The library has 3 new databases!  You now can search these influential British newspapers: Picture Post Historical Archive, the Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive, and the Illustrated London News Historical Archive.  

The Illustrated London News covers its full run, from its founding in 1842 to when it ceased publication in 2003.  The ILN was the first weekly newspaper to feature pictures in every edition (drawings at first, but gradually replaced with photographs around the turn of the century).  The magazine had a strong conservative bent, as most newspapers of the time took strong partisan positions.  At its height, the ILN sold hundreds of thousands of copies of each weekly issue.

The Picture Post is the shortest archive, covering the newspaper’s full run from 1938 to 1957.  The magazine was a leader in photojournalism, and covered the turbulent period of World War II and the Korean War.  It was a deeply liberal paper, and the writers and editors espoused many social issues of the time.  At its height in the early 1940s, nearly 80% of the British population read the PP, and it sold nearly 2 million copies an issue. 

The Times Literary Supplement is the only one of these three newspapers to still be publishing, so its archive is necessarily incomplete, covering from its inception in 1902 through 2005.  It was originally a supplement to the Times of London, but had evolved into a completely separate newspaper by 1914.  Through the years, it has published the writings, including essays, poems, and criticism, of leading writers and thinkers.  Luminaries such as T.S. Elliot, Virginia Woolf, George Orwell, Tom Stoppard, and Italo Calvino have all contributed to the publication.  It has been a staple of literary criticism throughout its life.

 All three feature full text searching, and crisp color scans of every page.  They will make excellent resources for any student interested in leading British thought throughout the last century.