Skip to Main Content
Research Guides

United States News & Magazines

World News & Magazines

Newspapers as Primary Sources

Black and white image of the front page of The New York Gazette newspaper.

 

17th and 18th and early 19th century newspapers are distinctly different in nature from modern papers. According to Jeremy Black, the "news was still predominately political, the reports derivative, anonymous and impersonal... There was little in-depth analysis; events were the focus of attention and the background was rarely described adequately. Most items were short, without explanation or introduction."*

Help: Analyzing Newspapers,  Analyzing a Colonial Newspaper

* Griffiths, Dennis, ed., The Encyclopedia of the British Press 1422-1992. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992.

Help finding newspapers in the UW Libraries

  • Search our Microforms & Newspapers Collection database to see which newspapers we hold in print and on microfilm. 
  • Use UW Libraries Search to locate newspapers (online or on microform) by title or place of publication. Type in the place AND newspaper. For example:  Seattle AND newspaper. On the results screen choose the Resource Type "Journals" from the left toolbar.
  • Use the databases on this page for news stories published about your topic. 

Not finding what you need?  Ask Us

Indexes