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 and microfilm collection of historical newspapers that are valuable to many areas of research. Articles have been indexed to make subject and keyword search easy.
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 important artist's 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 Historical Newspaper Collection from ProQuest are:
- Hartford Currant, 1764 to 1922.
- New York Times, 1851 to 2005.
- Los Angeles Times, 1881 to end of 1986, not all issues.
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.
How do you get access to these historical newspapers? Get to them by selecting the Databases links on our home page, then either the Newspapers - Historical link from the alphabetical list or Historical Newspapers under the Newspaper heading on the subject list. You will need to enter your current UNH network log-in before access is granted. 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.
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."
For help click the Search Tips button next to the Search Box or the Help link in the top right corner of the search screen. Do not hesitate to ask a librarian for assistance by coming to the Information Desk, calling 203-932-7194, or e-mailing LibraryHelp@newhaven.edu .
Newspaper Images and Other Historical Newspaper Resources
AP Images is a database of images and graphics from the Associated Press, some dating back over 100 years. It contains both historical and contemporary images.
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, search the Journals link on the library's 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 in the Reference Room. 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. 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
Brooklyn Eagle. 1841-1902 and continuing. This newspaper, once the most widely read in America, is being digitized by the Brooklyn Public Library. The paper ceased to publish in 1955. However, a current paper sees itself as the Brooklyn Eagle's successor, with information on the connection.
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 at LibraryHelp@newhaven.edu
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