Library Guides: Media Studies: Databases

Media Studies Article Databases

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Covers all disciplines; very useful for Media Studies
Articles from broad array of peer-reviewed journals, popular and trade magazines and news sources for nearly all areas of study; available in English, Spanish, German, French, Italian and Portuguese.
Access World News This link opens in a new window
Full-text information and perspectives from U.S. and international news sources. (America's newspapers - NewsBank - global newsbank)
Provides full-text information and perspectives from over 600 U.S. and over 700 international sources. Offers strong regional coverage, indexing more than California newspapers such as Contra Costa Times (1995-current), Sacramento Bee (1984-current), San Francisco Chronicle (1985-current), and San Jose Mercury News (1985-current). Search categories include: California newspapers (121 titles), Greater Los Angeles (54 titles), major metropolitan titles (13 titles), Spanish-language news sources (48 titles), the World (almost 2000 titles), US (855 titles).
Alliance for Audited Media. Media Intelligence Center This link opens in a new window
Title-level statistics for newspapers, consumer magazines, business publications and farm publications back to 2013 in excel; historical figures can be found in reports and snapshots going back in some cases to 2003.(Audit Bureau of Circulations) [2004 - present]
Alt-Press Watch (APW) This link opens in a new window
Alternative, radical, and independent magazines, newspapers, and journals in North America. (AltPress Watch - altpresswatch) [1970 - present]
Reporting on politics and government, policy and culture, international issues, education, environment as well as reviews of theater, movies and books.
America: History and Life
Access to this resource will be discontinued effective 6/30/23 due to library budget cuts. Please use Google Scholar or BASE as alternatives. Includes all key English-language historical journals; selected historical journals from major countries, state, and local history journals; and a targeted selection of hundreds of journals in the social sciences and humanities.
Index of journals on the history of the US and Canada from prehistory to the present.
Communication Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Covers major journals in mass media, journalism, advertising, and other communication-related fields. (Comm Abs) [1977 - present]
Indexes 160 sources, with over 44,000 records reflecting articles, reports, papers and books covering communication literature in subjects such as mass media, journalism, advertising, marketing, public opinion, interpersonal communication and organizational communication.
Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
An archival research resource containing the essential primary sources for studying the history of the film and entertainment industries, from the era of vaudeville and silent movies through to 2000. [1880 - 2000]
The core US and UK trade magazines covering film, music, broadcasting and theater are all included, together with film fan magazines and music press titles. Magazines have been scanned cover-to-cover in high-resolution color, with granular indexing of all articles, covers, ads and reviews.
Ethnic NewsWatch (ENWH) This link opens in a new window
Index of over 200 ethnic, minority, and native press publications, including news, culture, and history topics. Searchable in English and Spanish. (ENWALL) [1960 - present]
Also includes a retrospective backfile of titles (1960-1989).
FIAF: International Index to Film Periodicals This link opens in a new window
Index offering in-depth coverage of the world's foremost academic and popular film journals from 1972 to the present day. [1972 - present]
Indexes scholarly and popular journals, books, book reviews, and proceedings worldwide on a wide range of topics within the fields of film and television studies. Includes complete data from all volumes of the Index to Film Periodicals, Treasures from Film Archives, Documentation Collections, and FIAF Affiliates' Publications.
Film and Television Literature Index with Full Text (FLI) This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive bibliographic and full-text database covering the entire spectrum of television and film. [1976 - present]
Indexes 150 scholarly and popular periodicals from 30 countries cover-to-cover and 300 other periodicals selectively for reviews and articles on the topic film and television. Search by keyword, production title and more or browse by some 2000 subject headings.
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS)
Access to this resource has been discontinued effective 6/30/24 due to library budget cuts.

Index of publications in the fields of economics, political science, sociology and anthropology from over 100 countries. [1981 - present]
More than 70 languages are represented, with 30% percent of records published in languages other than English.
Media History Digital Library This link opens in a new window
Digitized public domain media periodicals and online access to the histories of cinema, broadcasting, and recorded sound. [1905-1973]
The Media History Digital Library digitizes collections of classic media periodicals that belong in the public domain for full public access. The project is supported by owners of materials who loan them for scanning, and donors who contribute funds to cover the cost of scanning.
Nexis Uni (formerly LexisNexis Academic) This link opens in a new window
Full-text access to international, national, local newspapers, and wire services, as well as radio and television transcripts. Database also includes business, medical, industry, and legislative magazines, journals, and newsletters. Also includes laws from the U.S., all 50 states, and law reviews. Wide geographic coverage and translations from foreign-language sources, as well as news services like the Associated Press, Agence France Press, El Pai.
Nexis Uni allows users to set up personal accounts to personalize your research experience. Nexis Uni has replaced LexiNexis Academic. [dates vary]
PAIS International This link opens in a new window
Indexes books, journals, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference reports, and web sources related to public policy, politics, economics, and social issues worldwide. (Public Affairs Information Service) [1915 - present]
Includes publications from over 120 countries. Some of the indexed materials are published in French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. The Archive covers English-language material only.
ProQuest Social Sciences This link opens in a new window
Search social sciences indexes on the ProQuest platform.
An interdisciplinary metasearch through 22 of the the social sciences indexes on the ProQuest platform. Includes EconLit, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS), Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts, PAIS, PsycInfo, Sociological Abstracts, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts and more.
Social Sciences Citation Index (Web of Knowledge) This link opens in a new window
Citations for journal articles spanning all Social Science disciplines; provides searching of footnoted citations. Specify Social Science Citation Index search only by deselecting other Indexes in "Limits". [1956 - present]
Indexes over 1,700 journals spanning 50 disciplines, as well as covering individually selected items from over 3,300 of the world's leading scientific and technical journals, and provides searching of footnoted citations. For more guidance on using this database see the following tutorials: Saving your search & setting alerts
Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Indexes journals, books, dissertations, and reviews in the social sciences on sociological topics as well as selected anthropology, criminology, demography, law, social psychology, and urban development. [1952 - present]

Image and Sound Databases for Media Studies

60 MINUTES: 1997-2014 This link opens in a new window
This online collection provides 350 hours of video from 17 years of broadcasts and 175 hours of segments from the popular CBS News program Sunday Morning. [1997-2014]
Ad*Access Project This link opens in a new window
Images and information for advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines. Concentrates on five main subject areas: Radio, Television, Transportation, Beauty and Hygiene, and World War II.
Images and information for over 7,000 advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955. Ad*Access concentrates on five main subject areas: Radio, Television, Transportation, Beauty and Hygiene, and World War II, providing a view of a number of major campaigns and companies through images preserved in one particular advertising collection available at Duke University.
American Memory Motion Pictures Collections (Library of Congress) This link opens in a new window
A gateway to primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States. Includes a sampling of early American films, including works by the Edison Company, recordings of vaudeville and other popular entertainments, early animated films; recordings of early 20th Century presidents, and scenes of American work and leisure.
A gateway to primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States. The site offers more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections. Includes a sampling of early American films, including works by the Edison Company, recordings of vaudeville and other popular entertainments, early animated films; recordings of early 20th Century presidents, and scenes of American work and leisure, 1894-1915.
American Memory: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library This link opens in a new window
Primary source and archival materials covering topics such as art and architecture, performing arts, technology and applied sciences.
Millions of digital items from more than 100 historical Library of Congress collections.
AP Newsroom This link opens in a new window
Historical Associated Press photos. Also includes tens of thousands of graphics, audio files, and news stories and headlines. (Associated Press Photo Archive - AccuNet - AP Multimedia Archive - AP Photo Archive) [1826 - present]
4.6 million photographs from the Associated Press dating back to 1826 to the present. Historical photos date from 1996 to 1826. Also includes tens of thousands of graphics, over 4,500 hours of audio files dating from the 1920s, and news stories and headlines dating from 1997. Search by keyword to search all the images in the photo collection or do an advanced search to limit results.

BBC Motion Gallery
Movie clips from the archives of the British Broadcasting Corporation and CBS News.

British Pathe This link opens in a new window
Items from the British Pathe Film Archive which covers news, sport, social history and entertainment. [1896-1970]
A digital news archive that allows users to preview items from the entire 3500 hour British Pathe Film Archive which covers news, sport, social history and entertainment from 1896 to 1970.
Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920 This link opens in a new window
Advertising items and publications illustrating the rise of consumer culture and the birth of a professionalized advertising industry in the United States.
Over 9,000 images, with database information, relating to the early history of advertising in the United States. The materials is drawn from the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke University.
Europeana This link opens in a new window
Digital objects from European institutions.
Provides open access to more than 15 million digital objects, including film material, photos, paintings, sounds, maps, manuscripts, books, newspapers and archival papers from more than 1500 European institutions. Europeana -- the European digital library, museum and archive -- launched in 2008 and is funded by the European Commission and its member states. This current prototype is one of many parallel projects of The European Library.
Gallica This link opens in a new window
Bibliotheque Nationale de France's digital library.
Provides free electronic access to one of the world's largest collections of digitized books, periodicals, documents, manuscripts, images and audio-visual resources. One can browse (Decouverte), search (Recherche), or explore thematic groupings of materials (Dossiers).

