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Latina/o Studies 405: Newspapers, Magazines, Oral Histories, and Archives

Newspapers | Magazines | Oral Histories | Archives | Search Tips

Newspapers

To identify what newspapers exist in a particular location, use Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media (Sawyer Reference PN4841.A1 I58).

ProQuest Historical Newspapers (US)
Searchable full-text articles and images from:

• Atlanta Constitution (1868-1939)
• Chicago Defender (1921-1975)
• Chicago Tribune (1849-1986)
• Christian Science Monitor (1908-1993)
• Hartford Courant (1764-1984)
• Los Angeles Times (1881-1986)
• New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993)
• New York Times (1851-2004)
• Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002)
• Wall Street Journal (1889-1990)
• Washington Post (1877-1991)

ProQuest National Newspapers (Current News)
Full-text of articles from the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and other highly circulated US newspapers.

Articles only - does not include graphics, photos, advertisement or classifieds. New York Times Magazine and Book Reviews are available as PDFs with graphics included.

Ethnic Newswatch (1990-Present; some coverage 1960-1989)
Full-text of articles from newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic minorities and native press in the United States.

ProQuest International Newsstand
Searchable fulltext (some citations) from over 170 English and non-English Language newspapers and newswire sources worldwide. Coverage for most sources begins in the late 1990s.

Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe - News
Provides access to full-text articles from U.S. national and regional news sources, English language newspapers and newswires from around the world. To select newspapers from a particular region or state, go to the Source tab, Browse sources. In step 1, leave the radio button on publication type. In step 2: choose United States and then the state or region; leave topics as All Topics. In Step 3, choose News folder and then Newspapers. Select all the newspapers wanted, enter a name in Name Selected Sources and press Continue. Can also use the link to State and Regional News Sources from the LexisNexis wiki (but it seems that the state databases include newspapers from other states--click the I button next to the database to see which publications are included.)

WestLaw Campus Research
While the name of this database emphasizes its legal materials, it also includes regional newspapers. To limit search to newspapers from a particular state, go to the Publications List (on the left) and choose the letter for the state. Then look for a database called [state] Newspapers - Campus (e.g. California Newspapers - Campus). Click the I button next to the database to see which publications are included.

Magazines

Readers' Guide Retrospective (1890-1982) and Readers' Guide Abstracts (1983-Present )
Index to articles in popular, general interest magazines published in the United States and Canada. The print version, available at the beginning of the Reference Collection, is good for browsing topics.

These databases do not have the full-text of the articles. To get the text:

• Click the Find Text button or do a journal title search in FRANCIS to find the magazine. Match the date you need with the "Library has" summary.
• If we don't have the periodical you need, request the article through WILL (Williams Interlibrary loan) listed in the Find Text menu or use citation linker.
• For periodicals in storage, use the request item in storage form.

Oral Histories

In the First Person (1500s - present)
Index to more than 3,350 collections of personal narratives (oral histories, letters, and diaries) in English from around the world. In some cases, the texts and/or audio files are linked and freely available. Most of the older materials are by subscription only.

Archives

To identify libraries and archives in a particular area, try these sources:

• American Library Directory (Sawyer Reference Desk Z731 .A64)
  Lists US and Canadian libraries by state and then city/town.
• Libweb
  Links to the web sites of US and international libraries. Has a location keyword search.
• ArchivesUSA
  Directory of 5,400 repositories and 132,000 manuscript collections of primary source materials. Repository entries contain contact information for the custodians of the collections.
• ArchiveGrid
  Index to major museum and archive collections in the United States and throughout the world. Contact information for accessing the collection is included.

Note: public libraries have the mission of preserving the local history of their town or city, so they often have archives. See also Doing Research in Special Collections and Archives.

Search Tips

• When searching historical topics, remember to use vocabulary that would have been used at the time.
• When searching full-text resources, limit search to "Citation and Abstract" and use proximity operators (within 3) to get more relevant results.
• Look for document type limits (e.g. interview, biography, editorial, speech, etc.) to get specific types of primary sources.
• Read database help for information on wildcards, operators, and other advanced search options.