Finding The News
Introduction
Today's News ~ Post-1980 News
Pre-1980 U.S. News ~ Pre-1980 International News
Ethnic News ~ Paper of Record ~ Where Are the Newspapers?
Early American Newspapers ~ Early English Newspapers
INTRODUCTION
Finding news coverage can be complex and confusing. A variety of
sources exists, and you will use different sources depending on the date of an
event and the geographic location of the event, the perspective desired, the format of the content, and availability and format of indexing or searching capability. Public indexing of many newspapers is a relatively recent phenomenon although some retrospective indexing of major newspapers is underway.
This guide is a brief overview of some major newspaper indexes and full-text newspapers resources. Consult reference staff for further guidance.
Caveat emptor--LOST CONTENT: Be aware that access to newspaper articles can be compromised. Here are three ways:
The Tasini decision. In September 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Tasini et al. v. The New York Times et al. that freelance writers must be paid additional compensation if their work was included in an online database (i.e., LexisNexis). As a result, online database providers removed many freelance-authored newspaper articles from their databases. These articles are available in the print editions. More information on Tasini from Lexis Nexis.
Different editions: Newspapers often publish different editions for
different cities or regions of the country. Articles that appear in one
regional edition do not appear in all. Some newspapers also publish
separate geographical supplements with unique content. In addition,
newspapers publish chronological editions; articles in the early editions
may not appear in later editions and vice versa. Usually only one edition
is microfilmed. Articles in some online news sources are serially updated and the earlier updates disappear; in effect there are no editions.
Data loss: Some of the news that has been archived digitally or on film is irretrievably lost through data corruption, orphaned data files, or physical and environmental damage to the archived medium (i.e., microfilm). Newsprint disintegrates. News content may become unavailable due to software or hardware obsolescence--the infrastructure to access the data may no longer be available.
Formats available.
Newspapers and the news are currently available in seven formats: online plain text, online PDFs, online direct, broadcast, microform, CD-ROM, and paper. The Newspaper Formats web page lists the uses and limitations of each format.
TODAY'S NEWS COVERAGE
Until recently, coverage of breaking news was available only through broadcast
and cable television and radio news services. In the last few years, television
news organizations (CNN, MSNBC) have developed Web sites that offer access to
current news, sports, and weather information. Newspapers soon followed suit with
Web sites that offer Web access to many of the stories that appear in the daily
print newspapers, but updated throughout the day.
Now access to full-text, full-color versions of hundreds of newspapers is available in our newest newspaper database, Library PressDisplay. Each issue is available for 60 days. Try it!
More News Sources on the Internet:
ABYZ NewsLinks gathers links to news sources worldwide.
See also Dow Jones Factiva's Newsstand for current stories from a few newspapers and news magazines.
Factiva is a subscription database that provides access to global news
and business information, including local newspapers, same-day news wires, company
reports, and media programs. You can choose to browse stories and market data
from the major countries worldwide.
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POST-1980 NEWS COVERAGE
Newspaper indexes and full-text newspapers/news services.
Comprehensive text searching and access to U.S. and international news by computerized newspaper databases begins for most titles around 1980. A major exception is ProQuest Historical Newspapers which provides searchable full-image databases from the beginning for The New York Times (1851 to 2006), The Washington Post (1877 to 1993), and The Wall Street Journal (1889 to 1992). See more information below.
News services provide news summaries or digests culled from a number of sources.
ABI/Inform Dateline. ProQuest. [part of ABI/Inform: click on the "Select multiple databases" link and check this title only]
(Library Home/Database Names)
Regional U.S. business news. ABI/Inform Dateline focuses on hard-to-find local and regional business news coverage of large corporations, privately held companies, local start-ups, executive profiles, marketing, finance, and industry news. Provides access to business information not typically found in national news sources. Contains news and analysis, information on local markets, and more gathered from major business tabloids, magazines, daily newspapers, wire services, and city, state, and regional business publications. Cornell only. List of titles included in this database.
Access World News [was America's Newspapers]. NewsBank.
(Library Home/Database Names)
Access World News features the text content of over 2,700
U.S. newspapers and newswires and an increasing number of international news sources. Starting dates for each newspaper vary. Good access to many regional and local newspapers. The Ithaca Journal (1/26/2002 to date) is now in the Newspapers section of ProQuest.Cornell only.
Alt-Press Watch. ProQuest.
