COM 428: Media and Peace: News Photos & News Articles

Using Photos & News Articles

Photographs provide information that you can't always get from a text source. They can provide details of everyday life, such as clothing or material culture, and they can document significan events, such as war or a space mission.

It is important to keep in mind that photographs are not an unbiased reflection of reality -- the photographer chooses what and how to depict a certain scene.

Help: Making Sense of Documentary Photographs, Analyzing Photographs

Newspapers provide 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.

Popular magazines (news, fashion, sports, etc.) also provide a good feel for the period. However since most magazines are national in scope, there is limited coverage of local topics. In addition to the articles, the illustrations and advertisements that are imbedded in magazines are useful primary sources especially for the study of consumerism, gender roles, material culture, history of technology, and popular culture.

Help: Newspapers

Finding News Photos

The following resources include news photographs. Some are databases of photographs and others are newspapers that published photographs to accompany news articles.

Photo Collections
LIFE Photo Archive
Provides access to about one million digital images within the collection of the Library of Congress' Prints and Photographs Division. Includes architectural and historical images, 1860s-1970s.
Redux Pictures - NYT Archive
Search and view the Redux Pictures photo archive which includes photos from the New York Times.
Newspapers
Baltimore Afro American
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Searchable database of newspaper page images, 1893-1988
Chicago Defender
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Searchable database of newspaper page images, 1905-1975. For 1975 to 1996, use Microfilm A4066. For 1999 to present, use Ethnic NewsWatch.
Los Angeles Times
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Searchable database of newspaper page images, 1881-1994. For coverage from 1995 to the present, use LexisNexis.
New York Times
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Searchable database of newspaper page images, 1851-2014. For 1990s to present, use NexisUni or ProQuest GlobalNewsstream.
Pittsburgh Courier
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Searchable database of newspaper page images, 1911-2002
Seattle Times
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Searchable database of newspaper page images, 1900-1984.
Included within the Readex America's Historical Newspapers collection.
For issues 1886 to 1900, use microfilm A419.
For issues published after 1984, use Access World News.
Times (of London)
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Searchable database of newspaper page images, 1785-1985
Times of India
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Searchable database of newspaper page images, 1838-2005. Library also has 1861-2003 on Microfilm A5725

Finding Newspaper Articles

Search these news databases to find articles that include the word 'peace.'

You can narrow your search results by setting these limits:

Limit Publication Date to one year
Limit to Headline/Lead Paragraph or Document Title

Additional news resources are listed on the News Guide.

Access World News
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Full-text, 1980s-present. Newspapers, transcripts, wire services, broadcasts. Includes the Seattle Times from 1985 to the present and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer from 1986 to the present.
ProQuest Newsstand
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Full-text, 1980s to present

Alt-PressWatch This link opens in a new window
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Selected newspapers, magazines, and journals of the alternative and independent press.
Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
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Journal, magazine, and newspaper articles written primarily by Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian & Pacific Islander, and Jewish people, covering 1959-present.