This page is designed to provide researchers with information that will help them to choose between a wide range of resources for identifying, locating, or accessing periodical and newspaper articles from the 18th, 19th, or early 20th centuries.

• Accessible Archives
  A set of databases that can be searched individually or simultaneously. The focus is on periodicals and newspapers in the Eighteenth Century (Pennsylvania Gazette) and the Nineteenth Century (African-American Newspapers, Godey's Lady's Book, and Civil-War newspapers). Also includes specialized databases of genealogical and industrialization information.
• African-American Newspapers, 1827-1998  
  Provides online access to approximately 270 U.S. newspapers chronicling a century and a half of the African American experience. This unique collection features papers from more than 35 states—including many rare and historically significant 19th century titles.
• African American Newspapers: The 19th Century
  Includes seven 19th-century African-American newspapers. Coverage dates vary by title. This database is a component of Accessible Archives (described above). Click the Search button in Accessible Archives to select this and/or other desired components.
• American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection 
  Provides full-text searchability and full-page-image access to periodicals from the collections of the American Antiquarian Society, one of the premier repositories in the United States. Currently includes series 1 (over 500 titles dating from 1691 through 1820) and series 2 (over 1,000 titles dating from 1821 through 1837) out of a five series collection. Series 3-5 (covering 1838-1877) are forthcoming and will be added to this site when they become available.  The subject matter covered in AAS Periodicals is broad in scope and covers most aspects of American society during the time period.
• American Periodicals from the Center for Research Libraries
  A full-text resource containing full-color scans of original print documents archived at the Center for Research Libraries (CRL). The collection spans the nineteenth century through the dawn of the twentieth century, containing labor, trade, literary, scientific, and photographic periodicals, as well as other historically-significant titles. The resource provides enhanced access to full runs of hundreds of periodicals.
  NOTE: To search simultaneously with American Periodical Series Online: Open "Select Multiple Databases" option from the main search screen, and scroll down to select American Periodical Series Online.
• American Periodicals Series Online
  Provides searchable full text and page images for more than 1,100 American magazines and journals that originated between 1741 and 1900.  Derived from the American Periodicals Series microform collection.
  NOTE: To search simultaneously with American Periodicals from the Center for Research Libraries: Open "Select Multiple Databases" option from the main search screen, and scroll down to select American Periodical Series from the Center for Research Libraries.
• America's historical newspapers : including Early American newspapers series, 1-7, 1690-1922; African-American newspapers, 1827-1998; and Hispanic American newspapers, 1808-1980 
  Provides fully searchable digital facsimiles of nearly 2,000 newspaper titles from all 50 states.
• Gerritsen Collection: Women's History Online, 1543-1945
  Full-text collection of books and periodicals relating to the history of women, women's rights, and women's suffrage. The bulk of materials fall within 1880-1920.
• HarpWeek
  Page images and searchable full text of Harper's Weekly, the popular illustrated American magazine, for the period 1856-1912. Detailed searchable subject index.
• Historical Black Newspapers 
  A subset of Proquest Historical Newspapers (see listing below). Full-text and full-image access to the following newspapers: Atlanta Daily World (1931-2003), Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988),  Los Angeles Sentinel (1934-2005), New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993), and Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002).
  NOTE: To include other historical databases in your search, or to remove one or more of the above newspapers from your search: Click on "Select Multiple Databases" in the main search screen, scroll down to "Historical Databases," and select or de-select items as desired.
• JSTOR
  Searchable full text, displayed as page images only, for more than 120 key scholarly journals from their earliest issue up to about five years ago.
• Making of America
  Searchable full text of thousands of pages of text from U.S. books and periodicals of the late 19th and early 20th-century.
• The Nation
  Searchable full text, displayed as page images only, for a leading American left-liberal journal, 1865-1999.
• 19th Century U.S. Newspapers
  Searchable database containing digital facsimile images of newspapers, presented as full page layout as well as single articles. Advertisements and illustrations are included. This collection includes numerous newspapers from a range of urban and rural regions throughout the U.S.; and it encompasses the entire 19th century.
• Periodicals Archive Online
  Focus: American, British, and European
  Archive of hundreds of digitised journals published in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and areas of general popular interest. Each periodical is covered back to its first issue, regardless of when it began publication. International in scope, Periodicals Archive Online covers periodicals in a number of Western languages.
• Proquest Historical Newspapers
  Full-text and full-image articles, dating back to their first issues, for the following American newspapers: Atlanta Constitution (1868-1945), Atlanta Daily World (1931-2003), Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988), Boston Globe (1872-1927), Chicago Tribune (1849-1987), Hartford Courant (1764-1985), Los Angeles Sentinel (1934-2005), Los Angeles Times (1881-1987), New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993), New York Times (1851-2006), The New York Tribune (1841-1922), Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002), The Wall Street Journal (1889-1992), The Washington Post (1877-1993). Also includes British newspapers The Guardian (1821-2003) and The Observer (1791-2003).  
  NOTE: To limit your search to one or more of the above newspapers: Click on "Select Multiple Databases" in the main search screen, scroll down to "Historical Databases," and de-select items as desired.