(Library Home/Database Names)
Full-text database of selected newspapers, magazines, and journals of the alternative and independent press. Coverage of the peace movement, ecology and the environment, labor, indigenous peoples, public policy, and grassroots organizing. This coverage of diverse points of view and perspectives complements the reporting in the mainstream press.
Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports, 1974-1996.
Created by the U.S. intelligence community to benefit policy makers and analysts, FBIS Daily Reports offer foreign views and perspectives on historical events from thousands of monitored broadcasts and publications. Translated into English from more than 50 languages, these comprehensive media reports from around the globe include news, interviews, speeches and editorial commentary. The FBIS Daily Reports in this collection cover April 1974 through September 1996.
For coverage from 1947-1974, see Finding Foreign Broacast Information Service Documents.
For coverage after 1996, see World News Connection.
Latin American Newsstand. ProQuest.
A searchable full-text database of newspapers from Latin America--most coverage begins in 2005, but see title list for specific dates. A related resource for print sources is the list of Latin American newspapers and news magazines in Olin Library.
LEXIS/NEXIS Academic.
(Or search "lexis" in Library Home/Database Names)
An international online news and legal database originally created for lawyers, businesses, and broadcast and print news organizations. Contains the the text of a number of large- and medium-size newspapers around the world; transcripts of broadcast news shows, interviews, and press conferences; local and state business publications; international wire services; and legal materials. Updated daily. Content
for most titles begins in 1980 or after. Use is limited to Cornell students and faculty.
Librarian's Index to the Internet (LII): Newspapers. Coverage varies.
A searchable subject directory of more than 10,000 Internet resources selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness. The newspaper section of LII cites, annotates, and maintains links to major aggregators of news and newspapers available free on the Internet.
World News Connection. 1995-.
(Or search "wnc" in Library Home/Database Names)
A foreign news service from the U.S. government that provides the text of English translations for international newspaper articles and radio/television broadcasts. Coverage begins in 1995. Be sure to log out after use.
For coverage before 1995, see Finding Foreign Broacast Information Service Documents.
Indexing and full-text articles for major business newspapers (i.e., the Wall Street Journal) and some major U.S. dailies are available in Factiva.
See also ETHNIC NEWSPAPER INDEXES.
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PRE-1980 U.S. NEWS COVERAGE
ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
(Library Home/Database Names)
Access to scanned pages of three major U.S. newspapers: The New York Times, 1851 to 2005; The Wall Street Journal, 1889 to 1991; and The Washington Post, 1877 to 1992.
In addition, printed newspaper indexes cover some individual newspaper titles before
1980. For events of national interest in the years before 1980, you can use the
New York Times Index (1851 to date), the Washington Post Index (1971-
), the Wall Street Journal Index (1955 to date), and the Christian Science
Monitor Index (1949 to date) in Olin Reference. The Wall Street Journal
Index is also available in the Management Library from 1958 to date.
New York Times Index. New York: The Times, 1851- .
(Olin Ref 1851-; ILR Ref 1933-)
A semi-monthly printed subject index to the New York Times, cumulated annually. Useful in locating material in other newspapers because it can be used to date events. Brief synopses of articles answer some questions without having to go to the paper itself. Citations include date, page, and column number. The arrangement and subject headings are unique to this index, so check the front of the volume for instructions. You can use this index to follow the course of particular events throughout the year. Narrow topics are often cross-referenced to an article listed under a broader topic.
Personal Name Index to The New York Times Index. Succasunna, NJ: Roxbury Data Interface, 1976- .
(Olin Ref + AI 21 .N56)
An index to the volumes of the New York Times Index rather than to the newspaper itself. References are to the date and page of the index volumes. It brings together in a single alphabetic sequence names found throughout the index volumes, including names appearing in index categories such as "Book reviews," "Concerts," "Deaths," "Disappearances," etc. (Sheehy) This index covers 1851-1989.
OTHER INDEXES TO U.S. NEWSPAPERS: See our detailed
list of the U.S. newspaper indexes in Olin Library.
UNDERGROUND NEWSPAPERS ON MICROFILM. Three unindexed microfilm collections of underground newspapers (covering the 1960s to 1980s) are housed in Olin Library: Underground Newspaper Collection (476 reels, Film 3055), Hoover Institution Supplement to Underground Press Collection (16 reels, Film 3055A), and UMC Library Underground Newspaper Collection (9 reels, Film 8224). Guides for all three collections are shelved in the microform guide area in Olin Reference. Records for every title in the Underground Newspaper Collection are searchable in the Cornell Library Catalog.
