LibGuides: British Victorian Period Research: Periodicals and Newspapers as Primary Sources

Periodicals and Newspapers as Primary Sources

See our Online U.K. and Irish Newspapers library guide, which may have more papers than this list below. But this list below has some databases that are not on the newspaper guide.

Victorian Periodicals: Aids to Research: a Selected Bibliography
Selected bibliography covering 176 published works of great interest to students of the 19th-century press. Use this to facilite humanities research using Victorian periodicals. Previous edition in Main at PN 5124 .P4 V5 v. 1-2

British Periodicals, Collections I, II, III, and IV This link opens in a new window
The nineteenth century was the great age of the periodical. Fiction, non-fiction, book reviews, commentary on world events and more are all to be found in the periodicals of the day.

British Periodicals consists of two separate collections, British Periodicals Collection I and British Periodicals Collection II. Dates of coverage span 1681-1930s.

British Periodicals Collection I consists of more than 160 journals that comprise the UMI microfilm collection Early British Periodicals, the equivalent of 5,238 printed volumes containing approximately 3.1 million pages. Disciplines covered include literature, philosophy, history, science, the fine arts and the social sciences.

British Periodicals Collection II consists of more than 300 journals from the UMI microfilm collections English Literary Periodicals and British Periodicals in the Creative Arts together with additional titles, amounting to almost 3 million pages. Disciplines covered include literature, music, art, drama, archaeology and architecture.

British Periodicals Collection III extends the scope of the program by focusing on leading publications from the first half of the twentieth century. The titles are from the prestigious stable of illustrated periodicals known as the “Great Eight” in British periodical publishing history. They are considered to be among the foremost popular periodicals of the period and were highly influential in their mix of news/politics, miscellany, art, photography, literature and comedy/satire, while launching the careers of many leading artists/illustrators of the age.

British Periodicals Collection IV continues this expansion, offering an eclectic mix of major popular titles from the twentieth century, reflecting the age’s attitudes interests and events across culture, politics and society. Key themes covered in these publications include socialism and the labour movement, international affairs/conflict, leisure/rural life, the arts, travel/empire and childhood/youth.

You may search them all here or in the Libraries' electronic resources through the portal C19: The Nineteenth Century Index or through the Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals Online, also in the Libraries electronic resources.
Periodicals Archive Online This link opens in a new window
Periodicals Archive Online is the new name for PCI Full Text - an archive of hundreds of digitised journals published in the arts, humanities and social sciences.

It provides researchers with access to more than 200 years of scholarship, spread across a wide variety of subject areas.
C19: The Nineteenth Century Index This link opens in a new window
C19: The Nineteenth Century Index is a gateway, or portal, into a variety of primary sources for 19th Century studies, especially of the British Isles. Each resource or database may also be accessed/searched individually in the Electronic Resources pages: Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals,1824-1900,American Periodicals Series, Periodicals Index Online, NSTC, House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, Palmer's Index to the Times, Archives USA, U.S Congressional Serial Set. Results of searches in the Times newspaper, 1800-1870 link to full-text, as do most searches in Wellesley Index, APS, PIO, and House of Commons Parliamentary Papers. For results from NSTC searches, use our online catalog to see if we own the book.
Royal Society Journals Archive 1665-1996 This link opens in a new window
The archive contains full colour digital scans of original printed journals published by the Royal Society between 1665 and 1996.

The depth and breadth of the journals archive is unique. No other archive contains papers from a scientific journal published continuously for over 350 years, covering all areas of science.

Exploration, dissection, microscopy, stargazing; the work of Fellows of the Royal Society provides an extraordinary insight into what it means to be a scientist. The archive takes readers and researchers back to a time even before the word scientist was in use.

From early observations of animals and landscapes, to breakthrough moments such as the discovery of the double helix; from the practical benefits of new machines and medicines to an understanding of time and space, articles published by the Royal Society have had a profound influence on both method and results in almost every area of scientific work.

Papers published between 1665 and 1950 are free to access.

