diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 65033fbd74c..c4ae89cc2f5 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ matrix:
         - cd Doc
         # Sphinx is pinned so that new versions that introduce new warnings won't suddenly cause build failures.
         # (Updating the version is fine as long as no warnings are raised by doing so.)
-        - python -m pip install sphinx~=1.6.1
+        - python -m pip install sphinx~=1.6.1 blurb
       script:
         - make check suspicious html SPHINXOPTS="-q -W -j4"
     - os: linux
diff --git a/Doc/Makefile b/Doc/Makefile
index 526269d1e19..63bbe1d4d71 100644
--- a/Doc/Makefile
+++ b/Doc/Makefile
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 # You can set these variables from the command line.
 PYTHON       = python3
 SPHINXBUILD  = sphinx-build
+BLURB = $(PYTHON) -m blurb
 PAPER        =
 SOURCES      =
 DISTVERSION  = $(shell $(PYTHON) tools/extensions/patchlevel.py)
@@ -38,6 +39,20 @@ help:
 	@echo "  serve      to serve the documentation on the localhost (8000)"
 
 build:
+	-mkdir -p build
+# Look first for a Misc/NEWS file (building from a source release tarball
+# or old repo) and use that, otherwise look for a Misc/NEWS.d directory
+# (building from a newer repo) and use blurb to generate the NEWS file.
+	@if [ -f  ../Misc/NEWS ] ; then \
+		echo "Using existing Misc/NEWS file"; \
+		cp ../Misc/NEWS build/NEWS; \
+	elif [ -d ../Misc/NEWS.d ]; then \
+		echo "Building NEWS from Misc/NEWS.d with blurb"; \
+		$(BLURB) merge -f build/NEWS; \
+	else \
+		echo "Neither Misc/NEWS.d nor Misc/NEWS found; cannot build docs"; \
+		exit 1; \
+	fi
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) $(ALLSPHINXOPTS)
 	@echo
 
@@ -107,7 +122,7 @@ clean:
 
 venv:
 	$(PYTHON) -m venv venv
-	./venv/bin/python3 -m pip install -U Sphinx
+	./venv/bin/python3 -m pip install -U Sphinx blurb
 
 dist:
 	rm -rf dist
diff --git a/Doc/whatsnew/changelog.rst b/Doc/whatsnew/changelog.rst
index 67a12f3374f..b4356143659 100644
--- a/Doc/whatsnew/changelog.rst
+++ b/Doc/whatsnew/changelog.rst
@@ -4,4 +4,4 @@
 Changelog
 +++++++++
 
-.. miscnews:: ../../Misc/NEWS
+.. miscnews:: ../build/NEWS