Historical Newspapers on Microfilm

African American Newspapers on Microfilm: While not a complete inventory of the African American newspapers available on microfilm in the Harvard Library system, the list of titles on this website suggests something about the variety and depth our collections. The title list is largely drawn from the 200 publications included in Negro Newspapers on Microfilm, a collection owned and reproduced by the Library of Congress. Coverage ranges from the mid-1800s to the mid-1950s.  Browse by geographic location | Browse by title

Miscellaneous Negro Newspapers (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1947):  This twelve-reel microfilm collection, mainly of 19th-century African American newspapers, was filmed in 1947, by the Library of Congress, for the Committee on Negro Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies.   List of individual titles (HOLLIS) |  Reel guide (in print)

Newspaper Clippings Files on Fiche and Film

The Hampton University Peabody Newspaper Clipping File, 1873-1940: This unique collection reproduced on 567 microfiche includes more than 55,000 articles taken from nearly 100 African American newspapers. One of the oldest African American library collections, it holds some of the rarest materials available for study.

A printed guide to the clipping file is available in Lamont at this call number: INDEX Microfiche W 3167 (Level D). It describes the clippings under subject categories covering a wide range of political, economic, and cultural aspects of African American life. The collection is particularly strong in reporting on the rural South.

 

 

George Foster Peabody (1852-1938)

 

Schomburg Center Clipping File, 1924-1974 | Schomburg Center Clipping File, Part II, 1975-1988:  This massive collection (totaling more than 14,000 microfiche) is drawn from the archives of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Cu

lture, a division of the New York Public Library.   The collection provides access to one million newspaper and periodical clippings, as well as typescripts, pamphlets, broadsides, and more.  The printed indexes arranged information alphabetically by n

ame and subject; fiche numgers appear on the right hand side of the name and subject headings.  by alphabetically arranged under 6,950 subject headings relating to African-American activitie

 

s. Some material in the file predates 1925, though most is from 1925 through 1974.

 

 

 

Tuskegee Institute News Clippings File: This microfilm collection consists of 252 reels of press cuttings and other materials relating to African Americans. They are compiled from more than 300 major American national dailies, leading American south-eastern dailies, African-American newspapers, magazines, religious and social publications, and non-US newspapers. Coverage ranges from 1899 to 1966, though the majority of materials date from 1910 forward.  The sheer size of the collection makes the Guide to the Microfilm Edition of the Tuskegee Institute News Clippings File indispensable to researchers.

The collection is divided into 3 main parts:

  • Series I: Main File (220 reels):  Clippings contained here cover information on African Americans of all kinds, with the exception of the 15 topic categories that comprise Series II.  Reels in Series I are organized chronololgically by year (1910-1966), and then by alphabetically arranged by topics, as listed in the published Guide.
  • Series II: Miscellaneous Files (29 reels): Materials on these reels are arranged first by subject categories and then by time range:

                        A. Lynching, 1899-1966 | Reels 221-236

                        B. Necrology, 1912-1966 | Reels  237-240

                        C. Slavery, 1914-1945 |Reel 240

                        D. Emancipation Celebrations, 1913-1965 | Reel 240

                        E. Theatrical: Individuals, Troupes, etc, 1912-1939 | Reel 241

                        F.  Theatres and Motion Pictures, 1912-1939 | Reel 241

                        G. Towns and Settlements, 1911-1966 | Reel 241

                        H. Cartoons, 1901-1946 | Reel 242

                        I.  Inventions, 1911-1961 | Reel 242

                        J. Historical Data, 1912-1966 | Reels 243-244

                        K. Soldiers, 1918-1920 | Reel 244

                        L. Music, Poetry, and Art, 1911-1946 | Reels 245-247

                        M. Music, 1947-1966 | Reels 247-249

                        N. Art and Artists, 1949-1966 | Reel 249

                        O. Extension Work, 1916-1942 | Reel 249

 

  • Series III: Negro Yearbooks and Finding Aids (3 reels): Reels 250-252 contain 10 editions of the Negro Yearbook.  The Tuskegee News Clippings File furnished much of the data and other information that made its way into the Yearbooks, and the files were kept, at least in part, for that purpose.  Despite its name, however, only 10 or 11 editions of the Yearbook were ever published, the first in 1912, the last in 1952. 10 editions are included in the microfilm holdings; the elusive 11th, perhaps published in 1916/1917, is not held in the Tuskegee Institute Archives.  Reel 250 reproduces Yearbooks published between 1912 and 1921/1922 ; Reel 251 reproduces the Yearbooks published from 1925/1926 to 1937/1938; and Reel 252 reproduces Yearbooks published between 1941 and 1962, as well as the final edition, published in 1952.

On this page

 

 

 

African American Newspapers on Microfilm: While not a complete inventory of the African American newspapers available on microfilm in the Harvard Library system, the list of titles on this website suggests something about the variety and depth our collections. The title list is largely drawn from the 200 publications included in Negro Newspapers on Microfilm, a collection owned and reproduced by the Library of Congress. Coverage ranges from the mid-1800s to the mid-1950s.  Browse by geographic location | Browse by title

Miscellaneous Negro Newspapers (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1947):  This twelve-reel microfilm collection, mainly of 19th-century African American newspapers, was filmed in 1947, by the Library of Congress, for the Committee on Negro Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies.   List of individual titles (HOLLIS) |  Reel guide (in print)

Historical Newspapers on Microfilm

African American Newspapers on Microfilm: While not a complete inventory of the African American newspapers available on microfilm in the Harvard Library system, the list of titles on this website suggests something about the variety and depth our collections. The title list is largely drawn from the 200 publications included in Negro Newspapers on Microfilm, a collection owned and reproduced by the Library of Congress. Coverage ranges from the mid-1800s to the mid-1950s.  Browse by geographic location | Browse by title

Miscellaneous Negro Newspapers (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1947):  This twelve-reel microfilm collection, mainly of 19th-century African American newspapers, was filmed in 1947, by the Library of Congress, for the Committee on Negro Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies.   List of individual titles (HOLLIS) |  Reel guide (in print)

Newpaper Clippings Files on Fiche and Film

The Hampton University Peabody Newpaper Clipping File, 1873-1940: This unique collection reproduced on 567 microfiche includes more than 55,000 articles taken from nearly 100 African American newspapers, few of which are available in any library collections. An accompanying printed guide lists and describes the clippings under subject categories covering a wide range of political, economic, and cultural aspects of African American life. The collection is particularly strong in reporting on the rural South.

Schomburg Center Clipping File, 1924-1974 | Schomburg Center Clipping File, Part II, 1975-1988:  This massive collection (totaling more than 14,000 microfiche) is drawn from the archives of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a division of the New York Public Library.   The collection provides access to one million newspaper and periodical clippings, as well as typescripts, pamphlets, broadsides, and more.  The printed indexes arranged information alphabetically by name and subject; fiche numgers appear on the right hand side of the name and subject headings.  by alphabetically arranged under 6,950 subject headings relating to African-American activities. Some material in the file predates 1925, though most is from 1925 through 1974.

Tuskegee Institute News Clippings File: This microfilm collection consists of 252 reels of press cuttings and other materials relating to African Americans. They are compiled from more than 300 major American national dailies, leading American south-eastern dailies, African-American newspapers, magazines, religious and social publications, and non-US newspapers. Coverage ranges from 1899 to 1966, though the majority of materials date from 1910 forward.  The sheer size of the collection makes the Guide to the Microfilm Edition of the Tuskegee Institute News Clippings File indispensable to researchers.

The collection is divided into 3 main parts:

  • Series I: Main File (220 reels):  Clippings contained here cover information on African Americans of all kinds, with the exception of the 15 topic categories that comprise Series II.  Reels in Series I are organized chronololgically by year (1910-1966), and then by alphabetically arranged by topics, as listed in the published Guide.
  • Series II: Miscellaneous Files (29 reels): Materials on these reels are arranged first by subject categories and then by time range:

                        A. Lynching, 1899-1966 | Reels 221-236

                        B. Necrology, 1912-1966 | Reels  237-240

                        C. Slavery, 1914-1945 |Reel 240

                        D. Emancipation Celebrations, 1913-1965 | Reel 240

                        E. Theatrical: Individuals, Troupes, etc, 1912-1939 | Reel 241

                        F.  Theatres and Motion Pictures, 1912-1939 | Reel 241

                        G. Towns and Settlements, 1911-1966 | Reel 241

                        H. Cartoons, 1901-1946 | Reel 242

                        I.  Inventions, 1911-1961 | Reel 242

                        J. Historical Data, 1912-1966 | Reels 243-244

                        K. Soldiers, 1918-1920 | Reel 244

                        L. Music, Poetry, and Art, 1911-1946 | Reels 245-247

                        M. Music, 1947-1966 | Reels 247-249

                        N. Art and Artists, 1949-1966 | Reel 249

                        O. Extension Work, 1916-1942 | Reel 249

 

  • Series III: Negro Yearbooks and Finding Aids (3 reels): Reels 250-252 contain 10 editions of the Negro Yearbook.  The Tuskegee News Clippings File furnished much of the data and other information that made its way into the Yearbooks, and the files were kept, at least in part, for that purpose.  Despite its name, however, only 10 or 11 editions of the Yearbook were ever published, the first in 1912, the last in 1952. 10 editions are included in the microfilm holdings; the elusive 11th, perhaps published in 1916/1917, is not held in the Tuskegee Institute Archives.  Reel 250 reproduces Yearbooks published between 1912 and 1921/1922 ; Reel 251 reproduces the Yearbooks published from 1925/1926 to 1937/1938; and Reel 252 reproduces Yearbooks published between 1941 and 1962, as well as the final edition, published in 1952.

Newspaper-Related Collections on Microfilm

The Claude A. Barnett Papers: the Associated Negro Press, 1918-1967: Claude A. Barnett founded the Associated Negro Press (ANP) in March 1919 and remained its director through nearly half a century of enormous social change. The ANP was the largest and longest-lived news service to supply black newspapers in the United States with news of interest to black citizens, opinion columns, reviews of books, movies, and records, and occasionally poetry, cartoons, and photographs. It provided its member newspapers with professionally written, detailed coverage of activities within black communities across the country and the latest news about national trends and events. It thereby helped create a national black culture and increased black awareness of national news. It also provided a national forum for black leaders, helped set professional standards of news writing for the black press, assured the survival of many small black newspapers., and enabled black journalists to gain reporting experience.  The originals for these microfilmed documents is the Chicago Historical Society. A three-volume guide to the microfilm edition is available at INDEX Film A 684  [Lamont Level D].

The Barnett Papers divide into three major parts:

 Part 1: Association Negro Press News releases, 1928-1964 (83 microfilm reels) | Online access via Proquest History Vault:

Part 2: Associated Negro Press Organizational Files,1920-1966 (24 microfilm reels) | Online access via Proquest History Vault:

Part 3: Subject files on Black Americans, 1918-1967 (91 microfilm reels) | Online access via Proquest History Vault

The John Henry McCray Papers, 1929-1989 (18 microfilm reels): John Henry McCray was an African-merican journalist and political activist, from Columbia, South Carolina. He spent 16 years (1938-1954) as editor of one of the chief black newspapers in the history of Southern journalism, the Lighthouse and Informer. In 1944, he helped found and then led the Progressive Democrats, for twenty years a force in South Carolina and national politics. This collection of papers, letters, and photographs reflect McCray's involvement with the Lighthouse and Informer and other newspapers as editor, columnist, and distributor; his work with the Progressive Democratic Party and his efforts to register black voters; his indictment and libel trial, 1950, in Greenwood County, S.C., for criminal slander in an article on the execution of Willie Tolbert, Jr.; as well as his journalistic coverage of lynchings and other racial incidents and the NAACP. Print guide to the collection | Online collection guide 

"Microforms" Demystified

Microform (sometimes also colled microformats) is a general designation given to those parts of the Harvard collection that for space, preservation, or other reasons have been miniaturized on reels of film or on flat sheets of plastic (fiche).  The call number can tell you something about the "home" library of these materials:

  • anything labelled Film A or Film S is kept in Lamont.
  • Call numbers that begin with  Film NB or Film NC  are available in the Widener Library Newspaper Reading Room.

Many (though not all) of the research collections we have in microformats are accompanied by an index -- that is, a finding aid, or guide, which enables you to zero in on the most pertinent information (which reel, which frame, which sheet of fiche, for example). Guides may be arranged simply as inventory lists, or by a subject classification of some kind. 

Often, these indexes / guides are prefaced with valuable introductory matter that contextualizes and helps surface both the logic and importance of the collection. Guides may be printed separately, as booklets, or they may appear at the beginning of a reel or microfiche collection.  The presence of an index is noted on HOLLIS catalog records for microformat materials.

Microfilm and microfiche readers are available in Lamont and Widener. They're easy to use.  And they enable you to create good quality PDFs of the material you need, which can then be printed, emailed, or copied to a USB drive.