Memories of '69, '70, & '71
June 22, 2012 7:20 PM Subscribe
Help me review the front pages of US national newspapers for 1969 through 1971.
I'm trying to get a feel for what was going on at the time, in addition to Watergate. I'd like to be able to digitally review front pages of NYT, the Washington Post and other national papers. Alternatively, a chronology would probably suffice. Thanks in advance.
I'm trying to get a feel for what was going on at the time, in addition to Watergate. I'd like to be able to digitally review front pages of NYT, the Washington Post and other national papers. Alternatively, a chronology would probably suffice. Thanks in advance.
I'm not sure your nearest university library will have every single major national paper, but often research libraries have these sorts of things on microfilm.
I once had to read every edition of all the major New York papers from the year 1977 (for a documentary research job). It wasn't too difficult to do this at the main research branch of the New York Public Library, in the microfilm room.
A decent university library will at least have the major papers for your area, possibly also the Washington Post and/or the Wall Street Journal, maybe the New York Times as well? For what it's worth I'm not sure the Times was the preeminent newspaper of the East Coast in the way it is today. The prominence and brand identities of the major newspapers were slightly different back then.
posted by Sara C. at 8:04 PM on June 22, 2012
I once had to read every edition of all the major New York papers from the year 1977 (for a documentary research job). It wasn't too difficult to do this at the main research branch of the New York Public Library, in the microfilm room.
A decent university library will at least have the major papers for your area, possibly also the Washington Post and/or the Wall Street Journal, maybe the New York Times as well? For what it's worth I'm not sure the Times was the preeminent newspaper of the East Coast in the way it is today. The prominence and brand identities of the major newspapers were slightly different back then.
posted by Sara C. at 8:04 PM on June 22, 2012
Why don't you tell us your goal? Because if "a chronology would probably suffice," it sounds like you don't want details and maybe don't need front pages, you just want a few names and events (like this), maybe to drop into a story for verisimilitude.
If it's that sort of thing, you could skip the front pages and try reading inside the paper. See what people were interested in. Check the sports section, for example, and you'll see that local bowling leagues were still fairly big back then.
posted by pracowity at 10:16 PM on June 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
If it's that sort of thing, you could skip the front pages and try reading inside the paper. See what people were interested in. Check the sports section, for example, and you'll see that local bowling leagues were still fairly big back then.
posted by pracowity at 10:16 PM on June 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
Manned moon landing in 1969.
posted by Cranberry at 10:59 PM on June 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Cranberry at 10:59 PM on June 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
Many public libraries have Proquest. And Google News has an archive.
posted by Ideefixe at 9:28 AM on June 23, 2012
posted by Ideefixe at 9:28 AM on June 23, 2012
Yeah, you don't need to use microfilm anymore. Any library worth its salt will have ProQuest Newsstand available for its patrons--New York Times Historical is pretty common (I've never seen a library subscribe to Newsstand and not NYT Historical, even though NYT Historical is a separate module) with varying degrees of what newspapers are available.
I would widen that search to include the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, unless you're completely focused on the East Coast. If you're interested in just a chronology, just google for them. Wikipedia has a good listing of chronological events, frankly, if you don't need this project to have any degree of academic or research accuracy.
If you do, I'd start with your local library and ask about ProQuest Newsstand. The library might also have Ethnic News Watch, which will have the 'ethnic' papers (think the Chicago Defender, the Forward, that kind of thing) which will provide an alternative look at the news if you need it.
You can certainly use the resources of Google News/Books, and don't forget Life Magazine (photos, among other things, hosted online by Google for the years you're looking for). You can also use American Memory, which has some good solid stuff in it if you're able to search it properly.
In short, there's an awful lot of options to get you to your goal. If you're struggling, your local librarian is likely to prove helpful--I would imagine that there are several books out there on headlines over the years, especially the 60s and 70s (I know the NYT has one, but as you can see, they're pretty well covered).
posted by librarylis at 9:23 PM on June 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
I would widen that search to include the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, unless you're completely focused on the East Coast. If you're interested in just a chronology, just google for them. Wikipedia has a good listing of chronological events, frankly, if you don't need this project to have any degree of academic or research accuracy.
If you do, I'd start with your local library and ask about ProQuest Newsstand. The library might also have Ethnic News Watch, which will have the 'ethnic' papers (think the Chicago Defender, the Forward, that kind of thing) which will provide an alternative look at the news if you need it.
You can certainly use the resources of Google News/Books, and don't forget Life Magazine (photos, among other things, hosted online by Google for the years you're looking for). You can also use American Memory, which has some good solid stuff in it if you're able to search it properly.
In short, there's an awful lot of options to get you to your goal. If you're struggling, your local librarian is likely to prove helpful--I would imagine that there are several books out there on headlines over the years, especially the 60s and 70s (I know the NYT has one, but as you can see, they're pretty well covered).
posted by librarylis at 9:23 PM on June 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
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posted by John Cohen at 7:23 PM on June 22, 2012 [1 favorite]