Newspapers as Primary Sources
As a review, primary resources are resources that are from the historical period that you are researching. Searching historical newspapers can be a little tricky. If you are unfamiliar with your historical figure, event, or time frame, start with reference resources first.
Here are examples of what would be an appropriate newspaper article as a primary resource on Florence Nightingale.
Who is Mrs. Nightingale? (1854, November 23). Evening Post. pp. 1. Retrieved from America's Historical Newspapers database.
- This is a good primary source since Florence NIghtingale lived from 1820-1910 and the article was published in 1854
Search Tips
To search the newspaper effectively:
- Use individual names
- Filter results by time period
- Pay attention to the full information listed in the database names to make sure your time period and location are appropriate areas to search for your topic
Databases
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Readers' Guide Retrospective: 1890-1982 This link opens in a new windowIndexes the most popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States from 1890 to 1982.
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NewspaperArchive - Virginia This link opens in a new windowFull text pdfs for select historical newspapers from the state of Virginia, includes publications from Danville, Harrisonburg, and Petersburg.
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America's Historical Newspapers: 1690-1922 This link opens in a new windowCover-to-cover digitized historic newspapers from every state in the US from Readex.
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New York Times: Historical This link opens in a new windowFull page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue to about 3 years ago.
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American Periodicals Series This link opens in a new windowDigitized American magazines and journals of all types, including America's first scientific journal, from ProQuest.
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Periodicals Archive Online This link opens in a new windowFull text for journals published in the arts, humanities and social sciences.
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Washington Post: Historical This link opens in a new windowFull page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue to about 15 years ago.
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Times Digital Archive This link opens in a new windowFull text PDF facsimiles of specific articles as well as complete pages, including photos and advertisements, from every issue of the London Times.
