Research Guides: HIST 712: US Civil War Era Research Seminar HIST 712 (Spring 2025): Periodicals

Finding whole periodicals on a topic (Worldcat & Primo)

Use Periodicals as a subject heading.
Add additional keywords and subjects as needed.
Narrow publication date range as needed.

EXAMPLE: I want journals and magazines about Education in Virginia after the Civil War. I search periodicals AND education AND virginia as subjects and narrow publication to 1865-1899. I get even better results in WorldCat
Search Main Library Catalog
limit to books and ebooks

WorldCat This link opens in a new window
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Materials held by thousands of libraries in the US and abroad. Books, websites, computer programs, films, slides, journals, magazines, papers, manuscripts, maps, musical scores, newspapers, sound recordings, videotapes, etc. Coverage: Before 1000BC-present.

Historical Periodical Databases (examples)

For more options, see our full primary source database list

Some Highlighted Databases

African American Communities This link opens in a new window
Focusing predominantly on Atlanta, Chicago, New York, and towns and cities in North Carolina this resource presents multiple aspects of the African American community through pamphlets, newspapers and periodicals, correspondence, official records, reports and in-depth oral histories, revealing the prevalent challenges of racism, discrimination and integration, and a unique African American culture and identity.
American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection, Parts I-V (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Provides digital access to a highly comprehensive collection of American periodicals published between 1691 and 1912. Subject coverage includes: advertising, health, women's issues, science, the history of slavery, industry and professions, religious issues, culture and the arts, and more. Produced by a partnership between EBSCO and the American Antiquarian Society (AAS).
American Indian Newspapers (now: Indigenous Newspapers in North America) This link opens in a new window
From historic pressings to contemporary periodicals, explore nearly 200 years of Indigenous print journalism from the US and Canada. With newspapers representing a huge variety in publisher, audience and era, discover how events were reported by and for Indigenous communities.
American Periodicals Series Online This link opens in a new window
This database contains periodicals published between 1740 and 1940, including special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines and many other historically-significant periodicals.
British Periodicals This link opens in a new window
Offering comprehensive full-run coverage for popular periodicals, this growing resource will offer facsimile page images and searchable full text for nearly 500 British periodicals published from the seventeenth through the early twentieth centuries, totaling almost five million pages.
Church Missionary Society Periodicals This link opens in a new window
From its roots as an Anglican evangelical movement driven by lay persons, this resource encompasses publications from the CMS, the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society and the latterly integrated South American Missionary Society. Documenting missionary work from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century, the periodicals include news, journals and reports offering a unique perspective on global history and cultural encounters.
Everyday Life & Women in America This link opens in a new window
This digital collection provides access to rare primary source material on American social, cultural, and popular history from the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History, Duke University and The New York Public Library. It comprises thousands of fully searchable images (alongside transcriptions) of monographs, pamphlets, periodicals and broadsides addressing 19th and early 20th century political, social and gender issues, religion, race, education, employment, marriage, sexuality, home and family life, health, and pastimes, emphasizing conduct of life and domestic management literature, the daily lives of women and men, and contrasts in regional, urban and rural cultures.
Leftist Newspapers and Periodicals: Historical Newspapers 1845-2015 This link opens in a new window
ProQuest Leftist Newspapers and periodicals is a collection of English-language publications spanning beyond the 20th century (1845-2015) covering Communist, Socialist and Marxist thought, theory and practice. Issues covered include workers rights, organized labor, labor strikes, Nazi atrocities, McCarthyisms rise after WWII, Civil Rights, and modern-day class struggles which give rise to renewed interest in alternative social organizations. This collection includes 145 titles with over 150,000 digitized pages.
Performing Arts Periodicals Database This link opens in a new window
Formerly the International Index to the Performing Arts, the Performing Arts Periodicals Database indexes around 400 scholarly and trade journals, magazines, books, and newspapers covering theater, dance, film, television, stagecraft, broadcast arts, storytelling, and more. It draws from both current files and selected backfiles to 1864 and 134 publications are included in full text.
Periodicals Archive Online This link opens in a new window
Periodicals Archive Online is a major archive that makes the backfiles of scholarly periodicals in the arts, humanities and social sciences available electronically, providing access to the searchable full text of hundreds of titles. The database spans more than two centuries of content, 37 key subject areas, and multiple languages.
Women's Periodicals: Social and Political Issues This link opens in a new window
Historical women's periodicals provide an important resource to scholars interested in the lives of women, the role of women in society and, in particular, the development of the public lives of women as the push for women's rights--woman suffrage, fair pay, and better working conditions grew in the United States and England. An Archives Unbound database. Coverage: 1786-1933.

Using ProQuest to find historic Magazine Articles

ProQuest This link opens in a new window
Collection of databases devoted to disciplines in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. See titles of individual databases for further information. Coverage: Varies by database.

Search for your topic in ProQuest (Example. Women AND Education)
limit publication date to your time period (Ex. 1800-1899)
After you get your MANY search results, go to "source type" and selected "Historical Periodicals" and select include. Exclude the rest.
Further limit your results by adding extra search terms.

Using PRIMO to find historic Magazine Articles

Articles in PRIMO
A good way to find articles across many disciplines

Search for your topic in PRIMO (Example. Women AND Education)
limit publication date to your time period (Ex. 1800-1899)
After you get your MANY search results, go to "source type" and selected "Historical Periodicals" and select include. Exclude the rest.
Further limit your results by adding extra search terms.