So you did a Google search and clicked on the first link which was a Wikipedia article. Now that you know something about which you knew nothing, it is time to get more serious about your subject. Rather than rely on some opinionated blogger, do some serious research using these extensive databases.
Encyclopedia Britannica All levels Britannica Online School Edition has separate elementary, middle and high school levels, and includes a world atlas, timelines, country comparisons, and many other features.
Massachusetts Special Collections an index to 650 repositories throughout the state. Includes the Boston Public Library and Harvard University. Books, private and public documents, town records, genealogical information.
Online Massachusetts Library Catalogs 60 libraries and counting including the state universities.
Massachusetts Libraries will recognize you as a Massachusetts resident and allow you to search in magazines, journals, CDs, DVDs and newspapers. To reserve library material you will need to login with a Massachusetts library card. Material can then be sent to your local library for your use.
So it's not the town of Salem, it's the name of the publisher. "Salem History is a robust online database that includes the complete content of printed reference sets." MVRHS has three books available: History, Literature, Science In History, start with the Browse or People tabs. People, for example, goes from Hank Aaron to Stary Zygmunt (King of Poland 1506 - 1548). In Literature, Browse or Authors. In Science, Browse or Glossary.
Magazines
Popular Magazines Popular Magazines includes more than 1,000 of the most searched magazines across our InfoTrac products. All the titles were selected based on actual publication searches performed by library patrons. This database is 100% full text (not always -ed.) and includes over 600 titles such as Consumer Reports, Time, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, US News and World Report, Vogue, Fortune, Business Week, National Review, Cosmopolitan, NPR and even Oprah are included in this database. In some cases this is not going to give you the article but will instead give you a reference to the date of the periodical which you would then have to find on your own.
Newspapers
This is research to find a specific article. This is not browsing the newspaper. See Newspapers for that.
Boston Globe This is the Proquest archive of articles as far back as 1980.
Boston Public Library Newspapers with a BPL library card. Includes America's Historical Newspapers 1690 - 1922
Full Suite of Gale Databases Allows you to select multiple databases from the list below to search. is a collection of databases that cover a wide variety of sources. Click the link above for a list of all the databases available or click the individual links below to search a more limited selection. The first entry, Virtual Reference Library (under History), contains the ever-popular Fashion, Costume, and Culture: Clothing, Headwear, Body Decorations, and Footwear through the Ages
Academic OneFile is the premier source for peer-reviewed, full-text articles from the world's leading journals and reference sources. With extensive coverage of the physical sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, the arts, theology, literature and other subjects, Academic OneFile is both authoritative and comprehensive. With millions of articles available in both PDF and HTML full-text with no restrictions, researchers are able to find accurate information quickly. Includes full-text coverage of the New York Times back to 1995. Updated daily.
Books and Authors offers new ways to explore the endless possibilities and combinations of books, authors, genres and topics. Combining over 140,000 titles, 50,000 authors, and thousands of read-alike, award winner and librarian's favorites lists, Books & Authors helps bring readers and literature together. Through the use of expertly written and arranged content and a dynamic, cutting edge user interface, Books & Authors makes exploration of genre fiction and essential non-fiction fun! By leveraging our entire award-winning "What Do I Read Next?" collection, patrons and students alike can be sure that their next big read comes with a BIG recommendation.
Business Essentials:Insights is a fully integrated resource bringing together company profiles, brand information, rankings, investment reports, company histories, chronologies and periodicals. Search this database to find detailed company and industry news and information.
Contemporary Literary Criticism is an extensive collection of more than 11,000 critical essays on contemporary authors. Each CLC--Select entry contains a biographical/critical introduction, a list of principal works, critical essays, and sources for further study. Updated monthly, Contemporary Literary Criticism--Select allows users to search by author name, title of work, nationality, subjectiveness, ethnicity, critic name, and more.
Educator's Reference Complete is a selection of more than 450 full-text academic journals, hundreds of full-text reports, and many premier reference sources. Included content focuses on educational principles, child development and psychology, and best practices in education. Majority of the full-text titles included are also found in the ERIC database. The database is updated daily and provides 24-hour access from school or home.
Expanded Academic From arts and the humanities to social sciences, science and technology, this database meets research needs across all academic disciplines. Access scholarly journals, news magazines, and newspapers - many with full text and images!.
Gale Biography is for those seeking contextual information on the world's most influential people. The new solution merges Gale's authoritative reference content (including Lives & Perspectives) with periodicals and multimedia organized into a user-friendly portal experience while also allowing users to search for people based on name, occupation, nationality, ethnicity, birth/death dates and places, or gender as well as keyword and full text.
Gale Opposing Viewpoints is for those seeking contextual information and opinions on hundreds of today's hottest social issues. Drawing on the acclaimed Greenhaven Press series, the new solution features continuously updated viewpoint articles, topic overviews, full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles, primary source documents, statistics, images, videos, audio files and links to vetted websites.
Gale Science Hundreds of today's most significant science topics. The new solution merges Gale's authoritative reference content with full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles, experiments, images, videos, audio files and links to vetted websites organized into a user-friendly portal experience.
Gale Student Resources gives information on a broad range of topics, people, places, and events. It merges authoritative reference content with full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles, primary source documents, images, videos, audio files and links to vetted websites combined with new features such as "Search Assist" and quick fact boxes.
Gale U.S. History is for those seeking contextual information on hundreds of the most significant people, events and topics in U.S. History.
Gale World History is for those seeking contextual information on hundreds of the most significant people, events and topics in World History.
General OneFile is a one-stop source for news and periodical articles on a wide range of topics: business, computers, current events, economics, education, environmental issues, health care, hobbies, humanities, law, literature and art, politics, science, social science, sports, technology, and many general interest topics. Millions of full-text articles, many with images. Updated daily.
