The History and Future of the American Press: Find Early American Papers

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What's in the SBU library collection?

Available Online

African American Newspapers

1827-1998. Full-text. Online access to approximately 270 U.S. newspapers from more than 35 states—including many rare and historically significant 19th century titles. Beginning with Freedom's Journal (NY)—the first African American newspaper published in the United States—the titles in this resource include The Colored Citizen (KS), Arkansas State Press, Rights of All (NY), Wisconsin Afro-American, New York Age, L'Union (LA), Northern Star and Freeman's Advocate (NY), Richmond Planet, Cleveland Gazette, The Appeal (MN) and hundreds of others from every region of the U.S.

Early American Newspapers

Newsday - Historical file

This historical file of Newsday articles extends back to 1985. 

New York Times - Historical file

The Library has online access to pdf images of the New York Times back to 1851. You can search for a topic in this database of historical NYT issues, or you can search for a specific article if you have the citation.

New York State Newspapers

Washington Post Archive (1877-1994)

Use SEARCH to find an old newspaper

Search Journal section of SEARCH (the library catalog) by title if you know it.
Example: New York Herald

We have a Series of papers on microprint & microfilm called Early American Newspapers.

To see the individual titles in the series search by Title: Early American Newspapers

Also see Early American Newspapers, 1704-1820

Useful Subject headings in STARS:

AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS

AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS -- NEW YORK

NEW YORK (N.Y.) -- NEWSPAPERS

JOURNALISM -- UNITED STATES -- HISTORY

JOURNALISM -- UNITED STATES -- HISTORY -- 18TH CENTURY

JOURNALISM -- UNITED STATES -- HISTORY -- 19TH CENTURY
 

New York Historical Newspapers on the Web

Northern New York Historical Newspapers is a newspaper digitization project of the Northern New York Library Network.

Partial access available on the Web

Garrison's The Liberator at the Primary Research project (a project on local Boston history, provided by high school students)

The Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room at the Library of Congress provides an excellent webpage with links to some online resources, as well as leads for finding good print-only resources. Remember to check STARS when trying to determine if SBU libraries have a copy of an item. 

Library of Congress Chronicling America project

News Archives on the Web: A service of the Special Library Association's News Division

United States | Canadian |  Asian  | International

See also the Newspaper Archives on the Internet box below.

For early American magazines see:

American Periodical Series

Fulltext. 1741-1930. Over 1,100 American magazines spanning 200 years and covering nearly every aspect of American culture, especially its history, science, literature, music, legal structures, agriculture, theater, and politics. Titles range from Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine (first published in 1741) and America's first scientific journals, Medical Repository, as well as Scientific American, to literary and professional journals, specialized titles, and such well-known popular magazines as Vanity Fair, Ladies' Home Journal and The Dial.

Major Historical Sets

• Early American Newspapers – Microfilm A565
• Early American Newspapers, 1704-1820 – Microprint 4
• Underground Newspaper Collection* – Microfilm A178 [1963-1985]

Index to Underground Newspaper Collection: Microforms Library Z6944.U5 B4 [1963-1985]

• Alternative Press Collection* – Microfilm A178 [1986 – present]

Alternative press. A guide to the microform collection Z6944.U5 B4 [1986-present]

Other Major Papers

• New York Herald [1840-1919] – Microfilm A1
• New York Tribune / Daily Tribune / Herald Tribune [1841-1966] Microfilm 123
• Christian Science Monitor [1908-1925, 1960-present] Microfilm A26

Major Foreign Newspapers

• The Times (London, England) [1788-present] – Microfilm A6
• Le Monde (Paris, France) [1944-present] – Microfilm A4
• Le Temps (Paris, France : 1861) [1861-1942] – Microfilm A3
• Pravda (Moscow, Russia) [1917,1921-1975] – Microfilm A161

African-American Newspapers

• New York Amsterdam News (1919-present) – Microfilm A128
• Chicago Defender (1905-1966) – Microfilm A395
• Pittsburgh Courier [weekly] (1923-1947) – Microfilm A238

Special Collections

Have historic newspapers for Long Island.  Original newsprint copies and microfilm.  Most but not all titles are in  the catalog.  Consult with Kristen Nyitray, Head, Special Collections and University Archives at (631) 632-7119.

For information on historical Long Island newspapers, see Long Island Newspapers.

Listen to a selection of historical newspaper articles read aloud on LibriVox.

Listen to the Federalist Papers.

or to the Antifederalist Papers.

How do you find articles on specific topics within a newspaper?  It can be a difficlut process, but these indexes can help.

PRINT INDEXES (Located in the Central Reading Room, unless otherwise noted.)

• Christian Science Monitor: Newspaper Indexes AI21.c3 [1946-1994]
• Le Monde: Newspaper Indexes AI21.m6 [1944-1968]
• Wall Street Journal: Newspaper Indexes HG1.W26 [1955-present]
• Newsday: Newspaper Indexes AI21.N5 [1977-1985]
• Alternative Press Index: Main Stacks [1969-5 years ago-ish].