"Newspapers are the first rough draft of history."
Who said that first?
In the News & Newspapers Subject Guide (link below) click on the "Historical News" tab.
(To view all Subject Guides go to the library's homepage on the right under RESEARCH and click on Subject Guides)
Historical files of many major newspapers are available through ProQuest databases. Searching all of the ProQuest Historical Newspapers is a bit awkward. Here is the best way we've found:
From the library's homepage under RESEARCH, click on Search Databases. Click on "N" and then click on New York Times - Historical. On the very top left of the screen, you will see a blue bar and a magnifying glass icon. Click on the link "Searching: 1 database." Scroll down to ProQuest Historical Newspapers. Check the papers you would like to include in your search.
Here are your choices as of January 2014:
American Hebrew & Jewish Messenger (1857-1922)
Atlanta Constitution (1868-1945)
Atlanta Daily World (1931-2003)
The Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988)
Baltimore Sun, The (1837-1992)
Chicago Defender (1910-1975) (1910 - 1975)
Chicago Tribune (1849-1990)
Los Angeles Times (1881-1990)
New York Times (1851-2009)
Wall Street Journal (1889-1996)
Washington Post (1877-1997)
AU Library has hundreds of facsimile volumes of Radical newspapers published from 1881-1961. These and other volumes are shelved in our WRLC storage facilty. They may be requested by using the red REQUEST button on the the WRLC catalog. The volumes will be sent to the Borrowing Desk. They may need to be used in the library.
Years of coverage are approximate.
American Appeal 1926-27
American Socialist 1914-17
American Spectator 1932-34
Catholic Worker 1933-1961
Champion 1936-1937
Conscientious Objector 1943-46
Industrial Unionist 1932-34
Industrial Worker 1909-1911
Labor Action 1940-1958
Militant & New Militant 1928-1936
New Day 1920-1922
New Student 1922-1925
New York Communist 1919
Revolutionary Age 1918-19; 1929-32
Spanish Revolution 1936-38
Socialist 1919
Wilshire's 1904-1909
Weekly Review 1940-1943 (earlier years in storage)
Workers Age 1932-1941
Young Spartacus 1931-1935
Young Worker 1924-1936
Partial List of Additional Volumes in storage at the WRLC Center. These will be sent on request to the Borrowing Desk. The volumes must be used in the library.
AU Library has hundreds of facsimile volumes of African American newspapers published between 1840 and 1950. The Folio (oversized) volumes are shelved in the WRLC offsite storage facility but may be requested by using the red REQUEST button on the WRLC catalog page.
Here are some sample volumes:
National Era 1847 -1860
National Principia 1859-1861
National Anti-Slavery Standard 1840-1870