HIST 300: Urban America: Journalism

CQ Researcher

CQ Researcher is often the first source that librarians recommend when researchers are seeking original, comprehensive reporting and analysis on issues in the news. Founded in 1923 as Editorial Research Reports, CQ Researcher is noted for its in-depth, unbiased coverage of health, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, the environment, technology, and the economy. Reports are published weekly in print and online 44 times a year by CQ Press, a division of Congressional Quarterly Inc.

Readers’ Guide Abstracts, 1890-

Readers' Guide Abstracts is a database containing comprehensive indexing and abstracting of the most popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States and Canada. Most of the titles in this database are not scholarly. The abstracts average 125 words in length.

Digital History: Historic Newspaper Articles

A small collection of high interest articles from a variety of US papers, searchable by topic or keyword. The collection starts with the Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision in 1857 through Princess Diana's death in 1997.

Access World News

Provides full-text to newspapers in every state of the union. Look here for regional papers such as the Peoria Journal Star and the State Journal-Register.

HarpWeek

Full text of Harper's Weekly online for the years 1857-1912.

Historical Chicago Tribune, 1849-1990

This database delivers every page of every issue from cover to cover, with full-page and article images in PDF. It offers access to nearly 135 years of a newspaper intimately tied to the development of Chicago and the growth of the Midwest region and nation. Includes display & classified ads; comics & cartoons; photos, maps, & graphics; and editorials & commentary in addition to news articles.

Los Angles Times (1961-62 & 1964-2005)

Most university libraries, even within California, do not have access to back issues of the San Francisco Chronicle. The best WIU Libraries can do is provide microfilm access to the LA Times. Located in the microfilm area, near the reference desk on the second floor of Malpass Library. The link is to the LA Times online archive, which may help you zero in on your topic. Archive search goes back to 1881.

LexisNexis Academic

Provides access to many international, national and regional newspapers going back, in some cases, to the early 1970s.

New York Times Article Archive

For early issues of the New York Times, you may consult the microfilm set located near the reference area in Malpass Library. Save copied images to the samba server. Or try your luck with the New York Times Article Archive. According to the Times' website, articles in the public domain are free. Premium articles are for sale. Use the Article Archive as a free index, if nothing else.

Newspaper Source

Provides cover-to-cover full text for more than 40 (U.S.) & international newspapers. The database also contains selective full text for 389 regional (U.S.) newspapers. In addition, full text television & radio news transcripts are also provided.

Proquest Digital Microfilm

Provides full pages images from the NY Times and Chicago Tribune back to 2008.

The Alternative Press Center (APC) is a non-profit collective dedicated to providing access to and increasing public awareness of the alternative press. Founded in 1969, it remains one of the oldest self-sustaining alternative media institutions in the United States. For more than a quarter of a century, the Alternative Press Index has been recognized as a leading guide to the alternative press in the United States and around the world. The University Libraries have online access back to 1991. Researchers who need to go back to the beginning, 1969, can turn to the paper index located in the Malpass Reference Collection under the call number REF AI3 .A27. The WIU Libraries run begins in 1970, volume two.