Simpson Library: Newspapers: Fredericksburg newspapers

image credit: Kaspar C on Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED

Newspapers published in Fredericksburg, Virginia

Current Fredericksburg newspapers

Free Lance-Star: Fredericksburg.com
Fredericksburg.com is the Free Lance-Star's website. You can browse current headlines here, and view a limited number of articles without a subscription. Click here to see an image of today's Free Lance-Star as it appears in print, including advertisements.
Free Lance-Star: Google News Archive
Free full-text scans of the Free Lance-Star for the years 1920 - 2006.
Free Lance-Star: Physical copies in Simpson Library
Periodicals (most recent month and previous month)
1st floor - near the Reference collection
Periodical holdings: We receive the Free Lance Star daily in print and keep the most recent calendar month and the previous calendar month.

Stacks - bound volumes of printed newspapers (1945-1953, 1962, 1970-2010)
2nd floor, after the Z section (far end of the second floor, near the Simpson classroom (225B)).
Bound holdings: Some individual issues are missing, but the holdings roughly include January 1945 - December 1953, January 1962; January 1970 - December 2010.

Microfilm (1926-2022)
1st Floor - Microfilm cabinets: AN 2 .F73 F72
Microfilm holdings: September 2, 1926 - February 28, 2018; April 1, 2018 - December 31, 2022
Free Lance Star: Newspaper Source Plus
UMW subscribes to the database Newspaper Source Plus, which includes articles from the Free Lance-Star for the years 2002-2018.

FXBG Advance
An online newspaper founded in 2023.

Fredericksburg Free Press
A free online non-profit newspaper founded in 2024 as a successor to Fredericksburg Today.

The Weekly Ringer website
2006 - present
Free access to current issues of the UMW student newspaper, and a searchable archive of articles going back to 2006.
The Weekly Ringer archive on Issuu
This archive, hosted on Issuu, has images of issues of the Weekly Ringer and the Blue & Gray Press as they appeared in print, including advertisements.

For issues before 2014, see this archive from Simpson Library's Special Collections and University Archives.

Historical Fredericksburg newspapers

Virginia Chronicle: Fredericksburg Newspapers
A list of newspapers in Virginia Chronicle, a service of the Library of Virginia. Scroll down to "F" for Fredericksburg.

Virginia Chronicle includes full-text scans of fourteen historical Fredericksburg newspapers, including four that Simpson Library does not have on microfilm: the Battlefield News (1938-1939), the Blowout (1935), the Courier (1801), and the Shopping News (1939-1941).

Library of Congress: Fredericksburg Newspapers
A directory of newspapers published in Fredericksburg. The Library of Congress does not provide full text images for these newspapers, except for issues of the Free Lance for 1899-1911

Simpson Library owns many old Fredericksburg newspapers on microfilm. The complete list is below. "Microfilm" refers to reels of film that contain microscopic images of documents. To read microfilm, you load it into a machine called a microfilm reader, which uses a microscope to expand the documents to readable size. Simpson Library provides microfilm readers that can create PDF scans of microfilmed articles.

The library owns printed indexes for many of these newspapers. These indexes are shelved with the books in the Reference section, and are marked below with a blue book icon.

The UMW Department of Historic Preservation has created a combined online index for all newspapers published in Fredericksburg between 1787 and 1928. Use this index to find the date of an article, and then use the microfilm to read the full text.

Christian Banner
Microfilm AN 2 .F73 C47
Microfilm holdings: September 6, 1850; May 17, 20, 27, 1862; June 7, 14, 18, 1862; July 2, 14, 1862; August 13, 1862. (Issues are not in sequence on microfilm reel.)
Publication information: December 1848 to May 9, 1861; May 17 to August 1862.
Daily Star
Microfilm AN 2 .F73 D34
Microfilm holdings: June 28, 1893 to December 31, 1900; January 1, 1902 to September 1, 1926.
Publication information: 1893 to 1926. In 1926 merged with the Free Lance to form the Free Lance-Star.
Also available online in Google News Archive. Issues from 8/4/1917-7/11/1918 are here.

An Index to the Fredericksburg (VA) Daily Star
Call Number: Reference AI 21 .F725 H62

Vol. 1: 1902
Vol. 2: 1903-1905
Vol. 3: 1906-1908
Vol. 4: 1909 19 Dec. 1911
Vol. 5: 20 Dec. 1911-15 Dec. 1914
Vol. 6: 16 Dec. 1914-26 Jul 1918
Vol. 7: Jul 1918 - 28 Jul 1919

Daily Whig News
Microfilm AN 2 .F73 S45
Microfilm holdings: July 1, 1847. Located on microfilm reel with the Semi-Weekly News and 1848 issues of the Fredericksburg News.
Publication information: First issue (July 1, 1847) titled Daily Whig News. Continued by the Semi-Weekly News.
Democratic Recorder
Microfilm AN 2 .F73 D45
Microfilm holdings: March 19, 1861.
Publication information: September 9, 1842 to 1862. Resumed publication in 1865 as the Fredericksburg Ledger.
Some issues from 1849 through 1861 are available online in Virginia Chronicle.
Fredericksburg Ledger
Microfilm AN 2 .F73 F73
Microfilm holdings: May 23, 1865 to November 10, 1874.
Publication information: 1865-1874. Continues the Democratic Recorder, which was suspended in 1862.
Also available online in Google News Archive.

