Historical Newspaper Collection

Newspapers in the Collection
Access to the Collection
Searching the Collection 
Current Newspapers 
Newspaper Images & Other Historical Newspaper Resources
Internet Resources 

The Marvin K Peterson Library has an online collection of historical newspapers that are valuable to many areas of research. The newspapers have been digitized so you can see the original images.  They have also been indexed, so you can search by subject as well as key words.  You can use terms we use today without having to know the terms people used over a hundred years ago. 

What can old newspapers tell us?  They report the news of the day as it happened.  They also include many items that tell us how daily life was lived: classified advertisements, cartoons and comics, editorials, book reviews, stock prices, recipes, obituaries and death notices. 

Who uses this kind of information? All areas of social science and humanities research: architecture; business; communications; criminal justice; economics; graphic arts; history; literature; media studies; music; popular culture; psychology; sociology; women's studies.  

Examples of research using this collection.  
*  Look at cigarette advertisements over several decades. The changing social position of women is documented in the number, size and text of cigarette  advertisements. The changes can be seen in the advent of advertisements directed at women, in the different appeals - to a women's independence, to glamour, etc.,  and in the amount of money spent on this advertising - number and size of ads. 
*  Find the cost of household items in different parts of the country, and in different years.
*  Read of Civil War battles 'hot off the press' in the New York Times.  What else was in the news then?
*  Read newspaper reports of the Boston Strangler, Unabomber, Black Dahlia, Zodiac Killer and others.
*  Look at the papers on, and a few days after, the date of an event we now accept as significant.  How was it reported?  Look at contemporary accounts of important events as well as retrospectives.
*  Read reviews of an artists' important gallery showing, or the opening of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.  
*  Even negative evidence can be informative.  For example, what do we know that happened, that was not reported in the papers at the time, or ever?  What does this tell us? 

Newspapers in the Collection

Newspapers in the Historical Newspaper Collection from ProQuest are: 
     Christian Science Monitor, Nov. 1908 to end of 1992.
     Los Angeles Times, 1881 to end of 1985, not all issues.
     New York Times, Sep. 1851 to end of 2002.
     Wall Street Journal July 1889 to end of 1988.
     Washington Post, Dec. 1877 to end of 1989. 

Check the database descriptions in ProQuest for up-to-date information, as this is a rolling archive for some papers -- coverage extends by one year annually.  

Access to the Collection

How do you  get access to these historical newspapers?  Get to them from here, or from any of the 'Databases' links on our home page.  In the Library, connect to our home page or use the ProQuest or iCONN icons on the Library Desktops.  If you access these from our web page you will need to come through the Proxy Connection using your current UNH ID number.  Make sure that you have selected only the Historical Collection, since these cannot be searched along with any of the other databases from ProQuest.  You can search several newspapers together IF they are in the same collection - historical or current.  So first of all, make sure that only historical newspapers are selected.  

Note: The Hartford Courant - Historical is not automatically selected if you click on the "ProQuest Historical Newspapers" link, above. If you would like to search Hartford Courant - Historical as well, you must click on "select multiple databases," then on the next screen check the box next to "ProQuest Historical Newspapers Hartford Courant 1764-1922."

Searching the Collection

Search Tips for Using the Collection.  Also look for the 'help' link at the top of the page when you sign on to the database, and do not hesitate to ask us for assistance.  Come to the Information Desk, call us at 203-932-7194, or e-mail us.

Current Newspapers

Our online Newspaper Collection, also from ProQuest, continues coverage, to the present, of the papers in the Historical Newspapers Collection, plus the Hartford Courant.  Note that you have to search the two collections separately.  So check the dates and see which collection you want. You can search more than one newspaper in either collection, but not both collections at once.

Newspaper Images and Other Historical Newspaper Resources

AP Photo Archive from iCONN.  A database of international and North American photographs and graphics such as maps, logos and illustrations from the Associated Press, dating back to 1826.

Besides the online versions in the Historical Newspaper and Newspaper Collections, we have the New York Times back to 1934 and the Wall Street Journal back to 1955 on microfilm as well.  The most recent editions are in paper, available at the Circulation Desk.  

To see what other newspapers, magazines and journals we have, use the Journals at the MKP Library link on our home page. 
 
If you are interested in finding local Connecticut newspapers for particular towns and time periods, use a print index called Newspapers in Connecticut institutions: Updated Through June 1997.  The call number is Z6952.C8 N4 1997, and it is kept near the Information Desk.  Volume 3 lists Connecticut towns, showing the local newspaper, changes in the name of the paper over time, and the relationships between papers. For example, the New Haven Register used to be called the Columbian Register, back in another century.  Another New Haven newspaper called the New Haven Palladium was taken over by the Morning Journal Courier in the early 1900s. The Palladium building still stands in downtown New Haven.  This is an extremely useful resource for finding out whether a newspaper existed in your town for a particular period, and what it was called. 

Free Historical Newspapers & Other Internet Resources

More and more, digitization projects make historical materials available online.  Here are some of major interest.  Search the Internet for other, freely available digitized projects, using Internet search engines like Google Scholar or Infomine. 

Brooklyn Eagle. 1841-1902 and continuing.  This newspaper was once the most widely read in America.  Digitized by the Brooklyn Public Library.  This link provides more information about and access to the paper.  Check  the conditions of use. 

The paper ceased to publish in 1955.  However, a current paper sees itself as the Brooklyn Eagle's successor, with information on the connection.

Harper's Weekly. The magazine from 1857-1912, indexed for topic and image.  The magazine was widely read, and so provides a valuable insight into life in America from the Civil War to the early 1900s.  Some free access to historical and commercial images. 

The Library of Congress's National Newspaper Digitization Program is an ambitious program to digitize and make searchable on the Internet most US papers from 1836-1922.  The program has just begun.   

Our History Resources and Finding Articles Library Guides provide more information on other historical periodicals and indexes in our Library.

Any Questions?  Come to the Information Desk, call us at 203-932-7189 or e-mail  us.

rev 6/06