The Written Word
What were people in the past reading?
Studying the media that people encountered in the past is a great way to consider what people were thinking and talking about in the past. Publications include a wide range of formats, including books, pamphlets, newspapers, and most recently, websites and social media.
When analyzing a publication, consider the following?
- Who wrote this, and why?
- Who was the intended audience?
- Which social groups had access to this and were able to read it?
- What details are left unsaid, perhaps taken for granted by the intended readership?
- Whose perspective is missing from this publication?
Historical Newspapers: Top Picks
Historical
- Times-Picayune [New Orleans] 1837-presentSearch across all available years of the New Orleans daily newspaper. Older in image and newer in plain text.
- Louisiana Newspaper Access ProgramDigital versions of Louisiana newspapers, as early as 1794 and as late as 1949.
- New Orleans BeeNew Orleans newspaper published from 1827 to 1925. It includes articles primarily French and English, with some Spanish. This site has two time sections: Sept. 1827 through Aug. 1881 and Sept. 1881 to Dec. 1923. No searching for text, only browsing by date.
- Maroon campus newspaperThe Maroon, the student newspaper of Loyola University New Orleans, has been published since 1923. The Maroon covers student life, campus activities, cultural and athletic events, Loyola University New Orleans administration, faculty and staff, and other features.
Twenty-first Century
- Louisiana NewspapersThirty-six full-text newspapers from Louisiana. Dates vary, most start around 2006-2012.
Individual Newspapers
- Chicago DefenderHistoric African-American newspaper for 1909-1975 for primary coverage of civil rights movement and more.
- New York TimesFull-text access to current and archive issues of the New York Times is provided by Monroe Library to all current students, staff, and faculty. First-time users will need to create an account using their Loyola email before logging in.
- Wall Street JournalAll Loyola faculty, staff, and students have access to their own individual WSJ subscription. Sign in through sso. This program is sponsored by the College of Business.
Collections of Newspapers
- Chronicling AmericaThis digitization project from the Library of Congress makes searchable thousands of American newspapers from 1789-1922.
- American Prison Newspapers, 1800-2020: Voices from the Inside
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An open-access, full-text database in image format containing hundreds of prison newspapers published in the US, including "special attention paid to women's-only institutions".
- Nineteenth Century U.S. NewspapersCollection of newspapers from the United States and its territories published between 1800 and 1899. Not every issue of every newspaper is available. Can search the entire collection at once; advanced search focuses by individual paper, type of article, and publication dates.
- Access World NewsA full-text collection of over 6700 primarily U.S. newspapers. Source for the New Orleans Advocate and Times-Picayune.
Newspapers listed here under the "World" category are generally published in languages other than English.
Latin America & the Caribbean
- Caribbean Newspaper Digital LibraryThis cooperative digital library for newspapers resources from the Caribbean and circum-Caribbean region is a particular collection of the Digital Library of the Caribbean.
- Hemeroteca Nacional de MéxicoA digitized collection of over 516 newspapers with coverage from roughly 1722–1889, made open access by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).
Europe
- Times (of London) Digital Archive 1785-2012The Times (of London) newspaper in full page image from 1785 through 2012. Advanced search to limit by type of article.
- Les principaux quotidiensIn French.
Newspapers published in French territory (including colonies) from the 18th century to the Second World War. Digitized by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. - Europeana NewspapersCurrently a prototype that aggregates 10 million historic newspaper pages from partner libraries throughout Europe. Coverage 1618-2016.
More Newspapers
For a more complete listing of newspapers available at FSU, visit the main Newspapers guide.
Popular Magazines
In addition to the digitized historical magazines below, don't miss the print magazine collection on the second floor of Monroe Library. Organized alphabetically, you'll find great examples of popular magazine, full of colorful ads and feature stories, including The Atlantic (1900-1993), Harper's Magazine (1939-1990), Life (1936-39, 1978-2000), National Geographic (1907-2016), Newsweek (1936-1989), Smithsonian (1970-2009), Time (1923-2016), and Vanity Fair (1928-1997).
- AAS Historical PeriodicalsFull-text primarily North American magazine and journal articles published between 1684 and 1912.
- HarpWeekBrowsable and searchable full text and images of the magazine Harper's Weekly for 1857 through 1877.
- Readers Guide RetrospectiveExplore articles in the popular press (not scholarly journals), reflecting 20th century American culture, society, science, and politics. Covers 1890 to 1982.