in 1832? Alternate names for the act that was passed as a result of the bill are Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act)
  2. Using the right-hand panel, limit your search results to those published between 1832 and 1850. How many results do you find?
  3. Using the right-hand panel, limit your search results to the document type of Article . How many results do you find?
  4. Find an interesting article from your results list and see if you can access the full-text of the the article.
  5. Reflect on the type of information appearing in your search. How will you use this information in your assignments? How could you make you search more specific?

Your Learning and Research Librarian will be able to help you make the best use of online resources. For detailed guidance, book a tutorial via the Learning Skills Hub.

Watch this video to find out more about how to use The Times Digital Archive: