Lafayette College Library

Primary sources: Magazines

Publications generally containing articles, stories, features, photographs, illustrations, and advertisements covering a variety of topics. Usually published on a weekly or monthly basis.

Suggested resources

This selective list includes some general bibliographies, gateways, and indexes along with some of the more extensive primary source collections available at Lafayette College. For more subject-specific resources or individual titles, consult the library's annotated list of research tools by subject, and follow suggestions for library catalog searches below.

American Periodicals Series Online  Collection 
Digitized images from American magazines and journals that originated between 1741 and 1900. Includes general interest magazines, children's publications, women's magazines, and literary and professional journals.
Balay. Early Periodical Indexes     Bibliography 
Location: Skillman Ref Z6941 .B35 2000
Bibliography that lists and describes bibliographies and indexes of literature published in periodicals before 1900.
Historical Guides to the World's Periodicals and Newspapers     Bibliography 
Location: Skillman Library (connect to catalog)
Series of books that provide historical profiles of periodicals and newspapers with accompanying bibliographical data.
Internet Library of Early Journals     Collection 
Searchable collection of six British journals published during the 18th and 19th centuries.
JSTOR     Collection 
Searchable collection of the back issues of major scholarly journals.
Making of America (Cornell University)    Collection 
Searchable collection of magazines and journals published primarily between 1840 and 1900.
Making of America (University of Michigan)    Collection 
Searchable collection of magazines and journals published primarily between 1850 and 1877.
Online Books Page: Serials    Gateway 
Provides very brief publication histories and direct links for journals with freely available online archives, including the titles from the Making of America series.
Poole's Index to Periodical Literature     Index 
Location: Skillman Ref AI3 .P7 1882x
Coverage: 1802-1906
Indexes 470 American and British periodicals.
Radical Periodicals in the United States     Collection 
Location: Microform Room (connect to catalog)
Collection of 105 periodical titles published between 1880 and 1960.
Reader's Guide Retrospective     Index 
Coverage: 1890-1982
Index of articles published in popular press magazines.

Library catalog searches

Use the table below to develop search strings for locating primary source bibliographies and collections in library catalogs.

Searching for . . . Enter this phrase + modifier(s)
[see examples]
bibliographies periodicals and bibliography and [ethnic group]
[gender]
[nationality]
[topic]
indexes periodicals and indexes and [ethnic group]
[gender]
[nationality]
[topic]
related titles periodicals and [ethnic group]
[location]
[topic]

Sample searches:

  • bibliography and periodicals and african american*
  • periodicals and pennsylvania

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