History Research Guide

Using Newspapers in Historical Research

Newspapers can serve as useful primary sources for historical research. They reflect the time period in which they were created, and provide a glimpe into society at the time. Often, however, early periodicals are less readily available in libraries, and less thoroughly indexed than contemporary newspapers. This section is designed to highlight resources that are available locally, and suggest search strageties for locating this type of publication.

New York Times

Proquest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (1851-about 4 yrs ago)
Provides fully searchable electronic access to the New York Times from 1851-about 4 years ago (rolling wall). Includes full image of the actual newspaper articles. Illustrations and advertisements are usually included.

New York Times via Proquest (1980-present)
Use for electronic access to recent articles the New York Times.

New York Times (1857-present on microfilm)
AN2 .N49 (Satellite Shelving)
In most cases, one of the two databases above will be easier to use than the microfilm. Microfilm may be necessary if the full page image is needed.

Indexing:
New York Times Index
D. H. Hill Lib. AI21 .N44 (3rd floor bookstacks)
This is the standard print index to the New York Times. However, the above databases will be easier to use in most cases.

Proquest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times

Provides fully searchable electronic access to the Los Angeles Times from 1881-1987. Includes full image of the actual newspaper articles. Illustrations and advertisements are usually included.

The Times (London)

The Times (London) (1788-present on microfilm)
AN3 .T56 (Satellite Shelving)

Indexing:
The Times Index
D. H. Hill Lib.. AI21 .T5 (3rd floor bookstacks)

The News and Observer (Raleigh)

Guide to NCSU News and Observer holdings and indexes

Accessible Archives
Provides indexing and digital access to the following:
Godey's Ladys book, 1830-1880
The Pennsylvania gazette, 1728-1800
The Civil War, a newspaper perspective
African American newspapers, the 19th century

Newspapers in Microforms at NCSU Libraries

NCSU Libraries has many early newspaper runs in microfilm. Most of these are located at the Satellite Shelving Facility can be ordered using Tripsaver. Please consult the lists below.

Microfilm Newspapers List - Arranged Alphabetically by Title
Microfilm Newspapers List - Arranged by Region

Staff are available at D. H. Hill's main Circulation desk to assist users with the microform reading and printing equipment.

North Carolina Historical Newspapers

North Carolina Newspaper Digitization Project
Produced by the North Carolina State Archives, these are digitized versions of the earliest North Carolina newspapers from 1751 to the 1890s.

To locate other North Carolina newspapers on microfilm, see the North Carolina Newspaper Locator, and the North Carolina Newspapers page from the State Library of North Carolina:

Early Newspapers - More Information

Newspapers typically come out of local communities. They may be used to find information about people from a particular place and time. They might also be used for information about events that may not have received wide attention elsewhere.

Online Historical Newsapapers Website
This project is trying to track the digitization of local newspapers. Some, but not all, of newspapers are available free of charge.

The following sources are helpful for identifying the names of ealry newspapers from different places:

Union List of Newspapers
D. H. Hill Ref. Folio Z6945 .A53

Harvard Guide to American History (vol. 1, p. 131-144)
D. H. Hill Ref. Z1236.F7 1974

History and Bibliography of American Newspapers (Clarence Brigham)
D. H. Hill Lib. Z6951 .B86 1962

Chronological Tables of American Newspapers 1690 - 1820 (American Antiquarian Society)
D. H. Hill Lib Z6951 .L3

Concise History of the British Newspaper
Produced by The British Library

The British Library Newspapers Catalogue
The British Library Newspapers catalogue includes entries for over 52,000 newspaper and periodical titles, including: all UK national daily and Sunday newspapers from 1801 to the present.

Union List of Selected West European Newspapers and News Magazines in New York Metropolitan Libraries
Browse list by Country or by Title.

Often, however, early newspapers are only available at libraries in their own local regions. Major national newspapers are more readily available in many libraries. Due to their size and their tendency to deteriorate, early newspapers are usually not archived in their original print form. Traditionally, they have been preserved on microfilm. More recently, there have been projects to preserve some of this information digitally.

Librarian Contact Information

Cindy Levine, Reference Librarian for the Humanities
(919) 515-2915
cindy_levine@ncsu.edu