General BusinessFile Analyze company performance and activity, industry events and trends as well as the latest in management, economics and politics. Access to a combination of broker research reports, trade publications, newspapers, journals and company directory listings with full text and images available.
General Reference Center Gold A general interest database that integrates a variety of sources - newspapers, reference books, magazines, and trade publications. Find articles on current events, popular culture, business and industry trends, the arts and sciences, sports, hobbies, and more.
Global Issues in Context offers international viewpoints on a broad spectrum of global issues, topics, and current events. Featured are hundreds of continuously updated issue and country portals that bring together a variety of specially selected, highly relevant sources for analysis of social, political, military, economic, environmental, health, and cultural issues. Each of these gateway pages includes an overview, unique "perspectives" articles written by local experts, reference, periodical, primary source and statistical information. Rich multimedia - including podcasts, video, and interactive graphs - enhance each portal. Use Browse Issues and Topics, Country Finder, Basic Search or Advanced Search to explore the database.
Health and Wellness Resource Center Provides instant access to carefully compiled and trusted medical reference materials. Includes nearly 400 health/medical journals, numerous reference volumes, over 700 health videos from partner Healthology, Inc., hundreds of pamphlets and health-related articles from 2,200 general interest publications in addition to a broad collection of Gale reference titles. Material contained in this Resource Center is intended for informational purposes only.
Health Reference Center Academic Multi-source database provides access to the full text of nursing and allied health journals, plus the wide variety of personal health information sources in InfoTrac's award-winning Health Reference Center. All in a single, easy-to-use database, the material contained in this database is intended for informational purposes only.
Literature Resource Center Find up-to-date biographical information, overviews, full-text literary criticism and reviews on more than 130,000 writers in all disciplines, from all time periods and from around the world. The optional MLA International Bibliography module adds citations for hundreds of thousands of books, articles and dissertations from 1926 to the present, linked to full text where available.
Literature Resources
Research authors and their works, literary movements and genres. Search across several major Literature databases to find full text of literary works, journal articles, literature criticism, reviews, biographical information and overviews.
LitFinder Covering world literature and authors throughout history, LitFinder contains a wealth of literary works including over 150,000 full-text poems and 800,000+ poetry citations, as well as short stories, speeches, and plays. For students or patrons seeking a deeper view into literature, LitFinder also includes secondary materials like biographies, images, and more! From Shakespeare's sonnets to poems by Donald Hall or short stories from Edgar Allan Poe to works by Annie Proulx, LitFinder has you covered.
Massachusetts History Online Contains full-text articles gathered from almost 50 sources that directly relate to MA history
New York Times Search the full text of The New York Times (starting in 1985).
Student Edition Now with over 1100 titles, cross searchable with E-Books, this periodical database is designed for high-school students with access to a variety of indexed and full-text magazines, newspapers, podcasts, and reference books for information on current events, the arts, science, popular culture, health, people, government, history, sports and more.
RDS Business Suite The RDS Business Reference Suite™ allows you to search one or more of the databases from Responsive Database Services.
Student Edition Infotrac Now with over 1100 titles, cross searchable with E-Books, this periodical database is designed for high-school students with access to a variety of indexed and full-text magazines, newspapers, podcasts, and reference books for information on current events, the arts, science, popular culture, health, people, government, history, sports and more.
Junior Edition - K12 Now with over 330 titles, cross searchable with E-Books, this periodical database is designed for students in junior high and middle school with access to a variety of indexed and full-text magazines, newspapers and reference books for information on current events, the arts, science, popular culture, health, people, government, history, sports and more.
Kids InfoBits is a database developed especially for beginning researchers in Kindergarten through Grade 5. Featuring a developmentally appropriate, visually graphic interface, the most popular search method is moving from a broad subject to a narrower topic using the subject-based topic tree. The curriculum-related, age appropriate, full-text content is from the best elementary reference sources and magazines. This database covers geography, current events, the arts, science, health, people, government, history, sports and more.
Archives USA directory of 5,400 manuscript repositories, indexes to over 109,000 special collections. ArchivesUSA® is a current directory of 5,581 repositories and 160,792 collections of primary source material across the United States. Using ArchivesUSA®, researchers are able to read descriptions of a repository's holdings to determine whether a collection contains material useful to their work as well as find the information they need to contact the repository directly.
The Boston Public Library allows residents of Massachusetts to sign up for an electronic library card. BPL eCards are virtual library cards that allow users immediate entry to all of Boston Public Library's remotely-accessible electronic resources, including e-Journals, online collection, magazine databases, downloadable audio, video, e-books, music, a large number of databases including JSTOR (under "General"), Credo Reference and many newspaper sites.. The card is good for three years and is renewable. To apply go to eCard information and then click on registration form. ( requires JavaScript , disable any popup blockers temporarily)
Digital Collection from MBLC, a small but growing collection of pamphlets, maps and photographs related to a particular local area. "The documentary heritage of Massachusetts is essentially intact from its founding, and much rich information and documentation exists. Throughout the Commonwealth, repositories house irreplaceable collections of books and private and public documents that serve as a rich resource for researchers involved in local, state, regional, national, and international studies. Library staffs in public and academic libraries and in other repositories have long collected materials that document their immediate and adjoining locales as well as focusing on specific collecting areas. Although much of this material is monographs and pamphlets, a significant portion is manuscript material (personal and organizational papers), photographs, posters, ticket stubs, broadsides, etc. Many of these collections (are) physically sound and have been organized with a finding aid but need greater accessibility for patron use." The collection includes the Boston Athenaeum's African Americana Project and the Boston Public Library's Sports Temples of Boston.