Earlier this month, Google announced that it is partnering with newspaper publishers to digitize millions of pages of news archives.
From the announcement:
You’ll be able to explore this historical treasure trove by searching the Google News Archive or by using the timeline feature after searching Google News… Not only will you be able to search these newspapers, you’ll also be able to browse through them exactly as they were printed — photographs, headlines, articles, advertisements and all…
This effort expands on the contributions of others who’ve already begun digitizing historical newspapers. In 2006, we started working with publications like the New York Times and the Washington Post to index existing digital archives and make them searchable via the Google News Archive. Now, this effort will enable us to help you find an even greater range of material from newspapers large and small, in conjunction with partners such as ProQuest and Heritage, who’ve joined in this initiative.