In addition, Olin Library houses a large number of unindexed newspapers from before the twentieth century. See EARLY AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS for more information.
DISCOVERING U.S. NEWSPAPERS HOLDINGS OUTSIDE CORNELL
The WorldCat database is a searchable catalog of many U.S. newspaper titles and the libraries that own them.
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PRE-1980 INTERNATIONAL NEWS
International News Services:
Keesing's Online: Keesing's Record of World Events. Coverage note: Online full text coverage 1960 to date; online indexing, 1931- . Our print version covers 1940/43- .
Keesing's Online is the web-based version of Keesing's Record of World Events (1987- , Olin + D 410 .K26) and Keesing's Contemporary Archives (1940-1986, Olin + D 410 .K26). It is an authoritative monthly digest of worldwide political, diplomatic and economic affairs.
See also LexisNexis Academic.
International Newspapers:
Olin Library subscribes to many international newspapers, both in English and other languages. Most of these papers are available in the Newspaper Room, downstairs in Olin Library. The Asian papers are shelved in the severinghaus Reading Room in the Kroch Library Asia collections.
An index to the Times of London is available online:
Palmer's Index to the Times, 1790-1905 and The Official Index to the Times, 1906-1980. (search "historical" newspapers in Library Home/Database Names)
Historical Newspapers Online offers online indexing to the The Times of London from 1790 through 1980. This is the longest run of indexing available for any newspaper.
Examples of major international newspapers with separate print indexes:
Times, London. London: Times Newspapers Ltd.
(Olin Reference; see also the online index in Historical Newspapers Online above)
Subject access is provided for 1785 through 1941 by Palmers Index to
the Times. In addition to providing an invaluable source of information on
world events during this early time period, the index has an obituary section
under the heading "Deaths" which frequently supplies biographical information
not available elsewhere. The Annual Index began, with much more detailed entries,
in 1906, the title changing to the Official Index in 1914. The Times of London
is located in the Newspaper Room (Film 308). The indexes are located in Olin Reference
(AI 21 T58).
Le Monde. Paris: Le Monde, indexed 1944/1945-1951, 1958, 1965-1968, and 1985- .
(Olin Reference)
Le Monde (Film 481) has been published since 1944. It continues a newspaper called Temps (Film 2663), which began publication in 1861. The Index to Le Monde is in Olin Reference (+AI 21 .M741). A searchable full-text version of Le Monde is also available in the Electronic Text Center from 1995; ask at Olin Reference.
OTHER INDEXES TO INTERNATIONAL NEWSPAPERS: See our detailed list of international newspaper indexes in Olin Library.
Asian newspapers and indexes to Asian newspapers are kept in the Severinghaus Reading Room in Kroch Library.
DISCOVERING INTERNATIONAL NEWSPAPER HOLDINGS OUTSIDE CORNELL
ICON: International Coalition on Newspapers: Titles Preserved through ICON. Bibliographic information only. List of international newspapers preserved on microfilm. Linked CRL catalog includes specific holdings. Titles available from CRL via ILL. ICON's searchable union list of international newspapers; good historical data with preservation status and holdings information.
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ETHNIC NEWSPAPER INDEXES
Black Newspapers Index . Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International, 1977- .
(Africana Reference AI 3 .I365+)
Provides abstracts and comprehensive indexing of all significant articles in eight major black newspapers: the Afro-American, American Muslim Journal, Amsterdam, Chicago Defender, Call and Post, Journal and Guide, Los Angeles Sentinel, and the Michigan Chronicle.
Ethnic NewsWatch. Stamford, CT: Softline Information, 1960- .
(Library Home/Database Names)
Now part of the ProQuest databases, this source contains the searchable full text of over eighty ethnic and minority newspapers in the United States. Several Spanish language newspapers are available; the database is searchable in English and in Spanish.
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PAPER OF RECORD
Paper of Record. Ottawa, Ontario: Cold North Wind.
As of March 2009, swallowed by Google News Archive [http://news.google.com/archivesearch]. Contents (e.g., Sporting News) not currently available. It consisted of page PDFs of an oddball selection of titles mainly from Mexico, the U.S. and Canada in English and Spanish. Current discussion on this Google News Help thread.
In a class by itself, this eclectic source contained the searchable full text of over 200 newspapers. with extensive coverage of newspapers from Mexico and Canada, particularly from the 1800s. The primary U.S. title is The Sporting News, covered from 1886 to 2002, with short runs of other titles. Also of interest are longer runs of the Baltimore Afro American and the Williamsport [PA] Sunday Grit.
