Newspapers
The word newspaper was first used in about 1670 (though earlier forms of newspapers, known as corantos, were published in Holland, Germany and England from about 1620).
The Library holds a large collection of newspapers from around the world, with holdings of some titles dating back to 1622. They are available in a number of formats, print, microform and electronic. (The bulk of papers are in microfilm).
Newspapers on Microfilm
Large runs of many major newspapers are held on microfilm. For example:
Times (London) 1788- UniM Baill MIC o / T583
New York Times 1868- UniM Baill MIC o / N532
The Age (Melbourne) 1854- UniM Baill MIC o / A265
(The latest issues of many newspapers are received and held in print until the microfilm copy is received.)
In addition several collections of newspapers are held on microform. For example:
Early English Newspapers 1622- <1855> UniM Baill MIC o / 4607
American newspapers and periodicals published in the U.K. and Europe, 18th-20th centuries UniM Baill MIC o / 4471
Underground Newspaper Collection (1960s and 1970s) UniM Baill Mic o / 3972
Electronic Access to Newspapers
Increasingly newspapers are being made available electronically, either on CD-ROM or via the web. For example:
The Age (Melbourne) 1996- networked CD-ROM
The Pennsylvania Gazette 1728 - 1783 CD-ROM Baillieu Library
A web site titled Top 100 Newspapers provides links to 100 U.S. newspapers including the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and the LA Times. These are the actual publisher's Homepages, and in some cases the full text of the latest issue/s is accessible.
Australian News Resources is a site containing links to the latest issues of Australian newspapers including the Age and the Australian. (Usually not the entire newspaper, but many of the feature articles are included.)
Lexis Nexis News. This full-text web-based service allows you to search recent years to of many Australian and international newspapers
Identifying Relevant Newspaper Articles
How can I find relevant articles in the newspapers?
The two main options are:
1/ Browse through the issues of a newspaper around the date of an event in which you are interested.
2/ Use a newspaper index. This can save you time and result in more relevant articles being found.
A number of newspaper subject indexes are available including:
New York Times Index. 1913- UniM Baill MC 071.471 NEW
Palmers Index to the Times 1790-1905 CD-ROM Baillieu Library
Le Monde Index 1980- UniM Baill MIC 074.36 MOND
TIP: Newspapers are wonderful sources of information, and provide a window into the events and moods of the day. However its necessary to be aware of the bias (if any) of the editors and journalists. Also, often events are reported in a hurry, to meet deadlines.
