LibGuides: Primary Sources: Virginia Gazette Historical Issues: Home

The Virginia Gazette

"The Virginia Gazette was the official newspaper of Virginia, printed in Williamsburg from 1736 until 1780. When the capital of Virginia moved to Richmond in 1780, printers transferred their businesses to the new seat of government. Both Dixon & Nicolson and Clarkson & Davis resumed their papers in Richmond."

Colonial Williamsburg, John D. Rockefeller Library

https://research.colonialwilliamsburg.org/DigitalLibrary/va-gazettes/

Subscription Accessible Archives Access

Virginia Gazette (1736-1780)
more...less...
Articles on colonial culture, slavery, commerce and trade, agriculture and plantation life, land disputes, relations with Native Americans, upland migration, indentured servitude, immigration, and includes notices of births, deaths, marriages, estate auctions, and advertisements, including those for runaway slaves. Comprises all three versions of The Virginia Gazette published between 1736 and 1780 in Williamsburg.

Free Access

Virginia Gazettes via John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library (Free)
Issues indexed by Lester Cappon and his colleagues in the 1940s and published by the Institute of Early American History and Culture in 1950; issues which came to light after Cappon's index are NOT included
Virginia Gazettes in Omeka via John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library (free)
This collection consists of issues of The Virginia Gazette printed in 18th-century Norfolk and Williamsburg, Virginia, including many that are NOT available in either the search above or in Accessible Archives.
Google News Archive (free)
386 issues from the period Jun 9, 1774 - Apr 28, 1809

Microfilm Issues

Virginia Gazette (Historic on Microfilm)
Call Number: Microfilm
1736-1780

Versions

The publishers of The Virginia Gazette were:

William Parks 1736-50
William Hunter 1751-61
Joseph Royle 1761-65
Alexander Purdie & Co. 1765-66
Alex. Purdie & John Dixon 1766-75
William Rind 1766-73
Clemintina Rind 1773-74
John Pinkney 1774-76
Alex. Purdie 1775-79
John Dixon & William Hunter Jr. 1775-78
John Dixon & Thomas Nicolson 1779-Apr 1780
John Clarkson & Augustine Davis 1779-Dec 1780

Not all the issues survived.

During some years, two and sometimes three versions of the paper were published.