The Association traces its roots to 1925 when the Pennsylvania Newspaper Publishers' Association (PNPA) was granted a charter by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Association functioned under the PNPA name until the late 1990s when its name was shorted to the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association (PNA) to better reflect the fact that the Association provides services and support to all departments of its member newspapers, not just to the publisher.

PNA is the official trade organization for all Pennsylvania newspapers and provides representation in the legislature and for educational services, and acts as an information clearinghouse.

Mid-Atlantic Newspaper Services, Inc. (MANSI), the PNA's wholly-owned, for-profit subsidiary, sells classified and display advertising into PNA-member newspapers.

The PNA Foundation, an independent, non-profit corporation organized as a public foundation, provides PNA members with a wide range of low-cost and innovative training opportunities, typically offering as many as 40 seminars per year and training nearly 800 newspaper staffers in Harrisburg and around the state.

PNA headquarters has been located in Harrisburg, Pa. for most of its eight decades of service. In the 1950s, PNA was the first newspaper trade association of its kind to construct its own headquarters building. The staff worked out of that building until 1998, when growing services and staff size required more space. At that time, the PNA built a state-of-the-art, 24,000-square-foot office building at 3899 North Front Street in Harrisburg. In addition to providing office space for the staff of PNA, MANSI and the PNA Foundation, the building includes training rooms, a computer lab and multiple board and meeting rooms.