Context is vital in journalism, and so historical research is an important skill. This guide will provide you with the resources to conduct historical research about journalism topics and with journalistic methods. Links to other guides and general historical resources are linked throughout.
The tabs above will direct you to pages populated with valuable resources for completing historical research for journalism projects.
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Online Resources
Primary sources are documents or physical objects written or created at the time historical events occurred or well after the events in the form of memoirs or oral histories. The author or creator was present at the time of the event and offers a first-hand account. Primary sources may include:
Original Documents (Diaries, letters, speeches, notes, meeting minutes, interviews, news audio or video footage, autobiographies, official records (birth/death/marriage certificates), new research findings reported in scholarly journal articles, newspaper articles, government documents (laws, reports, statistics, data).
Creative Works (music, photography, film, poetry, drama, novels, works of art, architecture)
Relics/Artifacts (jewelery, pottery, tools, weapons, clothing, buildings - created and used during the period of study)
Primary sources serve as raw material to interpret the past, and when used along with previous interpretations by historians, may provide resources necessary for historical research.
Find primary source material by searching:
Library Catalogs (monographs and serials containing autobiographies, memoirs, letters, speeches, interviews, etc.; government documents, newspaper and periodical microforms, maps, etc.)
Archives/Special Collections
Secondary Sources analyze, interpret, or comment on primary resources. They may include books (handbooks, encyclopedias, biographies), articles, reviews, scientific studies, editorials, etc.
Top MU database choices for historical research:
Offers cover-to-cover ("core") indexing and abstracts as well as selected ("priority") journals, many of which are full text.
This multi-disciplinary database provides full text for more than an abundance of journals and covers extensive academic disciplines and provides comprehensive content, including PDF back-files, videos, and searchable cited references.
Provides access to scholarly journals in the arts and sciences. Contains a digital library of images, previously known as ARTStor, in the areas of art, architecture, the humanities, and social sciences with a set of tools to view, present, and manage images.
Provides full-text access to scholarly journals from the Johns Hopkins University Press and other University presses covering the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Mathematics.
A full-text collection resources that chronicle the development of America across 150 years that include digitized images of the pages of magazines and journals.
Ask Us: Get research assistance from the MU Libraries' staff via email, phone, or in person at the library. There's also a searchable list of frequently asked questions. You can chat with a librarian 24 hours a day (M-F) and Saturday and Sundays starting at 10 a.m. You can contact your subject librarian to ask questions or to set up an appointment to meet one-on-one.
Call Us: 573-882-3362
Text Us Your Questions: 573-535-6818
Email Us: ask@missouri.email.libanswers.com
Research Consultation: a free one-on-one consultation with a librarian.
Email us at jlib@missouri.edu
Library: 573-882-7502
Vera Elwood
Head, Journalism Library
103A Reynolds Journalism Institute
Phone: 573-882-6591
Email: velwood@missouri.edu