An index will enable you to identify articles published in periodicals and/or newspapers.

• Nineteenth-Century Masterfile
  Integrates a number of indexes to nineteenth-century printed material into one database. Includes: Poole's Index to Periodical Literature (1802-1906), and other general periodical indexes; New York Daily Tribune Index (1875-1906), New York Times Index (1863-1905), and other indexes devoted to specific newspaper or periodical titles; as well as specialized indexes for law, religion, and government documents.
• Historical Newspapers Online
  Electronic form of the indexes to the London Times and the New York Times. Currently covers the London Times beginning 1790 and the New York Times beginning 1851.
• PAIS Archive
  Includes references to more than 700,000 journal articles, books, hearings, reports, gray literature, government publications, and other English-language materials from around the world, originally published in the PAIS Bulletin, 1915-1976. Subjects covered include: demography, economic conditions, energy resources, environmental studies, government, human rights, international affairs, media, political science, and public policy.
• Readers Guide Retrospective
  Coverage: 1890-1982. Provides citations to articles in popular and general-interest periodicals.

• Writings on American History, 1902-1989/90.
  Location: BUTLER STACKS
  Call Number: Z1236 .L331
  Lists books and articles on American history.

For a fuller listing and discussion of periodical and newspaper guides and/or indexes, see:

• Balay, Robert. Early periodical indexes : bibliographies and indexes of literature published in periodicals before 1900. (Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 2000)
  Butler Reference R016.05 B18
• Prucha, Francis Paul. Handbook for Research in American History, 2nd ed. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 1994), 50-61, 73-80.
  Butler Reference Desk R016.973 P951

Bibliographies and histories can provide you with varying types and degrees of information about specific periodicals or newspapers and/or about the periodical press as a whole in a given time period. Some major examples of such works would be:

• Danky, James P. and Maureen E. Hady. African-American Newspapers and Periodicals: A National Bibliography. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press)
  BUTLER REFERENCE DESK  R016.071 Af83
  “A guide to more than 6500 titles by and about African Americans.” Includes key information such as: where a title has been indexed (if it has been indexed); if the title has been microfilmed; libraries known to hold the title, etc.
• Mott, Frank Luther. A History of American Magazines, 5 vols. (New York, London, D. Appleton 1930-1968)
  BUTLER STACKS PN4877 .M63 1930
  BUTLER REFERENCE DESK R070.973 M851

Books and other information resources about periodicals and newspapers can be searched in CLIO under the appropriate subject headings.

In the “Basic Search” screen of CLIO:
Select "Subject Heading" from the “In:” box menu.
Enter searches using subject headings as appropriate:

For example:

african american periodicals
or
african american newspapers

american periodicals
or
american newspapers

Once you have done your subject search in CLIO:

• Look at the overall list of entries to see how the subject of "african american periodicals" is broken down. If you are interested in finding more of the types of resources listed on this page, you should be attentive to headings such as:
  
  african american periodicals--bibliography
  african american periodicals--directories
  african american periodicals--history
  african american periodicals--indexes
• Click "More Info" next to the "American Periodicals" subject heading to see more specialized subject headings that you may wish to search under, for example:
  
  children’s periodicals American
  women’s periodicals american