Newspapers & Periodicals – Reference Sources

Harper's Weekly, July 14, 1904.

Bibliographies

American Newspapers, 1821-1936: A Union List of Files Available in the United States and Canada. New York: Kraus Reprint, 1967. Call Number: Ref folio Z 6945 .A53 1967. A union list of first importance, which lists the exact holdings of nearly 5,700 depositories such as libraries, county courthouses, newspaper offices, and private collections. Shelved in the checklist area.

Brigham, Clarence Saunders. History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820. Worcester, MA: American Antiquarian Society, 1947. Call Number: Ref Z 6951 .B86 1947. Includes 2,120 newspapers arranged alphabetically by state and town. With American Newspapers, 1821-1936, it forms a fairly complete list from 1690 to 1936. The Newberry holds a microfilm set of over 300 of these newspapers. Shelved in the checklist area.

Ulrich's Periodicals Directory. New Providence, NH: R.R. Bowker, 2000. Call Number: lower case a 49 .67. Shelved in Ready Reference.

Union List of Serials in Libraries of the United States and Canada. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1965. Call Number: Ref Z 6945 .U45 1965. Shelved in Ready Reference.

Histories and Guides

American Literary Magazines: The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. New York: Greenwood Press, 1986. Call Number: Ref PN 4877 .A44 1986.

American Literary Magazines: The Twentieth Century. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1992. Call Number: Ref PN 4877 .A45 1992.

British Literary Magazines. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1983. Call Number: Ref PN 5124 .L6 B74 1983.

Cates, Jo A. Journalism: A Guide to the Reference Literature. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2004. Call Number: Ref Z 6940 .C38 2004.

Hoffman, Frederick John et al. The Little Magazine: A History and a Bibliography. New York: Kraus Reprint Corp., 1967. Call Number: Ref PN 4836 .H6 1967.

Mott, Frank Luther. A History of American Magazines. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1938-1968. Call Number: Ref PN 4877 .M63 1938.

Mutch, Deborah. English Socialist Periodicals, 1880-1900: A Reference Source. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Pub. Co., 2005. Call Number: Ref Z 7165 .G8 M87 2005.

Riley, Sam G. Magazines of the American South. New York: Greenwood Press, 1986. Call Number: Ref PN 4893 .R54 1986.

Sloan, W. David. American Journalism History: An Annotated Bibliography. New York: Greenwood Press, 1989. Call Number: Ref Z 6951 .S54 1989.

Online Indexes

Chicago Tribune Database, 1849-1985. Available within the Newberry Library. This database offers full-text access to the Chicago Tribune, including access to advertisements and illustrations.

HarpWeek. Available within the Newberry Library. This database offers full-text access to Harper's Weekly from 1857-1912. A variety of finding aids are also included.

HeritageQuestOnline. Available within the Newberry Library. (Note: your home institution may offer remote access to this database.) HeritageQuestOnline offers access to the Periodical Source Index (PERSI), an index to articles in selected local history publications. The Newberry holds some of the journals included in PERSI.

JSTOR. A full-text database, available within the Newberry Library. The Newberry's subscription includes the complete back runs of 117 journals in fifteen disciplines. It includes many of the core research and society-published journals in economics, history, political science, and sociology, as well as other key fields.

New York Times Database, 1851-2003. Available within the Newberry Library. This database offers full-text access to the New York Times, including access to advertisements and illustrations.

OCLC FirstSearch. A collection of databases, available within the Newberry Library. FirstSearch provides access to the following databases:

  • Article First. Index of articles related to the humanities, popular culture, social sciences, and other subjects. Some full-text articles available.
  • ClasePeriodica. Index of Latin American journals. Includes some full-text articles.
  • ECO. A collection of scholarly journals. Includes some full-text articles.

ProjectMuse. Available within the Newberry Library. ProjectMuse is a full-text subscription database of articles published in Johns Hopkins University Press and other academic publishers' journals.

Print Indexes

The American Humanities Index. Troy, NY: Whitston, 1975. Call Number: Ref AI 3 .A278.

Balay, Robert. Early Periodical Indexes: Bibliographies and Indexes of Literature Published in Periodicals Before 1900. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2000. Call Number: Ref Z 6941 .B35 2000.

Book Review Digest. Bronx, NY: H.W. Wilson, 1906-1987. Call Number: Ref Z 1035 .A1 B66. Shelved after the New York Public Library Research Libraries Book Catalog.

