My Story in the World
Local History in Context
"try to find a newspaper or other source of what was happening near the time you were born around the place where you were born."
Newsbank
Full-text articles from major metropolitan newspapers, international papers, and smalltown U.S. papers. Articles from the Chicago Tribune date back to 1985. Click on Illinois (if you were born here), then scroll through the newspapers to find one that is closest to where you were born. Note the date range of the newspapers - some only go back a few years. Or, if you were born somewhere outside of Illinois, click on United States or The World, and narrow your search accordingly. In the date field, type the month and year you are researching.
Urbana Free Library Archives
Here you will find the most comprehensive public library newspaper collection in the area. The archives specialize in genealogy and local history. Though the focus in on Champaign County, they have information on many other communities in Illinois. The index is now online!
World History in Context
"Move your story from the locale of your birth into a larger parameter – a state, a country, the world. Again, do research to find what things were going on at that time. Again, think in terms of more than the headlines. What was happening in the Arts, sports, science? What were people seeing, hearing, reading?"
Infoplease: Year by Year
Simply click on the year you were born to get lists of top national, world, sports and entertainment news for the year.
Pop Culture Universe
Click on the decade you were born, then use the toolbar on the left to narrow by pop culture topic (major awards, fads,
new products and businesses, etc.), where you can click on the year you were born.
Historical New York Times
Access any New York Times article from 1851-2006.
Chicago Tribune
Articles from the Chicago daily paper dating back to 1985.
AP Multimedia Archive
One million primary source from the Associated Press Archives. Use the Advanced Search to specify a range of dates.
Note: for this database, use the "special" Uni High log in and password (NOT your netID).
Google Advanced News Archive Search
Search historical archives for stories from the day or year you were born. Includes a timeline to help with historical context. Not all the articles are free -- to find more of the free ones, select "no price" from the price menu near the bottom.
Newsbank
Full-text articles from major metropolitan newspapers, international papers, and smalltown U.S. papers. Articles from the Chicago Tribune date back to 1985. Click on United States or The World. In the date field, type the month and year you are researching.
Academic Search Premier
Periodicals with full text back to 1990. Limit to "Full text" and "Publication Type: Periodical" and enter the month and year you were born as both the start and end date for your search. Scroll through the articles your search retrieves to find those closest to your birthdate.
History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library (University of Illinois)
This library holds tens of thousands of reels of microfilm and subscribes to almost 500 current newspapers.
BROWSE BY ISSUE:
Time: Full Text articles back to May 1990.
*NEW Available free online: Time Magazine Archives
Newsweek: Full Text articles back to January 1990.
U.S. News and World Report: Full Text articles back to May 1990.
You can also search popular magazines, such as Rolling Stone, People, Sports Illustrated, and many other titles in the library's Online Research Resources. Select Journals and Newspapers and type the title of the source you want to find.