University Libraries Adds New York Times Backfile

News item published on: 2024-08-19 14:23:00

Through a Jimmy A. Payne Foundation Grant, University Libraries has purchased the historical New York Times backfile and indexing. Researchers can study the progression of events over time by browsing issues of The New York Times ranging from 1851–2020, including news articles, photos, advertisements, classified ads, obituaries, cartoons, and more.

The world news and personal stories captured by this Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper for nearly 170 years are available online through University Libraries’ ProQuest platform. Researchers on- and off-campus have access to cover-to-cover newspaper images and indexing (and in Seymour Info), providing a complete scope of the newspaper’s contents.

“With the addition of the Historical New York Times electronic backfile, we see a valuable accessible resource that will be used by all University scholars,” said Melissa Brooks, head of University Libraries Technical Services.

Southern Miss students, faculty, and staff can explore historical topics like the arrival of immigrants to America’s shores, the rise and fall of global financial markets, the mass-produced automobile, television, space travel, and medical innovations. Users benefit from the ability to search by more than 20 article types, keywords, date ranges, specific dates, and authors, and focus on relevant information quickly with hit-term highlighting. Articles and images can be downloaded in PDF format.

Access the New York Daily Times and the New York Times:
New York Daily Times: 1851 – 1857
New York Times: 1857 – 2019

The Jimmy A. Payne Foundation Grant proposal was written by Melissa Brooks, head of University Libraries Technical Services.