How do you search newspaper archives, how far back do they go?

Online probably 8 years or so, but most archival information with newspapers is on microfiche and has to be researched at a library. The librarians will show you how to use the microfiche machine. Depending on the paper you're researching newspapers could go as far back as the 1700s and 1800s.

Some newspapers do allow searches of archives online at their web sites; some do not. How far back you can search depends on when they computerized their clippings. So the answer to your question, unfortunately, is that it depends upon the newspaper. My current paper, The Sandusky Register, has seaches at the Web site, but they don't go back very far.

A few suggestions: Search Google News -- it may have what you need and it has archive searches. Check to see if your local public library has online news archives. Recent searches (within the last few years) are likely to be archived on computer at the newspaper you are interested in; contact the paper for details. If you want to go back decades, you will probably have to look at microfilm at the local public library.