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History: Magazine & Newspapers

Discipline and Department Research Guides identify and define standard information retrieval tools for a specific department or discipline. Each guide was created and is maintained by the library liaison for that department. We encourage you to recommend

Historical Newspapers

Chronicling America
Chronicling America, enhancing access to America's historic newspapers. This site allows you to search and view newspaper pages from 1880-1922 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

Harper’s Weekly
A Journal of Civilization.” Great for the US Civil War and Reconstruction era because covers 1857-1912. PDF format.

Historical Chicago Tribune
Provides full page and article images from 1849 (the first issue) to 1985. Unlike most newspaper indexes, HCT shows ads, comics, and obituaries.

New York Times Article Archive.
For early issues of the New York Times, you may consult the microfilm set on the Third Floor of the Malpass Library 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. If nothing else you can use this service as a free index. Malpass Library has the paper indexes in the Reference Unit, but I would try the online archive first.

Finding Historic Magazine Articles

Guide to Periodical Literature, 1890-99 (2nd Floor--Index Tables)
Nineteenth Century Readers’Guide (2nd Floor--Index Tables)
Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature, 1890-

Contemporary

LexisNexis Academic
Provides access to many international, national and regional newspapers going back, in some cases, to the early 1970s.
America's Newspapers
Create your own customized search list. Shows oldest, newest or most relevant citations first.

Collections and Guides

African Newspapers in the Library of Congress (GI/LC/6.9: AF8)
American Newspapers, 1821-1936: A Union List of Files Available in the United States and Canada (REF/Z/6945/A53)
American Periodicals 1741-1900: An Index to Microform Collections (REF/Z/6951/H65)
American Periodical Series (Third Floor—Microforms—Use WestCat)
Blue & Gray in Black & White: Newspapers in the Civil War (MAIN/E/609/H37)
Ethnic Periodicals in Contemporary America: An Annotated Guide  (REF/PN/4882/I73)
History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820 (REF/Z/6951/B86)
Memorial Collection of Newspapers on Microfilm Chronicling Events of the Assassination of John F. Kennedy (Third Floor--Microforms)
Newspaper History of the World: an Anthology of Famous News Stories from 1850 to the Present Day (MAIN/OVERSIZE/PN/4815/W9)
Newspapers, a Reference Guide (MAINZ/6951/S35)
Newspapers Received Currently in the Library of Congress (GI/LC/6.7)
Newspapers in the Illinois State Historical Library (GI/ILLINOIS/011.35 NEWS)
Underground Newspaper Collection, 1965-87 (Third Floor—Microforms)