An Index for the Fredericksburg Ledger, 1865-1874
Call Number: Reference AI 21 .F73 H62

Fredericksburg News
Microfilm AN 2 .F73 S451
Microfilm holdings: February 4, 1848 to June 30, 1848; July 20, 1849 to June 27, 1853; July 3, 1854 to June 29, 1860; September 13, 1861; February 1, 1862. Issues for 1848 are located on microfilm reel containing the Daily Whig News and the Semi-Weekly News.
Publication information: February 4, 1848 to October 1862. Resumed publication in 1865 as the New Era. Continues the Semi-Weekly News.
Also available online in Google News Archive (1849-1862) and in Virginia Chronicle (1849-1862).

An Index to the Fredericksburg (Va.) News
Call Number: Reference AI 21 .F74 H62

Vol. 1: July 1847-June 1848
Vol. 2: 1849-1852
Vol. 3: 1853-1861

Free Lance (Fredericksburg, Va.)
Microfilm AN 2 .F73 F72
Microfilm holdings: January 27, 1885 to September 2, 1926.
Publication information: 1885 to 1926. In 1902 absorbed the Star. In 1926 merged with the Daily Star to form the Free Lance-Star.
Also available online in Google News Archive (1885-1926) and Chronicling America (1899-1911) and Virginia Chronicle (1899-1911).

An Index to the Free Lance, Fredericksburg, Virginia (covers 1885 to 1900)
Call Number: Reference AI 21 .F76 H62

Vol. 1: Indexes to v. 1-5 (1885-1889)
Vol. 2: Six 'volume' indexes (1890-1895)
Vol. 3: Index to December 10, 1896-January 29, 1898
Vol. 4: Index to January 31, 1898-March 23, 1899
Vol. 5: Index to March 25, 1899-May 10, 1900.
An Index to the Marriage Notices and Abstracts of the Death Notices [in the] Free Lance of Fredericksburg, Va., 12 May 1900-29 June 1901
Call Number: Reference AI 21 .F76 .H625

Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg) - Simpson Library
Publication information: September 2, 1926 to present. Continues the Daily Star and the Free-Lance.
Microfilm AN 2 .F73 F72
Microfilm holdings: September 2, 1926 - February 28, 2018; April 1, 2018 - December 31, 2019
Stacks 2nd floor, after Z
The library has a number of bound issues in the stacks on the far end of the second floor (near the Simpson classroom (225B)). Some individual issues are missing, but the holdings roughly include: January 1945 - December 1953, January 1962; January 1970 - December 2010.
Also available online in Google News Archive.
New Era (Fredericksburg, Va.)
Microfilm AN 2 .F73 S451
Microfilm holdings: May 23, 1865 to May 22, 1866. Located on microfilm reel with the News.
Publication information: Continues the Fredericksburg News. Continued by the News.
Also available online in Virginia Chronicle (1865-1866).

An Index to the New Era (1865-1866) and the Fredericksburg News (1874-1882)
Call Number: Reference AI 21 .F74 H621

News (Fredericksburg, Va.)
Microfilm AN 2 .F73 S451
Microfilm holdings: February 16, 1874 to June 28, 1875; January 6, 1876; October 6, November 10 & 28, 1881; January 2, 1882; June 1, 1882 to September 18, 1882 (scattered issues only). Located on microfilm reel with the New Era.
Publication information: July 1866 to 1886. Continues the New Era.
Also available online in Virginia Chronicle (1873-1884).

An Index to the New Era (1865-1866) and the Fredericksburg News (1874-1882)
Call Number: Reference AI 21 .F74 H621

Political Arena
Microfilm AN 2 .F73 P64
Microfilm holdings: July 4, 1827 to December 31, 1841.
Publication information: July 4, 1827 to 1845 (?).
Issues for July 4, 1827 to September 12, 1828 titled Political Arena & Literary Museum.
Also available online in Virginia Chronicle: 1827-1828 and 1828-1841.
Semi-Weekly News (Fredericksburg, Va.)
Microfilm AN 2 .F73 S45
Microfilm holdings: July 8, 1847 to February 1, 1848. Located on microfilm reel with the Daily Whig News and 1848 issues of the Fredericksburg News.
Publication information: Continues the Daily Whig News. Continued by the Fredericksburg News.

