Introduction
You will be using a variety of databases and search interfaces. None work like Google at all. The databases of magazine & newspaper articles from the past are particularly difficult. Keep in mind that you are searching the words in the articles themselves in these historical newspaper databases, and, language changes! Read the tips given for the different databases very, very carefully.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Always be specific about the YEARS you want to search!
Newspaper & Magazine Articles from the Past
These are all newspaper databases. Note the dates for each one. For those that are not to a single newspaper, there are ways to limit the scope of your search geographically. Look for that!
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times This link opens in a new windowFull text of the Los Angeles Times newspaper from 1881 to present.
- San Francisco Chronicle: 1865-1984 This link opens in a new windowFull text of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper from 1865 to 1984.
- Proquest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post This link opens in a new windowArchive of the Washington Post newspaper (1877-1998).
These two databases are to magazine articles. Note the dates. They are the opposite of newspaper databases. In newspaper databases you are usually searching every word in the article. These databases use very few words! You are essentially searching the titles of the articles and then a FEW, sometimes VERY FEW, words added as subject headings to describe the focus of the article. You need to search creatively and maybe get suggestions from a professional librarian!
- Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective: 1907-1984 (H.W. Wilson) This link opens in a new windowIndexes nearly 1200 scholarly journals covering the entire range of the humanities and social sciences from 1907-1984. Also covers many important scientific journals through the 1950s. For indexing of articles appearing 1985-present, use Social Sciences Full Text and/or Humanities Full Text.
- Readers' Guide Retrospective: 1890-1982 (H.W. Wilson) This link opens in a new windowIndexes more than 3 million articles from about 370 general interest, popular, news, and even a few scholarly, English language magazines and journals published between 1890 and 1982.
Exercise
Let's look for some editorials in a variety of papers and magazines on the grape boycotts organized by the United Farm Workers and Cesar Chavez. I'm thinking 1968 would be a good year to aim for. Post a link and complete citation HERE.
For more fun, let's look for an article in a history magazine or journal about the grape boycotts. Post a link to the FULLTEXT of the article you find as well as a complete citation HERE. Keep in mind that you may need to use the Find It @ SCU Libraries link to get to the fulltext.
Finding History Journal Articles
To find articles about American history in history magazines and journals, use the database below. It also includes Canadian history. Probably you will want to put the word California in one of the search boxes. Then use the other boxes to add words describing other aspects of your topic. For example, if I wanted to search for articles on migrant farm workers in California, I could do this:
Note that I put an asterisk at the end of words that could have variable endings, like plurals!
Then, after doing the search and scanning some results, because I am observant, I would notice that the database used the term agricultural laborers as a Subject, and I would change my search and put this statement in the 3rd box:
"farm worker*" OR "agricultural laborer*"