Research Guides: U.S. History: Primary Resources: Historical Newspapers & Magazines

Historical Magazines and Journals

American Periodical Series
Provides full text access to more than 150 years of American magazine journalism. 1741-1930.

Women's Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore major women's magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Better Homes & Gardens, Essence, and Seventeen.
Content type: Magazine articles
Coverage dates: 1922-2005
Full digitization of the magazine, meaning all articles, illustrations, and advertisements are included. Full text of: Better Homes & Gardens (1922 to 2005), Chatelaine (1928 to 2005), Cosmopolitan (1926-2004), Essence (1970-2005), Good Housekeeping (1885 to 2005), Ladies' Home Journal (1885 to 2005), Parents (1926 to 2005), Redbook (1903 to 2005), Seventeen (1944-2005), WIN News (1975-2003), and Women's Day (1937-2001).
Language: English
HarpWeek This link opens in a new window
Why search here? To access the full text of Harper's Weekly, an illustrated political magazine from the 19th century.
Content type: Magazine articles, primary sources
Coverage dates: 1857-1889
Language: English
Keywords: Harp Week

American Memory Project
Digitized collections from the Library of Congress
Making of America at the University of Michigan
A wealth of full text books and journals from the 19th Century through Reconstruction in two parts housed at two universities.
Making of America at Cornell
See above.
Internet Archive
Exhaustive repository of and gateway to recordings, videos, and texts. A good place to find multi-media.
more...less...
Grateful Dead concerts, old commercials, links to e-book projects -- also home to "The Way back Machine," which is itself a history of the World Wide Web.

Readers' Guide This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good for discovering articles from backfiles of magazines on a variety of subjects that are not indexed elsewhere in one place.
Content type: Magazine articles, scholarly articles
Coverage dates: 1890-present
Updated daily. Most publications are North American popular sources. Searches both Reader's Guide Retrospective: 1890-1982 and Reader's Guide Full Text Mega (1983-present).
Language: English
America's News This link opens in a new window
Complete full-text content of local and regional news. Includes Los Angeles Times. Paid advertisements are excluded. Coverage varies by newspaper. Updated daily.
Includes historical and current content for the Sacremento Bee, the San Diego Union Tribune, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Paid advertisements are excluded.
Language: English
Keywords: NewsBank News Bank

Historical and Present Day Newspapers

Early American Newspapers, Series I (1690-1876) This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Search here for a selection of regional early American newspapers with scans of articles and full pages.
Content type: Newspaper articles
Coverage dates: 1690-1879
This platform allows you to search through two databases: Early American Newspapers, Series 1: From Colonies to Nation (1690-1879) and African American Newspapers (1827-1999).
Language: English
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Search here for comprehensive coverage of news and current events, government, business, medical, and legal topics, as well as general reference information.
Content type: Newspaper articles, trade journal articles, broadcast transcripts, financial reports, federal and state case law, medical abstracts, corporate profiles
Coverage dates: 1980-present
Language: English, Spanish, French, Dutch, German, Portuguese
Keywords: Lexis Nexis
America's News This link opens in a new window
Complete full-text content of local and regional news. Includes Los Angeles Times. Paid advertisements are excluded. Coverage varies by newspaper. Updated daily. Most newspapers in this database do not go earlier than 1980
Includes historical and current content for the Sacremento Bee, the San Diego Union Tribune, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Paid advertisements are excluded.
Language: English
Keywords: NewsBank News Bank
New York Times, Historical This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Access full page scans of the print edition of The New York Times newspaper complete with advertisements.
Content type: Newspaper articles, advertisements
Coverage dates: 1851-2012
Language: English
Keywords: NYT ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Los Angeles Times, Historical This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good for tracking the development of Southern California through news articles in full page scans of this important newspaper.
Content type: Newspaper articles, primary sources
Coverage dates: 1881-1997
Full page digitization of the newspaper, including all articles, illustrations, and advertisements.
Language: English
Keywords: ProQuest Historical Newspapers
San Francisco Chronicle (Historical and Current) This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Find articles from the major newspaper for San Francisco, including current and historical print issues.
Content type: Newspaper articles, primary sources
Coverage dates: 1865-present
Excludes website-only content. The historical newspaper issues (1856-1984) are provided as full page scans, which include images and advertisements. All issues 1985-present are available as text only.
Language: English
San Diego Union-Tribune (Historical and Current) This link opens in a new window
The San Diego Union Tribune, with full newspaper (text and images) from 1871-1983 and plain text from 1984 to present.
Full page scanned images of the entire newspaper (articles, photos, ads, etc.), from 1871-1983. Issues from 1984-present includes text of articles only (no images or ads).
Language: English, Spanish
Sacramento Bee (Historical and Current) This link opens in a new window
Full text with images for the Sacramento Bee (1857-1983) and plain text coverage 1984 to present. An important source for news and information about California Government
Full page scanned images of the entire newspaper (articles, photos, ads, etc.), from 1857-1983; 1984 - present includes text of articles only (no images or ads).
Language: English
Keywords: Sac Daily Bee
Boston Globe, Historical This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Includes access to full page scans of the Boston Globe newspaper.
Content type: Newspaper articles
Coverage dates: 1872-1989
Language: English
Keywords: ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Search here for full text articles from newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press.
Content type: Scholarly articles, newspaper articles, magazine articles, trade journal articles, dissertations and theses, conference proceedings, blogs
Coverage dates: 1959-present
Includes unique community publications as well as top scholarly journals on ethnicities and ethnic studies.
Language: English, Spanish, French, etc.
Keywords: News Watch
Chicago Defender, Historical This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Main newspaper for the African-American community in Chicago.
Content type: Newspaper articles
Coverage dates: 1910-1975
Full digitization of the newspaper, meaning all articles, illustrations, and advertisements are included.
Language: English
Keywords: ProQuest Historical Newspapers

Internet Archive
Exhaustive repository of and gateway to recordings, videos, and texts. A good place to find multi-media.
more...less...
Grateful Dead concerts, old commercials, links to e-book projects -- also home to "The Way back Machine," which is itself a history of the World Wide Web.

Proquest Historical Black Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Search the major Black newspapers of the United States from the twentieth century.
Content type: Newspaper articles, primary sources
Coverage dates: 1893-2005
Contains: Atlanta Daily World, (1931-2003); Baltimore Afro-American, (1893-1988); Chicago Defender, (1909-1975); Cleveland Call and Post, (1934-1991); Los Angeles Sentinel, (1934-2005); New York Amsterdam News, (1922-1993); Norfolk Journal and Guide, (1916-2003); Philadelphia Tribune, (1912-2001); and Pittsburgh Courier, (1911-2002).
Language: English
African American Newspapers, Series 1, 1827-1998 This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore articles in African American newspapers from across the U.S. to learn more about African American history, culture and daily life in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Content type: Newspaper articles
Coverage dates: 1827-1998
Covers topics from life in the Antebellum South to the long Civil Rights Movement and beyond.
Language: English

Chronicling America: Historical Newspapers at the Library of Congress