An Index to the Fredericksburg (Va.) News (At Times Entitled the Daily Whig News and the Semi-Weekly News)
Call Number: Reference AI 21 .F74 H62

Vol. 1: July 1847-June 1848

Star (The Fredericksburg Star)
Microfilm AN 2 .F73 S72
Microfilm holdings: March 12, 1884 to December 1899.
Publication information: Continues the Virginia Star. 1884 to 1902. Absorbed by the Free Lance in 1902.
Issues from 1898-1900 are available online in Google News Archive.

An Index to the Fredericksburg Star (formerly the Virginia Star) (Fredericksburg, Virginia)
Call Number: Reference AI 21 .F721 H62

Vol. 1: 1884-1885
Vol. 2: 1886 and 1887 with appended death notice abstracts
Vol. 3: 1888-1889, death notice abstracts from and an index to the Fredericksburg (Va.) Star
Vol. 4: 1890-1891

Virginia Herald
Microfilm AN2.F73 V57
Microfilm holdings: January 11, 1799 to October 24, 1800; February 23, 1802 to December 29, 1810; January 18, 1812 to 1813; July 1, 1815 to 1836; January 7, 1867 to December 23, 1876. Scattered issues missing.
The following dates are located on a reel with issues of the Virginia Herald and Fredericksburg Advertiser and the Virginia Herald and Fredericksburg and Falmouth Advertiser: April 27, 1811; January 26, 1814; January 4, 1855 to October 25, 1855 (scattered issues missing); May 10, 1861; March 11, 1862; November 21, 1862.
The following dates are located on a reel with issues of the Virginia Herald and Fredericksburg Advertiser: February 14, 1798 to November 2, 1798 (scattered issues missing).
Publication information: Continues the Virginia Herald and Fredericksburg and Falmouth Advertiser. 1797 to 1862; 1866 (?) to 1875.
Available online in Google News Archive (1792-1795 and 1807-1809) and Virginia Chronicle (1798-1876).

An Index to the Virginia Herald
Call Number: Reference AI 21 .V52 H63

1810, 1812-1813; 1815-1818
1819-1822; 1823-1826
1827- 1830 ; 1831-1833
1834-1836 ; 1855 ; 1867-1876
Indexes for the Virginia Herald, Fredericksburg, Virginia
Call Number: Reference AI 21 .V52 H62

Vol. 1: An index for the Virginia herald and Fredericksburg advertiser, 1788-1791
Vol. 2: An index for the Virginia herald, 1792-1795
Vol. 3: An index for the Virginia herald of Fredericksburg, Virginia January 11, 1799-October 24, 1800
Vol. 4: An index for the Virginia herald 1802-1805
Vol. 5: An index to the Virginia herald, 1806-1809.

Virginia Herald and Fredericksburg Advertiser
Microfilm AN 2 .F73 V57
Microfilm holdings: September 6, 1787; October 11, 1787; November 8, 1787; November 22, 1787; March 27, 1788 to December 29, 1791 (scattered issues missing); supplement April 17, 1788.
Publication information: June 7, 1787 to 1795. Continued by the Virginia Herald and Fredericksburg and Falmouth Advertiser.
Also available online in Virginia Chronicle (1787-1795).
Virginia Herald and Fredericksburg and Falmouth Advertiser
Microfilm AN 2 .F73 V57
Microfilm holdings: January 13, 1797.
Publication information: 1795 to 1797. Continues the Virginia Herald and Fredericksburg Advertiser. Continued by the Virginia Herald.
Also available online in Virginia Chronicle (1795-1797).
Virginia Star
Microfilm AN 2 .F73 S72
Microfilm holdings: January 3, 1877 to March 12, 1884.
Publication information: 1869 to 1884. Continued by the Star.

An Index to the Virginia Star (Fredericksburg, Va.)
Call Number: Reference AI 21 .F72 H62

Vol. 1: 1877-1879
Vol. 2: 1880-1882
Vol. 3: 1883-1884

Weekly Advertiser
Microfilm AN 2 .F73 W43
Microfilm holdings: January 8, 1853 to May 21, 1853.
Publication information: 1853 only. Continued by the Weekly Advertiser and Chronicle of the Times (on the same reel).
Weekly Advertiser and Chronicle of the Times
Microfilm AN 2 .F73 W43
Microfilm holdings: May 28, 1853 to December 23, 1854; January 10, 1857 to December 22, 1860.
Publication information: 1853-1861. Continues the Weekly Advertiser. Continued by the Weekly Advertiser and Local Chronicle.

An index for the Weekly Advertiser and Chronicle of the Times
Call Number: Reference AI 21 .W39 H62

1853-1854; 1857-1860

Digital Collections: University Publications
Historical UMW publications in Simpson Library's Digital Collections, including academic course catalogs, student handbooks, the Aubade literary magazine, the Battlefield yearbook, and the Mary Washington student newspaper, known variously as the Bullet (1921-2014), the Blue & Gray Press (2014-2022), and the Weekly Ringer (2022-present).