Papers published between 1950 and 1996 are still subject to copyright and are available to access through public and academic libraries all over the world. This modern content includes Francis Crick and James Watson proposing a structure that 'consists of two DNA chains wound helically round a common axis' in 1954 and the first research paper published by Stephen Hawking; ‘On the Hoyle-Narlikar theory of gravitation’, published in 1965.
Economist Historical Archive This link opens in a new window
The Economist Historical Archive contains every page of every issue of The Economist published from 1843 to 2015. It is a leading weekly, British news magazine that specializes in writing on political, business,economic, scientific, technological, and cultural developments across the world. Issues from the 19th century will be primary sources for topics about the Victorian period.
Illustrated London News Historical Archive This link opens in a new window
The Illustrated London News Historical Archive makes available for the first time online the complete searchable facsimile run of the the entire run of the Illustrated London News from its first publication on 14 May 1842 to its last in 2003. Every item ever printed in the paper, from 1842 to 2003, can be searched and browsed article by article and page by page. It covers all subjects/places, not just London. It is noted for its illustrations.
Punch 1841-1992 This link opens in a new window
From 1841 to 1992, Punch was the world's most celebrated magazine of wit and satire. From its early years as a campaigner for social justice to its transformation into national icon, Punch played a central role in the formation of British identity—and how the rest of the world saw the British nation. With approximately 7,900 issues (200,000 pages) from all volumes of Punch from 1841 to 1992, including Almanacks and other special numbers (issues), as well as prefaces, epilogues, indexes, and other specially produced material from the bound volumes, the images in the archive appear as originally published. Though contributions to the magazine were unattributed until after 1902, information from the ledgers has been incorporated into the Punch Historical Archive, 1841-1992, allowing users to identify contributors and better understand the nature of the magazine and the Victorian periodical press. Gale, a Cengage Company, was pleased to collaborate with Liverpool John Moores University on the transcription of the Punch contributor ledgers from 1843 to 1919. We have paper copies in Murray and Hong Special Collections Comic Art Collection, AP 101 .P8 [1841-1992]. We have most, but not all paper issues. It was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration. It became a British institution, but after the 1940s, when its circulation peaked, it went into a long decline, finally closing in 1992. It was revived in 1996, but closed again in 2002.
Times Digital Archive, 1785 - 2019 This link opens in a new window
Researchers can search through the complete digital edition of The Times (London), using keyword searching and hit-term highlighting to retrieve full facsimile images of either a specific article or a complete page. The entire newspaper is captured, with all articles, advertisements, and illustrations/photos divided into categories to facilitate searching. For online access to the London Times 2007 onwards, check the online catalog using a periodical title search for Times. It is available via a number of indexing providers: Infotrac and others. It is also available on microfilm in the PRR/Microforms unit.
Sunday Times Historical Archive, 1822-2016 This link opens in a new window
Sunday edition of the London Times from 1822-2016, one of the world's most important English language newspapers. For the daily edition see Times Digital Archive 1785-2019, another electronic resource.
British Newspapers 1600-1950 This link opens in a new window
Indexing and links to full texts of newspaper articles in London and English provincial newspapers. Also covers a few Continental newspapers. We offer parts I and II. From the British Library.

The Gazette

The Gazette has a long and established history, and has been at the heart of British public life for almost 350 years. During the 17th century publishing was thought to endanger national security, and this led to a climate in which the printing of any news not pertaining to the coverage of events aboard, natural disasters, official royal declarations and the most sensationalist of crime reporting was largely prohibited. During the plague of 1665 the court in exile in Oxford to escape it began the Oxford Gazette. This became the London Gazette afterwards, the first official journal of record and the newspaper of the Crown and Executive, an authoritative, reliable source of news. From 1665. Published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, the British government printer. This web site also includes the contents of the Edinburgh Gazette (reliably from 1793, but also some information from 1706), and the Belfast Gazette (from 1699).

Manchester Guardian, 1821-1825; 1828-1900; 1901-1959;

Telegraph Historical Archive, 1855-2000

Irish Times

1859-2012 From Dublin, Ireland

International Herald Tribune Archive

1887-2013 Complete archive from its inception as the European edition of the New York Herald and later the European edition of the New York Herald Tribune. Ends with last issue of International Herald Tribune before its relaunch as International New York Times.

Daily Mail Historical Archive

1896-2004 Progressive newspaper for ordinary, busy people. For emphasis and scope see the essay about its history in the "Essays" section of the web site.

Observer

1791-1900 From London

Observer

1901-2003 From London

Listener Historical Archive 1929-1991

The Listener was a weekly magazine established by the BBC in 1929 under its director-general, Lord Reith. It was developed as the medium for reproducing broadcast talks, initially on radio, but in later years television as well, and was the intellectual counterpart to the BBC listings magazine Radio Times. The Listener is one of the few records and means of accessing the content of many early broadcasts. In addition to commenting on the intellectual broadcasts of the week, the listener also previewed major literary and musical shows and regularly reviewed new books.

MSU Libraries

Research Guides

British Victorian Period Research: Periodicals and Newspapers as Primary Sources

Periodicals and Newspapers as Primary Sources