Using newspaper archives and cultural institutions for research
"This is what really happened, reported by a free press to a free people.It is the raw material of history; it is the story of our own times."— Henry Steel Commager, American historian (1902-1998) |
Newspapers can give contemporaneous context to large-scale movements and issues. They are a way of understanding the public opinion of a topic at a particular point and place in time.
Check out the interactive timeline below for an example of using newspaper archives and cultural institutions for research.
Note: The timeline is best viewed in a new window. Click the image below to follow the link.
Key places to start your research
Newspaper content can be sourced from a range of different places. You may need to search across multiple archives to find newspaper content from a certain time period.
UniSA Library databases:
- Australian and New Zealand NewsstreamRecords go as far back as 1996.
- NewsBank NewspapersNewspapers go as far back as 1986.
State and national library collections:
- NewspaperNTNewspaperNT is the collection of legal deposit newspapers published in the Northern Territory and is part of the Territory Stories collection at the Northern Territory Library.
- State Library of South AustraliaThe best method for searching the State Library of South Australia catalogue for newspapers is to search by newspaper title + 'n' (for newspaper). E.g. search for the Adelaide Times newspaper by typing 'adelaide times n'.
- Trove Digitised NewspapersNational Library of Australia
Which newspapers have been digitised?
Key places to find international news
UniSA Library databases:
- Canadian NewsstreamNewspapers go as far back as the 1970s.
- US NewsstreamNewspapers go as far back as the 1980s.
- NewsBank NewspapersNewspapers go as far back as 1986.
Other places to search:
- The British Newspaper ArchiveNewspapers go as far back as the 1700s.
- The New York Times Article ArchiveArticles go as far back as 1851.