LibGuides: ENG 295 (Navitsky): Primary Historical Sources

Tips for searching primary source databases

The default for searching is usually the full text of all articles. This often means lots of results.
Always set a date range! You can even set a date range of just a few days to narrow down to a specific event.
Whenever possible, search for specific people, places, things, or events.
Each interface will be different. Take a couple of minutes to poke around and figure out how each interface works.

Magazine/newspaper databases

All of these are library databases that cover the mid-19th Century. Most have some newspapers or magazines that were published in Philadelphia itself.

America's Historical Newspapers, 1690-1922 This link opens in a new window
This is the top choice for those who want article specifically from Philadelphia papers. Sort by geography (Pennsylvania) on the advanced search page. The city where it was published is easy to find in the record. These are all newspaper articles, so many will be quite short.
American Periodicals Series Online 1740-1900 This link opens in a new window
You can't limit by geography, but after you search, you can find the place of publication if you click on "details/citation."
American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collections, Series 1-5 This link opens in a new window
This is the hardest one to tell if something was published in Philadelphia. They provide a 'Geography' field, but not place of publication.