Article Databases for finding Historical Advertising
Full list of primary source databases: Library home > Electronic Resources > Electronic Resources, types A-Z > Archival Collections and primary sources
The New York Sun (and related papers) via Chronicling America
The New York Herald (1840-1857) via 19th Century Newspapers database
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Chronicling America
This site allows users to search and view newspaper pages from 1880-1922 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. To date, over 200,000 pages of California newspapers have been digitized.
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19th Century U.S. Newspapers
Images of both full pages and clipped articles for hundreds of 19th century U.S. newspapers. For each issue, the newspaper is captured from cover-to-cover, providing access to every article, advertisement and illustration.
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American Periodicals
Periodicals published between 1740 and 1940, including general interest magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines and other periodicals
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HarpWeek
Full-image reproductions of Harper's Weekly from its beginning in 1857 to 1912. Provides access to information about 19th and early 20th century advertising, illustrations, culture, history, literature, and notable figures.
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Early American Newspapers
Access to hundreds of historic newspapers, providing more than one million pages as fully text-searchable facsimile images. Based largely on Clarence Brigham's "History and Bibliography of American Newspapers,1690-1820." (Archive of Americana allows cross-searching of several databases: Early American Imprints , Series I and II; Early American Newspapers; American State Papers; US Congressional Serial Set.)
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Historical Newspapers (ProQuest)
Includes Chicago Defender (1910-1975). Chicago Tribune (1849-1988). Los Angeles Times (1881-1988). San Francisco Chronicle (1865-1922). New York Times (1851-1994) with Index (1851-1993). Wall Street Journal (1889-1994). Washington Post (1877-1995).
Sample Searches for historical advertising
American Periodicals Series Online
advanced search
more search options
patent medicine* (citation and document text)
limit by date as appropriate
document type: ad
UC-eLinks - Find Article Text/Location
Once you've searched a database to find articles, you may need to use 
to link to a PDF or html file if the full text is not immediately available. Each database is a bit different, but a good rule of thumb is this: when you see the Uc-eLinks icon click on it to view your article access options, which can range from full text to a call number to an Interlibrary Loan request:
For more information, here's a tutorial on using UC-eLinks.