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WHERE DO I FIND THE PAPERS?
CURRENT ISSUES IN PRINT:
Olin Library subscribes to many newspapers from around the world (Asian newspapers are in Kroch Library). Current print issues of newspapers are available in paper until superseded by microfilm. These issues are available in the Current Periodicals and Newspapers Reading Room, Olin Library Room 101. Examples of U.S. newspapers available:
- Albany Times-Union
- Atlanta Constitution/Journal
- Boston Globe
- Chicago Tribune
- Los Angeles Times
- New York Times
- USA Today
- Wall Street Journal
- Washington Post
BACK ISSUES IN PRINT:
Miscellaneous Newspapers. [Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Library, Reference Dept., 199u]-
(Web page: http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/oldnewslist.html)
An online list that includes all the miscellaneous print newspaper issues located on the B (Lower) Level of Olin Library. These issues there are older, and most runs are not very large--some are singe issues. Some of these papers are bound and cataloged, but many are not. Includes papers classified as "AN" and "NY1", as well as foreign papers and papers for U.S. states other than New York.
BACK ISSUES ON MICROFILM:
Back issues of these newspapers on microfilm are shelved by microfilm number in the B (Lower) Level of Olin Library. To find the microfilm number for these newspapers, search the Cornell Library "Classic" Catalog by title. If you don't find what you want, ask for help at the reference desk on the main floor of Olin Library.
BACK ISSUES ON THE WEB:
Find major newspapers and news services available on the Web by using ABYZ NewsLinks which gathers links to news sources worldwide. Look for a search box or an archives link on these pages to find articles in back issues. Length of time archived varies widely.
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EARLY AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS
Olin Library also owns a large number of newspaper titles published in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in the United States. Many of these titles are now available in America's Historical Newspapers, an online database from readex which has subsumed the titles in the large microform set, Early American Newspapers. A few are available in the original paper format. Others are on CD-ROM in the Electronic Text Center.
America's Historical Newspapers, 1690-1876: including Early American Newspapers, Series I, is the place to search for the full text of these remarkable historical documents. Articles are reproduced as PDFs.
Titles in Early American Newspapers, 1704-1820 (Readex microcard set located on the Lower Level of Olin Library, Microprint 21) are searchable in the Cornell Library Catalog. The following Command Keyword search brings up records for all the newpaper titles in the set: "early american newspapers" and microopaque. Microopaque is the technical term for microcards, an earlier microform technology that mounted the reduced photographic page images on card stock. See the Early American Newspapers Web page for more details.
The Newspaper File also lists newspapers in print and microform by the state and city where they were published. Check at the Olin reference desk for assistance using this card file.
In addition to the above, the following CD-ROMs are available in the Electronic Text Center (located near the Olin reference desks).
- African American Newspapers, The Nineteenth Century. Seven newspapers written by and for African-Americans, published between 1827 and 1902.
- The Civil War, A Newspaper Perspective. Three newspapers with three different perspectives on the war: The Charleston (SC) Mercury, The New York Herald, and The Richmond (VA) Enquirer. Over 11,000 articles from 2500 issues published between November 1, 1860 and April 30, 1865.
- Pennsylvania Gazette. Transcribed articles that appeared in this newspaper from 1728 to 1783. The Gazette was published by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia.
- Performing Arts in Colonial American Newspapers. Transcribed articles about music, theater, and dance published in colonial American newspapers between 1690 and 1783, indexed by name subject, genre, and title.
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EARLY ENGLISH NEWSPAPERS
Another large microform set, Early English Newspapers, 1622-1820 (Microfilm
set located on the Lower Level of Olin Library, Film 5053) contains hundreds of
newspapers published in England. See the Early
English Newspapers Web page for more detail. Records for individual newspaper
titles are in the Cornell Library Classic
Catalog (Command Keyword search: "early english newspapers" and microform).
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A FINAL NOTE
This Web page is a brief overview of the newspaper resources available from Olin Library. For additional assistance, consult with the staff at the reference desks in Olin and Uris Libraries.
Go to Library Research: A Hypertext Guide
Return to How to Find Periodicals
Return to News Research Guides and Lists
Go to other Skill Guides
Revised 22 October 2009 [MOE]
Michael Engle and Megan Perez
Research & Learning Services
URL: http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill21.htm
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