Databases for History and Culture Research

• General History andCulture Resources
• Historical Newspaper Resources
• Biography and Genealogy Resources

This list highlights some of the history and culture databases available to researchers from the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives. Explore additional e-resources at E-journals, E-books, and Databases. Databases that require SI network for access are indicated by "SI staff." For information about remote access, see Off-Site Access to Electronic Resources​.

General History and Culture Resources

• Alexander Street Press Databases (SI Staff): Access over 30 databases on the humanities and social sciences, including material by and about traditionally underrepresented groups such as women, LGBT people, and people from various cultural backgrounds. Select "My Collections" to see the full list of available databases.
• Archives Unbound (SI Staff): Presents topically-focused digital collections of historical documents that cover a broad range of topics from the Middle Ages to the 20th century.
• Gale Cengage Databases (SI Staff): Search across multiple Gale databases at the same time, including special Smithsonian digitized collections as well as a variety of U.S. and international history sources.
• JSTOR (SI Staff): Full-text searchable articles from more than 500 scholarly journals in the arts and humanities, economics and politics, mathematics and other fields of study. 
• Project Muse (SI Staff): Provides full-text access to hundreds of high quality, peer-reviewed journals from non-profit scholarly publishers, including university presses and societies, covering a wide variety of disciplines.
• ProQuest (SI Staff): Search across all available ProQuest databases at once or select specific ones to search, including American Periodicals, Ethnic NewsWatch, Women's Magazine Archive, and historical newspapers such as the Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Chicago Defender.
• Smithsonian Collections Online (Gale Cengage) (SI Staff):  Online archive of Smithsonian and Air & Space Magazine issues, as well as online access to selected trade catalogs and World's Fair materials from Smithsonian collections.

Historical Newspaper Resources

• African American Newspapers (SI Staff): Coverage: 1827-1998. Titles, drawn from more than 35 states, provide a record of African American history, culture, and daily life. Covers life in the Antebellum South, Jim Crow Era, Great Migration, Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights movement, and more.
• Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers: Coverage: 1756-1963. This resource from the Library of Congress contains millions of digitized newspaper pages from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
• Ethnic NewsWatch (SI Staff) Coverage: 1959-present. Included are journals, magazines, and newspapers from ethnic and minority presses. Ethnicities include: African American/Caribbean/African; Arab/Middle Eastern; Asian/Pacific Islander; European/Eastern European; Hispanic; Jewish; Native People.
• Google News Archive: A list of U.S. and foreign digitized newspapers, arranged alphabetically by title. Coverage varies widely.
• Harper's Weekly 1857-1912 (SI Staff):  America's leading 19th century illustrated newspaper.
• Indigenous Newspapers in North America (SI Staff): From historic pressings to contemporary periodicals, explore nearly 200 years of Indigenous print journalism from the US and Canada.
• Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers (SI Staff): With 1.8 million pages available, this collection features publications of all kinds, from the political party newspapers at the beginning of the nineteenth century to the mammoth dailies that shaped the nation at the century's end. 
• ProQuest Historical Newspapers (SI Staff): Cross-search all available ProQuest newspaper databases using a single interface, or select a specific newspaper below.
  • American Newspapers
    • American Hebrew & Jewish Messenger‎ (SI Staff):  Coverage: 1857-1922
    • American Israelite‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1854-2000
    • Arizona Republican‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1890-2007
    • Atlanta Constitution (SI Staff): Coverage: 1868-1985
    • Atlanta Daily World (SI Staff): Coverage: 1931-2010
    • Baltimore Afro-American (SI Staff): Coverage: 1893-1988
    • Baltimore Sun‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1837-1999
    • Boston Globe (SI Staff): Coverage: 1872-1994
    • Chicago Defender (SI Staff): Coverage: 1909-2010
    • Chicago Tribune (SI Staff): Coverage: 1849-2000
    • Christian Science Monitor‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1908-2011
    • Cincinnati Enquirer‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1841-2009
    • Cleveland Call and Post‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1934-2010
    • Dayton Daily News (SI Staff): Coverage: 1898-1922
    • Detroit Free Press‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1831-1999
    • Hartford Courant (SI Staff): Coverage: 1764-1999
    • Indianapolis Star‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1903-2004
    • Jewish Advocate (Boston) (SI Staff): Coverage: 1905-1990
    • Jewish Exponent‎ (Philadelphia) (SI Staff): Coverage: 1887-1990
    • Los Angeles Sentinel‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1934-2010
    • Los Angeles Times (SI Staff): Coverage: 1881-1996
    • Louisville Courier Journal‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1830-2000
    • Minneapolis Star Tribune‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1867-2001
    • Nashville Tennessean‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1812-2009
    • New York Amsterdam News (SI Staff): Coverage: 1922-2010
    • New York Times (SI Staff): Coverage: 1851-2021
    • New York Tribune / Herald Tribune‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1841-1962
    • Newsday‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1940-1996
    • Norfolk Journal and Guide‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1916-2010
    • Philadelphia Tribune‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1912-2010
    • Pittsburgh Courier (SI Staff): Coverage: 1911-2010
    • Pittsburgh Post-Gazette‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1786-2003
    • San Francisco Chronicle‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1865-1922
    • St. Louis Post-Dispatch (SI Staff): Coverage: 1874-1922
    • St. Petersburg Times / Tampa Bay Times‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1901-2009
    • Washington Post (SI Staff): Coverage: 1877-2008 
  • International Newspapers
    • Chinese Newspapers Collection (SI Staff): Coverage: 1832-1953
    • Globe and Mail‎ (Toronto) (SI Staff): Coverage: 1844-2021 
    • Guardian and The Observer‎ (London) (SI Staff): Coverage: 1791-2003
    • Irish Times and The Weekly Irish Times‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1859-2022
    • Jerusalem Post‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1932-2008 
    • Korea Times‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1956-2016
    • Scotsman‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1817-1950
    • South China Morning Post‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1903-2001
    • Times of India‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1838-2012
    • Toronto Star‎ (SI Staff): Coverage: 1894-2022 
• Wikipedia List of Online Newspaper Archives: A listing of both free and pay wall blocked digital newspaper archives from the U.S. and foreign countries.

Biography and Genealogy Resources

• Ancestry Library Edition (SI Staff): Powered by Ancestry.com, this resource offers access to billions of records for genealogical research.
• American National Biography Online (SI Staff): Offers portraits of more than 19,000 men and women, from all eras and walks of life, whose lives have shaped the nation. 
• Biography and Genealogy Master Index (SI Staff): Indexes current, easily accessible references sources to help find biographical material on people from all time periods, geographic locations, and fields of endeavor.
• FamilySearch: For over 100 years, FamilySearch has been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide.
• Fold3 (SI Staff): Provides access to military records, including the stories, photos, and personal documents of the men and women who served. Also includes some census records and selected other non-military materials.