History and Politics Out Loud
A multimedia database documenting and delivering audiorecordings relevant to American history and politics. Includes speeches and other addresses by US presidents and other political leaders.
History Channel Speech Archives
Online audiorecordings of speeches and other addresses by international political leaders; on-site recordings of notable historic events. [1976 - present]

Internet Archive: Moving Images This link opens in a new window
An online archive of "ephemeral films," including films produced by and for many hundreds of important US corporations, nonprofit organizations, trade associations, community and interest groups, and educational institutions.
An online archive of "ephemeral films," including films produced by and for many hundreds of important US corporations, nonprofit organizations, trade associations, community and interest groups, and educational institutions. Includes advertisement and publicity films, educational films, government propaganda, and other historically important moving image materials. Includes access to TV News: Search and Borrow, a collection of thousands of news programs collected over 3 years in stations in San Francisco and Washington D.C.

Legacy Tobacco Documents Library (LTDL)
Documents and multimedia created by major tobacco companies related to their advertising, manufacturing, marketing, sales, and scientific research activities.
Library of American Broadcasting
Special Collections in Mass Media & Culture holds a wide-ranging collection of resources documenting the history of radio and television broadcasting.

Living Room Candidate: Historical Presidential Campaign Commercials This link opens in a new window
An archive of historic and current political advertisements from television and the internet. Most clips include transcripts.
An archive of historic and current political advertisements from television and the internet. Most clips include transcripts.

Newsfilm Library
A partial online catalog of the Fox Movietonews newsreel collection at the University of South Carolina.
NYPL Digital Gallery
Provides access to images digitized from primary sources and printed rarities in the collections of The New York Public Library. (New York Public Library Digital Gallery)

Meet the Press This link opens in a new window
Includes the full surviving run of this institution of American broadcast journalism from the premiere in 1947 to 2013, with thousands of interviews, panels, and debates (over 1,500 hours of footage).
Includes captions and synchronized transcript.
Radio-Locator This link opens in a new window
A radio station search engine of radio stations in the US and around the world.
A database of links to over 10,000 radio station web pages and over 2500 audio streams from radio stations in the U.S. and around the world.
Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives This link opens in a new window
Digitized archive of primary documents of key events, trends, and movements in 1960s America. Includes letters, diaries, oral histories, posters, broadsides, pamphlets, advertisements, and rare audio and video materials. [1960 - 1974]
Documents the key events, trends, and movements in 1960s America. Includes 70,000 pages of letters, diaries, and oral histories; more than 30,000 pages of posters, broadsides, pamphlets, advertisements, and rare audio and video materials. Enhanced by dozens of scholarly document projects, featuring annotated primary-source content that is analyzed and contextualized through interpretive essays by historians.
Vanderbilt Television Index This link opens in a new window
Individual network evening news broadcasts from the major U.S. national broadcast networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN, and hours of special news-related programming.
Holding more than 30,000 individual network evening news broadcasts from the major U.S. national broadcast networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN, and more than 9,000 hours of special news-related programming including ABC's Nightline since 1989. These special reports and periodic news broadcasts cover presidential press conferences and political campaign coverage, and national and international events.
Vincent Voice Library This link opens in a new window
Collection of spoken word recordings, including political and cultural leaders and minor players in the human drama are captured.
Index to the Vincent Voice Library, a collection of speeches, performances, lectures, interviews, broadcasts, etc. by over 50,000 people, recorded over the last 100 years.

TV Credits - Internet Movie Database

Internet Movie Database
A database of more than 120,000 movies. Includes biographical records (including complete filmographies) for close to 200,000 individuals involved in international film and television industries. The Glossary includes definitions of terms and phrases frequently used in the world of movies, film, acting, and cinema-going. The Box Office Summary lists the weekly summary of top-grossing US films and also includes a year-to-date archive of top-grossing US films and listings of top-grossing international films.
TV Episodes Guide

Transcripts and Scripts

Nexis Uni (formerly LexisNexis Academic) This link opens in a new window
Full-text access to international, national, local newspapers, and wire services, as well as radio and television transcripts. Database also includes business, medical, industry, and legislative magazines, journals, and newsletters. Also includes laws from the U.S., all 50 states, and law reviews. Wide geographic coverage and translations from foreign-language sources, as well as news services like the Associated Press, Agence France Press, El Pai.
Nexis Uni allows users to set up personal accounts to personalize your research experience. Nexis Uni has replaced LexiNexis Academic. [dates vary]
Vanderbilt Television Index This link opens in a new window
Individual network evening news broadcasts from the major U.S. national broadcast networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN, and hours of special news-related programming.
Holding more than 30,000 individual network evening news broadcasts from the major U.S. national broadcast networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN, and more than 9,000 hours of special news-related programming including ABC's Nightline since 1989. These special reports and periodic news broadcasts cover presidential press conferences and political campaign coverage, and national and international events.

Simply Scripts
"A database of hundreds of downloadable scripts, movie scripts, screenplays, and transcripts of current, classic and maybe a few soon-to-be-released movies, television, anime, unproduced and radio shows. "
Drew's Script-o-Rama

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Media Studies: Databases

Media Studies Article Databases

Image and Sound Databases for Media Studies

TV Credits - Internet Movie Database

Transcripts and Scripts