Working With Period Newspapers
Library Databases:
Below are listed primary source databases where you can access newspapers from Hamilton's America:
Newspaper Databases @ HC:
- Chronicling America This link opens in a new window
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Date(s): 1777-1963
Historic newspapers from all different U.S. states, hosted by the Library of Congress. - London Times Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
Date(s):1785-2019
Articles from the London Times, including all pictures and advertisements.
Newspaper Databases @ BPL:
With a BPL eCard, available to all Massachusetts residents (and students), you can also search the following:
- 17th & 18th Century Burney Collection NewspapersNewspapers, pamphlets, and broadsides gathered by the Reverend Charles Burney (1757-1817) representing the largest and most comprehensive collection of early English news media, containing approximately 1,270 titles from London, the British Isles, and the colonies (including New England).
- British Library NewspapersIncludes a wide variety of British papers ranging in date from the 1730s to 1950.
Primary Source Databases Containing Newspapers:
- American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals, Series 1 This link opens in a new window
Date(s): 1684-1820
Early American newspapers and magazines, digitized at the American Antiquarian Society (AAS) in Worcester. - Digital Commonwealth (Massachusetts Collections Online) This link opens in a new window
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Historical sources owned by libraries, museums and other institutions in the state of Massachusetts, browsable by topic, institution, format or location.
- Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive This link opens in a new window
Date(s): 1600-2000
Primary sources created by and about enslaved individuals and the practice of slavery around the world. - Slavery, Abolition & Social Justice This link opens in a new window
Date(s): 1490-2008
Primary sources created by and about enslaved individuals and abolition movements.
Suggested Web Resources:
There are many wonderful primary source collections available online through various museums, libraries and other cultural institutions. Below are listed a few such places where you can find early American newspapers:
- New Jersey Digital Newspaper ProjectA compilation of "all known digitized newspapers published in New Jersey, whether currently available or in process, including links and other access information." Organized by county, includes both free and subscription resources.
- North Carolina Newspapers (1751-1898)Available through the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center's DigitalNC Project
- Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive"The Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive is the gateway to the Commonwealth's historical full-text searchable newspaper database.
Newspaper titles and holdings will continue to be added as they become available from all 67 counties stretching back to our colonial roots to the present." - Virginia Chronicle"Virginia Chronicle is a historical archive of Virginia newspapers, providing free access to full text searching and digitized images of over a million newspaper pages."
- Virginia Gazette (Williamsburg, VA) (1736-1780)Available through the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's research website.
Analyzing Primary Sources
These resources will help you think through the process of evaluating primary sources:
- Patrick Rael, Reading, Writing, and Researching for History: A Guide for College Students(Brunswick, ME: Bowdoin College, 2004)
- Primary Source Analysis Worksheets - Digital HistoryUse these worksheets and other tools, originally developed by the National Archives, to help you analyze a range of primary sources including artifacts, cartoons, maps, movies, photos, posters, sound recordings, and written documents.
Understanding the 18th Century Press:
The resources on this tab are designed to help you understand the process of journalism and newspaper publishing in Hamilton's America.
Video Orientation to Antebellum American Newspapers (c/o American Antiquarian Society)
Websites, Articles & Chapters:
Books:
