Research Guides

​Guides and bibliographies of ethnic periodicals, including newspapers, are listed in Finding Articles in General and Popular Periodicals (North America and Western Europe)

U.S. news coverage of racial minorities : a sourcebook, 1934-1996, ed. by Beverly Ann Deepe Keever, Carolyn Martindale, and Mary Ann Weston. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1997, 387 pages
HOLLIS Record
Internet Archive Full Text
--Chapters on particular minorites, richly footnoted

Ethnic Newspapers of Greater Boston

Newspapers at the BPL: Massachusetts Newspapers Online includes links to online ethnic newspapers

The Boston Public Library has a large collection of ethnic newspapers, largely Massachusetts and New York, on microfilm.  See the file below for their records.

Multiple Ethnicities

Ethnic NewsWatch (1959- ) offers full-text of 90 newspapers and other periodicals (1990- ) and of 30 African American, Hispanic American, and Native American newspapers and other periodicals (1959-1989). Includes book/film/television reviews. Includes African American, Arab American, Asian American, European American, Hispanic/Latino/Chicano, Jewish, Native American newspapers. 

Ethnic Press Database retrieves newspapers in the collection of the Center for Research Libraries (CRL)
--For papers available online :Choose Limit/Modify Search, then Reproduction Type: Online
--Other papers are available on microfilm via Interlibrary Loan
--For help accessing non-open access material

Chronicling America, enhancing access to historic American newspapers (1836-1922) (Library of Congress) includes the  U.S. Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present in which searches for newspapers can be limited by ethnicity and language.  Selected newspapers can then be searched full text, if available, in Advanced Search.

News: Ethnic Press (Univ. of Washington) Look for titles without padlock icon.  Locked papers may be in a database available at Harvard

The Chicago Foreign Press Survey was a WPA project of the Chicago Public Library in which selected articles from the Chicago foreign language press 1861-1938 were translated. The microfilm has been digitized and is available in the Internet Archive. Guide available: Chicago Foreign Language Press Survey
The Chicago foreign language press survey: a general description of its contents. Chicago, 1942. 20 p.
Widener | AL 307.257.50

Ethnic American Newspapers from the Balch Collection (1799-1971) in America’s Historical Newspapers. Title list (In Quick Facts & Overview box on the right). The titles marked Forthcoming are in fact available.

African-American

Research Guides and Bibliographies

African American history in the press, 1851-1899: from the coming of the Civil War to the rise of Jim Crow as reported and illustrated in selected newspapers of the time. Selected newspaper articles in chronological order from 14 newspapers indexed by keyword, by newspaper, and by illustration subject. These are general, not African-American, newspapers.
HOLLIS Record
Internet Archive full text (vol. 1 only)

Full Text Sources

Boston Banner, 1992-Present (=Bay State Banner) (Boston African American newspaper). (In Ethnic Newswatch)
 

ProQuest Historical Newspapers include illustrations, editorials, and advertising. African-American papers are listed below. To search them all at once open ProQuest Historical Newspapers, open Databases in the gray top bar, and deselect all but the following:

African-American newspapers: the 19th century (Accessible Archives) includes full text of:

  • The Christian Recorder, 1861–1902
  • Freedman's journal (NY, NY) , 1827-1829
  • Colored American (NY, NY) , 1837-1841
  • The north star (Rochester, NY), 1847-1851
  • National era (Washington, DC), 1847-1860
  • Frederick Douglass paper (Rochester, NY) 1851-1855; 1859-1863
  • Provincial Freeman (Toronto, Canada), 1854-1857
  • The Colored American/Weekly Advocate">Weekly Advocate, 1837–1837
  • The Freedmen’s Record, 1865-1874
  • The Negro Business League Herald, 1909

African American Newspapers, 1827-1998 includes 270 newspapers from 36 states. It is a subset of America's Historical Newspapers (Readex).

The Afro American – National Edition  (1902 – 1957)  --  Afro American – Ledger (October 1906 – June 1917)  --  Baltimore Afro – American (1943 – 2003)  --  Washington Afro – American (August 1938 – June 1988

Antebellum Black newspapers
LOCATION: Afro American Studies: E185.5.J33
LOCATION: Widener: RR 4781. 41.75

  • New York Freedom's journal (1827-1829)
  • The Rights of all (1829)
  • The Weekly advocate (1837)
  • The Colored American (1837-1841)

Black literature, 1827-1940.
HOLLIS Record for microfiche
--Full text of over 86,000 literary works on microfiche, including fiction, poetry, book reviews and other literary forms by African-Americans and Whites writing in African-American periodicals and newspapers. Online index to article authors/titles and periodical titles.
Index included in International Index to Black Periodicals
Many of the articles can be found in the original newspapers and periodicals rather than using the microfilm.

Blacks in selected newspapers, censuses and other sources: an index to names and subjects, by James de T. Abajian. 3 v. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1977.
LOCATION: Afro American Studies: E185.96.Z99 A22 1977x Library has: 3 v.
LOCATION: Widener: WID-LC E185.96.Z99 A22, x F

Supplement, 2 v. 1985.
LOCATION: Afro American Studies: E185.96.Z99 A22 1985x
LOCATION: Widener: WID-LC E185.96.Z99 A22 x, Suppl. 1 F

Indexes 19th and early 20th century newspapers, censuses, and city directories. Strongest on, but by no means limited to, the western U.S.

California Eagle (1879-1964). Scattered issues.

Hampton University Peabody newspaper clipping file, [1873-1940].
LOCATION: Microforms (Lamont) | Microfiche W 3167
LOCATION: Microforms (Lamont) | INDEX Microfiche W 3167 = Guide

In Black and white: a guide to magazine articles, newspaper articles, and books concerning more than 15,000 Black individuals and groups. 3d ed. 1980.
LOCATION: Afro American Studies: DuBois Institute E185.96.Z99 S67 1980x Library has: 2 v.
LOCATION: Widener: RR 4781.41.57 Library has: 2 v.

In Black and white. Supplement: a guide to magazine articles, newspaper articles, and books concerning more than 6,700 Black individuals and groups. 1985.
LOCATION: Widener: RR 4781.41.58

Index to Black newspapers / Black newspapers index, 1977- .
LOCATION: Documents (Lamont): INDEX Film 30.5

Kaiser index to Black resources (1948-1986) is a bibliography of about 174,000 articles, reviews, and obituaries from 150 periodicals, including newspapers, on African-American and Caribbean subjects. Arranged by subject. Some illustrations noted.
LOCATION: Afro American Studies: DuBois Institute E185.K25 1992x Library has: v. 1, 3-5
LOCATION: Schlesinger: Ref. 016.973 S369k
LOCATION: Widener: RR 4781.41.67 Library has: 5 v.

"News on the Margins: Surfacing Marginalized Voices in the Newspaper Collections of Libraries, Archives, and Museums" Appendix E: Open Digital and Digitized Newspapers offers lists of open access African American newspapers.

NYPL Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture clipping file, 1925-1974 [microform]. More information about Schomburg Center.
LOCATION: Microforms (Lamont): Microfiche W 3045 Library has: 9686 microfiches.
LOCATION: Microforms (Lamont): INDEX Microfiche W 3045 = Guide

Schomburg Center clipping file. Part II, 1975-1988 [microform.]
LOCATION: Microforms (Lamont): Microfiche W 3045.2 Library has: 3861 microfiches
LOCATION: Microforms (Lamont): INDEX Microfiche W 3045.2= Guide

Southern Educational Reporting Service Facts on Film (1954-73) offers clippings on consequences of the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision on segregation in public schools.
LOCATION: Microforms (Lamont): Film A15
LOCATION: Microforms (Lamont): INDEX Film A15 (Guide)

Tuskegee Institute news clippings file (1899-1966) contains clippings from over 300 newspapers, including southeastern U.S., African-American, and foreign newspapers and magazines. "Guide to the microfilm edition of the Tuskegee Institute news clippings file", 74 p., at beginning of reel 1, 1981. More information
LOCATION: Microforms (Lamont): Film A 331 Library has: 252 reels.
LOCATION: Microforms (Lamont): Index Film A 331 (Guide, 1978, 66 pp.)

U.S., African American Newspapers, 1829-1947 is available via AncestryLibrary.  It is an online version of the Library of Congress microfilm, Miscellaneous Negro Newspapers.  To browse the included newspaper titles, go to the Center for Research Libraries Catalog advanced search Newspapers tab and put African American in the top box: adjust the next box to Note: and enter "Miscellaneous Negro" (in ""). Also listed.

Asian-American

Hoji Shinbun Digital Collection (Hoover Institution Library & Archives) offers Japanese American and other overseas Japanese newspapers. Most papers are mixed Japanese and English.

Nikkei Newspapers Digital Archive offers North American Times (1902-1942) and North American Post (1946-1950), published primarily in Japanese, with occasional, and then regularly appearing, pages published in English. Translation summaries (English) are provided for some front page stories.

Rafu Shimpo (1903-about a year ago) is the longest running Japanese American newspaper in the United States

Hispanic

Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980 offers full-text of Spanish and bi-lingual newspapers. Based on the “Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project.”   It is a subset of America's Historical Newspapers (Readex).

Historic Mexican and Mexican American Press Collection (mid-1800s-1970s) includes 20 Mexican and Mexican American publications published in Tucson, El Paso, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sonora, Mexico

Jewish

Union List of Digitized Jewish Historic Newspapers, Periodicals and e-Journals

Historical Jewish Press (1843-1988) is a worldwide collection of Jewish newspapers.

Jewish Telegraph Agency Archives (1923- ).  The JTA, founded 1917,  reports news and is used by newspapers as a source.

Israelite 1859-1867 (only) – not searchable, but covers Civil War

[Columbus] Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1922-1994.

Pittsburgh Jewish newspaper project (1895- present) newspapers with some search capacity.

Southern Israelite (1929-1986)  - Atlanta newspaper with good search engine

Newspaper Digital Collection for the Isser and Rae Price Library of Judaica (University of Florida) includes the Price Library of Judaica Anniversary Collection which offers a digitized collection of 31 anniversary editions of Jewish newspapers.

Native American

American Indian Newspapers contains 45 newspapers from 1828-2016, including some bi-lingual and indigenous languages editions.

Microfilm

Periodicals by and about American Indians. Bethesda, MD : University Publications of America, 2009? 82 microfilm reels
Microforms (Lamont) Film A 1435
Microforms (Lamont) INDEX Film A 1435 = guide
Online guide
--Ephemeral periodicals (mimeographed news-sheets, offset tabloids, and, occasionally newspapers) often from short-lived presses and circulated hand to hand. Most originate with Indian groups, some are missionary society or federal publications, U.S. and Canadian.
--Reels 1-47 contain files through 1972 or 1973; reels 48-82 contain updates for 1973-1981 issues grouped by year and numbered on container labels as reels 73-1, 73-2, 73-3, 74-1, 74-2, etc.

American Indian periodicals in the Princeton University Library. NY: Clearwater Pub. Co., 1981-1983. 2690 microfiches.
Microforms (Lamont) | Microfiche W 5299
Microforms (Lamont) | INDEX Microfiche W 5299 = shelflist
Microforms (Lamont) | Harvard Depository | Film W 23793
Online guide

American Indian periodicals from the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1884-1981. 13 microfilm reels.
Microforms (Lamont) | Film A 938
Online guide

Contemporary newspapers of the North American Indian / [a Bell & Howell product prepared in cooperation with the American Indian Press Association and the Huntington Free Library of the Museum of the American Indian]. Wooster, Ohio : Micro Photo Division, Bell & Howell, [1974?] 18 reels & guide (67 leaves.)
Tozzer | Microfilm | N.A.ETH. B 412 c
--Includes nearly 50 newspapers, 1924-1973. 

Slavic

Novoe russkoe slovo digital archive contains the newspaper Russkoe slovo (New York, NY;1910-1920) and its successor Novoe russkoe slovo (1920-2010).

Swedish-American