Current News Sources: Databases
- Nexis Uni a standard library database for English language news, it allows you to search thousands of newspapers and newswires as well as radio and TV news broadcasts. The full text of articles is available back to about 1980. Searches can cover international, national, regional and local news sources. Note: also used by lawyers and legal scholars for its case law and law journal components.
- Factiva owned by the Dow Jones company, Factiva lets you search across app. 8,000 news publications from the U.S. and around the world. Some news publications that are not available in full-text in LexisNexis (the Wall Street Journal being one notable example) will be accessible in Factiva, and depending on the title, full-text coverage sometimes extends further back than the 1980 cut-off point for Lexis-Nexis. N.b. Harvard's license allows only 6 users to be logged on at one time, so if you hit an error page, you may need to wait and try again later.
- Academic Search Premier a great source for magazine articles, ASP also includes articles from newspapers and academic journals (over 4,000 publications!), so make sure to filter your searches appropriately. Coverage begins in the mid-1990s for most publications.
- AP Multimedia Archive (AP Photo Archive) a searchable database of over 700,000 Associated Press photographs, charts and other graphics from the 1840s to the present. Accompanying captions and credits are also included. Images can be downloaded for later use (NOTE: personal, scholarly use only). This database can be searched by topic, location, date and concept.
- Alt-Press Watch Full text database of the newspapers, magazines, and journals of the alternative and independent press.
- Ethnic News Watch Full-text collection of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press from 1960 to present.
Newspaper Holdings at Harvard
Note: the library catalog uses "journals" to mean any kind of periodical publication---newspapers, magazines, academic journals, and even monograph series are all categorized as "journals."
Journals Search
Searches the HOLLIS catalog of the Harvard Library for periodicals (journals, newspapers, and magazines). This is the best and quickest way to find out if the library owns a particular newspaper and whether access is online, in print, or both.
Pro tip: it can sometimes be difficult to determine which is the "main" record for a newspaper title. Look for a record that has no end date (e.g. for the New York Times, 1857- ), and/or a cluster with a link to "Check for ONLINE access and other options."
HOLLIS Advanced Search
If you'd like to search for newspapers by subject, place of publication, etc., use the Advanced Search page, and set "Resource Type" to "Journals." There are many very precise advanced search parameters available: see the "Advanced Search" page of the HOLLIS User Guide for ideas.
Newspapers on Microfilm
Many of our rarer newspaper holdings are on microfilm. Search for "microform" in the form/genre field to limit your results to items on microfilm and microfiche. Limit the location to Widener in order to search specifically within the collection of Widener's Newspaper Microfilm Reading Room.
Links to Newspaper, Television, and Radio Station Websites
- Mondo Times
International directory of newspapers, magazines, radio, and tv maintained by a Colorado media company.
- NewsLink
Links to national and international newspapers, newswires, magazines, broadcasters, and other media-related websites.
- Newspaper Map
Locate local news sources around the world by a map. Links to Google Translate.
Current News Sources: Individual Titles
Newspaper websites v. newspaper articles
For many newspapers, you can find content via a "digital edition" and/or the newspaper's own website that is not included in the official print edition of the newspaper. Harvard Library offers you online access to the contents of the official print edition for almost all major newspaper titles, sometimes via an aggregator such as Nexis Uni or Factiva. Access ot the digital edition and/or newspaper website may require a special login (see the title list below for specific cases). In some cases, Harvard Library is unable to provide access to the digital edition and/or newspaper website.
For more information, see our FAQ: Does Harvard offer subscription access to the digital editions of popular newspapers, i.e. nytimes.com and wapo.com?
Major Papers
The Boston Globe
- The Boston Globe's home page
- The Boston Globe - main HOLLIS record
- Alternate access: Harvard's access to the Boston globe is via Factiva, which limits the number of simultaneous users, but Massachusetts state residents can get online access to the Boston Globe (1980- ) via Gale, an unlimited-use platform.
The Economist
- The Economist's home page (reload via Harvard Key or access via HOLLIS for full access)
- The Economist - main HOLLIS record (select "E-Journals" option for Harvard Key access to the digital edition)
Financial Times
- The Financial Times's home page
- The Financial Times - main HOLLIS record
- Alternate access: full text access by registering for a special "premium" account for the FT.com website with a Harvard e-mail address. After the initial registration process, you can use your id and password to access the Ft.com web site directly.
Foreign Policy
New York Times
- The New York Times's home page
- The New York Times - main HOLLIS record (Nexis Uni has the best coverage for current issues)
The Times
The Wall Street Journal
The Washington Post
- The Washington Post's home page
- The Washington Post - main HOLLIS record. For historical coverage, see the HOLLIS records for The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973), The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959), and The Washington Post (1877-1954).
- Alternate access: use your Harvard email address for a free digital account - follow the "Single Journals" link from the main HOLLIS record. After the initial registration process, you can use your id and password to access the wapo.com web site directly.