Steely Library Databases

Steely's databases provide students with access to articles from newspapers, magazines, and journals; this includes both primary and secondary sources. The databases highlighted below provide researchers with access to publications from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.

Click on the link below to watch a 45-second video demonstration on how to access Steely Library databases.

Databases Video Demonstration

 

The Historical New York Times

This is a popular resource for primary resource assignments, because it provides access to full-text articles from the New York Times back to 1851.

Limit your search by date in the Historical New York Times database

Hints for searching this database
  • Limiting your search by date will help focus your search and retrieve articles from a specific time period.
  • Click on the "Advanced" tab to add more keywords.
  • On the results list, use the Page Map feature to view where the article is located on the page. You can view other articles around it and advertisements.

Use the Page Map feature in the Historical New York Times database

 

Access Newspaper Archive

This resource provides access to millions of U.S. and international newspaper pages, dating back to the 1700s.

Use the search tab to find articles in the Access Newspaper Archive

Hints for searching this database
  • Since this resource searches so many documents, it's important to be very specific with your searches. For example, if you type in "Civil War," you will get more than 1.5 million results.
    • Limit your search to a specific date, a specific month or a range of years.
    • When possible, limit the Publication Location.
  • When searching for a specific person, type in their first AND last name.
 

Accessible Archives

This database contains many primary resources, including eyewitness accounts, from the 18th and 19th centuries. You will find many old newspaper articles with speeches and interviews. All of the documents found here will be in full-text.

Add more keywords to your search in Accessible Archives

Hints for searching this database
  • This database also indexes a lot of material so you will want to be very specific.
    • Notice how you can add more keywords to your search.
    • Limit by date when possible.
    • In the box to the right of the search box, you can indicate if you’d like your search terms to appear anywhere in the Full Text of the document or use the drop down, to select "Title." This will search for your words only in the titles of the documents.
  • When searching for information about a person, it helps to put their names in quotations; however, be aware of the different variations a person’s name may appear. For example a search for the abolitionist "Elijah Lovejoy" will only yield one result. However, a search for "Elijah P. Lovejoy" results in 80 documents.
 

Civil War Era

This resource provides full-text information from eight newspapers and nearly 2,000 pamphlets, covering the historical period of 1840 to 1865. Researchers can look for a specific topic or browse the pamphlet collections.

Search in the Civil War Era database

Hints for searching this database
  • Click the "Begin Searching" tab to enter your keywords and limit by date. The search screen will look similar to the Historical New York Times database shown above.
  • The "Browse" option allows you to browse through the collection by newspaper title which will help in a more regional search
  • The "Browse" option also allows you to browse the pamphlet collections by topic.