Yale University Library Research Guides: AMST 191: The Formation of Modern American Culture, 1920 to the Present: Primary Sources: Databases and Archives

Newspapers and Magazine Databases

ProQuest News and Newspapers
A key resource for 20th c. newspaper research. Among the 80+ collections are approximately 50 collections of historical newspapers including mainstream papers such as the New York Times, titles from the Black press such as the Chicago Defender, and collections of Communist and leftist newspapers including the Daily Worker.
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Access World News
Full-text information and perspectives from over 600 U.S. and over 700 international sources at the local, regional, national and international level. Coverage from ca. 1982 to present.
African American Periodicals, 1825-1995
Approximately 170 periodicals. Click here for title list.
America's Historical Newspapers
This database covers the colonial period to the late 20th c. Most of the content is pre-20th century, but several collections cover the 20th c. and include:
- 20th Century American Newspapers, Series 1-3
- African American Newspapers, Series 1 (1827-1998) and 2 (1835-1956)
- Ethnic American Newspapers, 1799-1971
- Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980
* Please note: a link to the new "America's Historical Newspapers" interface is available at the top of the page -- this interface provides an overview of all of the collections in the database and allows you to select multiple databases to search at the same time.
American Indian Newspapers
Independent Voices
A collection of digitized magazines, journals, newsletters, and newspapers of the alternative press spanning the 1960's to the 1980's.
Moscow News Digital Archive
Via publisher East View
Newspapers.com Library Edition
Historical newspaper archive providing online access to thousands of historical newspapers, dating from the early 1700s into the early 2000s.
Opinion Archives
A quirky and too often faulty search interface, but the only online access points for such journals of opinion as American Spectator, Commentary, Dissent, Harper's Magazine, New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, The Weekly Standard.
Press Reader
Provides interactive, digital access to nearly 7,000 newspapers and magazines globally. Coverage generally for the last 90 days.
Women's Magazine Archive
Coverage from late 19th c. to 2005 for the following magazines: Better Homes and Gardens, Chatelaine, Cosmopolitan, Essence, Good Housekeeping, Ladies' Home Journal, Parents, Redbook, Seventeen, Town & Country, Women's International Network News, Woman's Day
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Broadcast and Film:

60 Minutes: 1997-2014
Video archive of broadcast television program 60 Minutes.
Films on Demand
This resource provides full-length streaming videos and clips, including newsreels and video news footage. It covers different subject areas, genres and time periods, all drawn from various producers.
Vanderbilt Television News Archive

Digitized archival collections

Here are just a few examples of some of the primary source databases containing digitized manuscript collections that are available through Yale Library:

Archives of Sexuality and Gender
Brings together 54 collections of primary sources for the historical study of sex, sexuality, and gender. Access via Yale Library to collections in the following three broad archives:
- LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940, Part I
- LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940, Part II
- Sex and Sexuality, Sixteenth to Twentieth Century
Click on the "Collections" link in the navigation bar for an overview of all 54 collections.
Archives Unbound
Provides access to 205 digitized manuscript collections. Click on the "Collections" link for an overview. Filter by "Topic" in order to browse the subject areas that are covered.
Please note: the archival finding aids and other original archival descriptions are often not included in these collections, so this can be a challenging database to use. Please reach out for assistance if any of the collections are of interest or relevant to your research.
Indigenous Peoples of North America
A set of 52 collections spanning the 17th to 20th c. Includes manuscripts, rare books and monographs, newspapers, periodicals, census records, legal documents, maps, drawings and sketches, oral histories, photos, and videos. Click on the "Collections" link in the navigation bar for an overview of all 52 collections.
Latinx Thought and Culture: The NPR Archive,
Latinx thought and culture showcases two radio programs: the weekly Spanish-language Enfoque nacional, a weekly newsmagazine co-produced by NPR and member station KPBS in San Diego, California, that aired from 16 January 1979-11 March 1988 and its successor, the daily English-language Latin file, that aired from 1 August 1988-13 July 1989), available for the first time in a searchable database as digitized audio with transcripts. They focus on Latinx issues related to politics, sociology, human rights, the arts and more with interviews of key figures and news reporting by a new generation of Latino/a journalists at the time.
Music Online: American Music
A historical audio database of American music.
Oral History Online
This is an index to English language oral histories held by repositories and archives.
Popular culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975 : rock and roll, counterculture, peace and protest
This resource contains digitizations of popular culture collections from the U.S. and U.K. between 1950 to 1975. These original archival materials are from various libraries and archives. Topics include student protests, civil rights, consumerism, and the Vietnam War. The collection includes pamphlets, letters, government files, eye witness accounts, underground magazines, visual and video materials and ephemera and memorabilia. Part II contains additional material, such as music, press kits, mail order catalogues, advertising proofs, additional photos from the Mirrorpix archives, and documents on student unrest and the Troubles in Northern Ireland from the National Archives.
ProQuest Black Studies
This resource brings together many reference as well as primary and secondary sources. Includes collections of Black historical newspapers, archival primary source collections such as the Papers of the NAACP, academic journals, video content, and the Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience.
ProQuest History Vault
A large database of manuscript collections relating to 19th and 20th c. U.S. history, including the papers of the NAACP, CORE, SNCC, and other Civil Rights and Black Power organizations, and files regarding a wide variety of domestic affairs as well as foreign policy under the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations
Theatre in Context Collection
Includes reference and secondary works, as well as primary sources/theatrical ephemera.
Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000
Organized around the history of women in social movements in the U.S. between 1600 and 2000, this collection includes 124 document projects and archives with more than 5,100 documents and 175,000 pages of additional full-text documents, written by 2,800 primary authors.

Archives at Yale

You can search our database of archival finding aids, Archives at Yale, for archival materials that are located in one of the special collections repositories on campus. The following information will also be helpful:

The Guide to Using Special Collections at Yale University is a great introduction to finding and using special collections and archives held at Yale for your research projects.
The Primary Sources at Yale website is a great resource if you're not sure what types of materials might serve as primary sources for your research project. The section on database search strategies and using Advanced Search features is especially useful and will increase the power and focus of your database searches! Be aware that primary sources can be found in many library locations and resources other than the special collections units.

Finding Archives Beyond Yale

Archive Grid

Archive Grid contains records for finding aids from over 1000 archival institutions. Start here when you are seeking to discover if there are any relevant archival collections for your research beyond Yale. The "Summary View" option is a good way to filter your search results after running a search. This is an open access resource/no login required.

Freely available web resources

Don’t forget that archives and libraries around the world have been digitizing primary sources for two decades. Here are a few selected examples of these resources:

AMST 191: The Formation of Modern American Culture, 1920 to the Present: Primary Sources: Databases and Archives

Newspapers and Magazine Databases

Digitized archival collections

Archives at Yale

Finding Archives Beyond Yale

Freely available web resources

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