Book Review Index. Detroit: Gale Research, 1965-. Call Number: Ref Z 1035 .A1 B68.

British Humanities Index. London: The Library Association, 1962-. Call Number: Ref folio AI 3 .B7. Covers about 375 British periodicals in the social sciences and humanities. Indexing does not include poetry, fiction, film, book, theater, or art reviews. Most brief items are also excluded. The quarterly numbers contain subject listings only; annual volumes list authors and subjects.

Cumulated Magazine and Subject Index, 1907-1949; A Cumulation of the F.W. Faxon Company's Annual Magazine Subject Index. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1964. Call Number: Ref AI 3 .C76.

Essay and General Literature Index. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1900-1933. Call Number: Ref AI 3 .E75. Index to essays published in collections, with particular emphasis on the humanities and, since 1970, the social sciences.

Humanities Index. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1974-. Call Number: Ref AI 3 .H85. An author/subject index to 260 of the most important scholarly periodicals in the fields of archaeology, classical studies, history, language, literature, literary and political criticism, philosophy, and religion. Since the change to its current title, Humanities Index includes an index to book reviews at the back of each issue. Issued quarterly with annual cumulations. Formerly International Index, 1907 to 1965; and Social Sciences and Humanities Index, 1965 to 1974.

Index to American Little Magazines, 1900-1919: To Which Is Added a Selected List of British and Continental Titles for the Years 1900-1950, Together With Addenda and Corrigenda to Previous Indexes. Troy, NY: Whitson, 1974. Call Number: Ref AI 3 .I536.

Index to American Little Magazines, 1920-1939. Troy, NY: Whitson, 1969. Call Number: Ref AI 3 .I538.

Index to Little Magazines. Denver: A. Swallow, 1940-. Call Number: Ref AI 3 .I54.

The New York Times Index. New York: New York Times, 1851-1992. Call Number: Ref AI 21 .N448 and .N45.

Nineteenth Century Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, 1890-1899, With Supplementary Indexing, 1900-1922. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1944. Call Number: Ref AI 3 .R47. Shelved in the checklist area.

Palmer's Index to the Times Newspaper. London: S. Palmer, 1837-1936. Call Number: Ref AI 21 .T45 and .T46. Continued by: The Official Index to the Times, 1936-1957; and The Times Index, 1957-1972.

Poole's Index to Periodical Literature. New York: P. Smith, 1938. Call Number: Ref AI 3 .P7 1938. Shelved in the checklist area. Covering 479 American and English periodicals, it is a subject index only and includes no author entries. A few other things to remember when using this index: 1) all articles having a distinct subject are entered under that subject; 2) articles having no subject -- e.g., fiction, poems, plays -- are entered under the first word of the title; 3) book reviews are entered in two ways: a) under the subject or b) if the book has no distinct subject, under the author's name. Brief articles and notes are omitted. Inclusive pagination and date are not given, but the latter can be worked out from the tables in front of each volume or by using Poole's Index Date and Volume Key. Shelved on Index Table 1.

C.W. Wall's Cumulative Author Index for Poole's Index to Periodical Literature, 1802-1906 (Ann Arbor: Pierian Press, 1971) can be quite useful, but one needs to remember that the name of an author is given in whatever form it appears in Poole's. If the same author uses his initials sometimes and his full name sometimes, his writings may not be together in the index. (Ref AI3 .W3. Also in the checklist area.)

Poole's Index to Periodical Literature: An Annotated List of Newberry Library Holdings. Compiled by Anna Smith. Unpublished, 1997. Shelved in the checklist area.

Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature. Minneapolis, MN: H.W. Wilson, 1905-. Call Number: Ref AI 3.R48.

Sader, Marion. Comprehensive Index to English-Language Little Magazines. Millwood, NY: Kraus-Thomson Organization , 1976. Call Number: Ref Z 6944 .L5 S23.

Social Sciences Index. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1974-. Call Number: Ref AI 3 .S62. Notes: Formerly International Index, 1907 to 1965; and Social Sciences and Humanities Index, 1965 to 1974. Includes 263 of the most important periodicals in the fields of anthropology, economics, law, political science, psychology, public administration, sociology, and related subjects. Issued quarterly with annual cumulations. The Newberry's holdings of this index cease in 1988.

The Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1966-1989. Call Number: Ref AI 3 .W45. Shelved in the checklist area. Also available on CD-ROM (3rd floor).