HSTAS 244 Imperialism and Anti-Colonialism in Asia: Primary: News & Magazines

Newspapers are a primary source providing a first rough draft of events. Since most newspapers are local in scope, there is good coverage of local issues. Newspapers also provide a good feel for the time period.

Most older newspapers do not include indexing. Usually you will need to browse through issues of a newspaper to discover its content.  Newspapers on microfilm are kept in the Microforms & Newspaper Collections on the ground floor of Suzzallo.

Help: Analyzing Newspapers & Newspapers

When searching any fulltext database such as the New York Times you may find the following strategies useful to narrow your search down to more relevant items.

• Limit your search by publication date
  
• When available use the Advanced Search option -- this gives you the flexibility of doing more complex searches
• If you get too many results see if there is a way to search just the headline of an article
• If available limit your search by publication type such as articles, editorials, advertisements
• Use a proximity operator if available (check the online help for the database) -- this will find your keywords within a certain range of words; e.g. within 10 words
  
• Be aware of changes in language and spelling over time.  For example articles written in 1965 will use USSR or Soviet Union rather than Russia; Negro rather than African American; articles from 1800 might use Hayti rather than Haiti.
  

The newspapers listed here are primarily English language newspapers. Some are available online while others are in microfilm.

The UW Libraries has an extensive collection of historic newspapers on microfilm housed in the Microform and Newspaper Collections, located on the ground floor of Suzzallo Library.  The best way to identify available newspapers on microfilm is to use the card catalog in the Microform and Newspaper Collections.  Printers and scanners are available to make copies.

For additional historic newspapers especially in the vernacular, see the subject guides for Southeast Asian Studies, South Asian Studies, Chinese Studies, Korean Studies and Japan Studies. For contemporary newspaper coverage (roughly since 1990) see the News subject guide.

The databases listed here are primarily lead to English language magazine. Some are available indexes that just provide citation information for an article, others include the fulltext.

For additional databases to magazines especially in the vernacular, see the subject guides for Southeast Asian Studies, South Asian Studies, Chinese Studies, Korean Studies and Japan Studies.