Newspapers and other review sources
The resources listed below are a selection of options where you might find theatrical reviews. Reviews can also often be found in book collections and journal articles and you will need to be creative in your searching.
Tip on where to start
If you're searching for reviews of productions in New York City start with The Historical New York Times, if you are looking for productions in the UK or even bigger productions in France start with The Times Digital AND/OR The British Library Newspaper Collection all of which can be found below under "Historical Newspapers."
Important things to keep in mind when searching newspapers:
- Look carefully at their descriptions to help you identify coverage date ranges.
- When searching in the databases it helps to specify date ranges, especially if you are searching a historical newspaper. So for example if you are looking for a review of a specific play in the Historical New York Times, you should limit the date range to the year in which the play opened to ensure you get useful articles rather than every article related to that play that has been published in the over 200 years of records they have available.
- When searching historical newspapers be aware of the language you are using. The algorithms search for words in the newspaper, rather than concepts, so using modern terminology for something from the 1800s may not work.
Current Newspapers
ABI/INFORM Collection (ProQuest)Provides access to scholarly journals, dissertations, working papers, key business and economics periodicals, and country- and industry-focused reports.
CurtainUpThe Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features, Annotated Listings.
Ethnic NewsWatch (ProQuest)Offers access to the full text of articles from newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic, minority, and native press. While most of the content is in English, some content in non-English languages is included. Coverage for most newspapers and magazines goes back to the early 1990s, but earlier content is also available.
Lexis Nexis Academic Limitations on Use
Now
Nexis Uni. Provides full text access to national and international newspaper and magazine articles and news transcripts, business, company, and industry information in the U.S. and abroad, and legal documents, including U.S. Federal and State court cases, and law reviews. Coverage varies.
Limitations on Use:
LexisNexis online services and the materials contained therein are under copyright by LexisNexis. All rights reserved. No part of these Services may be used except for research purposes, and the Services may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the LexisNexis Academic Library Solutions. Materials retrieved from the Services may not be duplicated in hard copy or machine-readable form without the prior written authorization of LexisNexis Academic & Library Solutions, except that limited reproduction of output is permitted solely for individual use by the Authorized User or internal distribution within the Subscribing Institution in accordance with the terms of this Agreement unless further limited or prohibited by the Copyright Act of 1976. Under no circumstances may the Materials or any portion thereof be used to create derivative products or services.
Access Instructions
Offers access to all sections of the NYTimes.com website without monthly limits. Coverage from 1851 to present, with limited availability of articles from 1923-1980. For full text access to all NYT content except the most recent five years, use
ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
Subscription courtesy of the Provost's Office and Falvey Library.
Users are required to create an individual account in order to access the NYT from off-campus or via mobile app. Create your account at
AccessNYT.com. Download mobile apps from
nytimes.com/mobile. Once your account is created, you can use it to log on to NYTimes.com from anywhere with full access. Your institutional affiliation must be confirmed once a year at AccessNYT.com
Provides full text access to articles published since 1981. Does not include ads, calendar listings, horoscopes, sports statistics, stock tables, weather forecasts, and puzzles.
Historical Newspapers
African American Newspapers: The 19th Century (Accessible Archives)Provides access to the major 19th century African American newspapers including
The Christian Recorder (1861-1902)
, Freedom's Journal (1827-1829)
, The North Star (1847-1851), and
Frederick Douglass' Paper (1851-1863).
America's Historical Newspapers (Readex)Includes full text of selected early American newspapers published between 1690 and 1922. Villanova University has access to series 1 through 5 and 7.
Black Historical Newspapers (ProQuest)Offers access to the major African American newspapers of the 20th century: the
Atlanta Daily World (1931-2003), the
Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988), the
Cleveland Call & Post (1934-1991), the
Chicago Defender (1910-1975), the
Los Angeles Sentinel (1934-2005), the
New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993), the
Norfolk Journal & Guide (1921-2003), the
Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001), and the
Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002).
British Library Newspapers (Gale)Includes over 240 newspaper titles from the United Kingdom and Ireland, and spans the years of 1732 to 1950 over six distinct collections. Illuminating diverse and distinct regional attitudes, cultures, and vernaculars, providing an alternative viewpoint to the London-centric national press.
British Periodicals (ProQuest)Provides access to British periodicals published from the 17th through the early 20th century with the majority of content from the 19th century. Covers a broad range of topics.
Burney Collection Newspapers, 17th-18th Century (Gale)Features the newspapers and news pamphlets gathered by the Reverend Charles Burney (1757-1817), representing the largest single collection of 17th and 18th century English news media.
Civil War Newspaper Collection (Penn State University Libraries)Hathi Trust Digital LibraryProvides full text access to digital copies of books, pamphlets, and journals available in the public domain. Most of the freely available texts are pre-1923 imprints and government documents. Also allows full-text searching of millions of publications that are still under copyright in order to aid discovery of relevant materials. The Hathi Trust collection largely mirrors content available through
Google Books, but only the latter platform permits the exports of public domain content.
Irish Times (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)Presents a complete archive of the
Irish Times back to 1859 (except for the most recent two years) and the
Weekly Irish Times (1876-1958).
LGBT Magazine Archive (ProQuest)Provides full text access to the most influential LGBT+ news resources including
The Advocate (full coverage from its inception in 1967),
The Pink Paper,
Just for Us,
The Albatross, and the notable UK publications
Gay News and
Gay Times.
LGBT Thought and Culture (Alexander Street Press)Provides coverage of the essential works and archival documents of the global LGBTQ+ movement. Coverage is from the late 19th century to the present and includes archival content in the form of text, letters, speeches, interviews, and ephemera.
New York Times: 1851- (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)Provides full text access to the complete
New York Times archive except for the most recent five years. Use
NYTimes.com,
Nexis Uni, or
ABI/INFORM for access to current content.
Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals (Gale)Features digital access to a selection of 19th century British magazines on women, children, leisure and sport, humor, anthropology, travel, missionaries, and colonies.
Pennsylvania Gazette: 1728-1800 (Accessible Archives)Full-text transcription and digitized image of the actual newspaper page as it originally appeared.
Pennsylvania Newspaper Record: Delaware County (Accessible Archives)Offers full text access to a small collection of 19th century Delaware County newspapers.
Philadelphia Inquirer, 1860-2009 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)Provides full text access to the complete
Philadelphia Inquirer archive up to 2009: the
Philadelphia Inquirer (1860-1934), the
Philadelphia Inquirer Public Ledger (1934-1969), and the
Philadelphia Inquirer (1969-2009). Use
Philadelphia Inquirer (NewsBank) for access to current content.
Times (London) Digital Archive, 1785-2019 (Gale)Provides a fully searchable facsimile of the
Times of London.
The Times is the world's oldest daily newspaper in continuous publication.
Virginia GazetteThe Virginia Gazette was published weekly in Williamsburg from 1736-1780. The news covered all Virginia and included some information for other colonies, Scotland, England etc. Not all the issues survived, and some have surfaced since they were first reproduced on microfilm in the mid-twentieth century that is the basis for the digital version.
