A partial solution to a chronic problem

If you're in northern Indiana and need newspapers from southern Indiana, don't overlook the Mishawaka Heritage Center in downtown Mishawaka (South Bend's "twin city"). They have a surprisingly large collection of newspapers from other parts of the state. Just by way of example, here are their holdings of microfilmed newspapers for Clay County, Indiana:

Bowling Green
Clay County Review February 1877-December 1878 + scattered 1879-1883
Clay County Democrat 1859-1864 scattered
Clay County Advertiser September 1854-June 1855
Clay County Citizen August 1855-May 1856
Clay County Weekly Herald March 1874-February 1877

Brazil
Western Mirror 1877-1881

Clay City
Independent February 1881-December 1885

And of course don't forget that if you know the exact date when your ancestor did something bizarre enough to excite Victorian newspaper editors, you might find it anywhere: it may have been reprinted across the state or country as filler.