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Link to Palmer's Index to The Times Link to The Official Index to The Times Link to The Historical Index to The New York Times Combined Indexes

Help: Search Fields

You can search the databases in Historical Newspapers by the following fields:

(The Text Type and Publication fields do not appear in the Palmer's Index to The Times , The Historical Index to The New York Times or the Combined Index databases.)

Keyword

From the Search page in any database, you can use the Keyword field to search for any word or phrase contained within an entry. To enter terms into the search box:

For example: Keyword: albania

When searching in the Keyword field, you can use truncation to retrieve records containing variations on a term. If you choose to search for more than one term, you can also combine them using Boolean and proximity searching.

Note: Dates, and page and column references are not included in the Keyword field. Certain publications other than the daily Times are indexed from January 1973, and are indicated by the following mnemonics:

Main Heading

From the Search page in any database, you can use the Main Heading field to search for any word or phrase contained in the main heading of an entry. To enter items into the search box:

For example: Main Heading: prisons

When searching in the Main Heading field, you can use truncation to retrieve records containing variations on a term. If you choose to search for more than one term, you can also combine them using Boolean and proximity searching.

Text Type

From the Search page in The Official Index to The Times  (but not in Palmer's Index to The Times, The Historical Index to The New York Times, or the Combined Index databases), you can limit a search to entries indexing texts of a particular type. To enter terms in the Text Type search box:

For example: Text Type: letter

When searching in the Text Type field, you can use truncation to retrieve entries for texts of Text Types with common or similar names. If you choose to search for more than one Text Type, you can also combine them using Boolean searching.

Page

From the Search page in any database, you can search for references to articles appearing on a particular page. To enter terms in the Page search box:

For example: Page: 1

The Official Index to The Times

You should be aware that sometimes there was more than one edition of individual issues of The Times. There were sometimes up to 7 editions. It is a good idea to be aware of which edition your library has on file. This is because The Official Index to The Times indexes articles according to their position in the final edition of the newspaper, unless they only appeared in earlier editions.

The position of news in the paper (page and column reference) often changed when fresh material was added. Where an article has shifted position within the paper, you will see more than one page and column reference in the Index Entries Selected and Index Entry in Context pages. The main reference will direct you to the final edition, but a subsequent page reference will indicate the position of the article in an earlier edition.

If matter appeared only in editions other than the final one, (i.e., if it was dropped, to make room for fresh material), this will likewise be indicated in the Index Entries Selected and Index Entry in Context pages.

From 1906 to March 1923, this is simply early, middle, late: (e.e.), (m.e.), (l.e.).

From April 1923 to March 1972, the paper copies of the newspapers contain stars in the top right-hand corner of the back page to identify which edition it is. So ****** (6 stars) denotes the first edition, each subsequent edition having a star removed. Copies with no stars are final editions.

So if 4* is shown after the page and column in the List of Entries, this indicates that the article appeared in the edition with four stars on the back, and possibly in the editions preceding it, but not in the final edition.

From April 1972 onwards the index cites only references to the *Late* London edition of Times.

If there are two references cited, eg.26 January 1976 (page 6 col b)(and 5c,4*), this indicates that in the third edition (****), the article appeared on page 5 column c, but in the final edition it was on page 6 column b.

Publication

From the Search page of The Official Index to The Times , you can use the Publication search option to restrict your search to The Times or The Sunday Times.

To restrict your search to a publication, select The Times or The Sunday Times from the Publication list. By default, the Publication field is set at All and searches all entries. Note that The Sunday Times is only indexed from January 1973.

Select Decade/Specify Date Range

Select Decade Search for quick date searches restricted to one or more decades.

Specify a Date Range Search to restrict searches to a day or range of days, up to a ten year maximum. (Note: the Date Range Search always requires "From" and "To" dates even if those dates are the same.)

For example: From 1904 to 1911

To search on one particular date, enter the same value into the Year, Month and Day search boxes respectively.

For example: 11th March 1973

Non-specific Index Entries in Palmer's Index to The Times

In Palmer's printed index there are a number of general entries which, in particular year quarters, direct the user to see each day's newspaper. Sometimes there are indeed daily reports on these items; sometimes the reports are frequent, but not daily. Because these items are, in the main, general, and because it is impossible to associate them with specific page and column references, it was felt that they would not be helpful in the context of Historical Newspapers. They have accordingly been removed from the data. For the sake of completeness a full list of these general headings follows, arranged alphabetically, including an indication of the date range over which they were used.

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