Microforms Research Collections: American Periodicals: Series I & II

Location: Microfilm Cabinets 11-E, F, G.

Scope: Series I contains 33 reels which trace the evolution of the American periodical from two short-lived publications of 1741 by Ben Franklin and Andrew Bradford through the increasing magazine publishing activity after the Revolution. The most important titles in this series include the Columbian Magazine and the American Museum (from Philadelphia), the Massachusetts Magazine (of Boston), and the New York Magazine. This collection also includes the first American medical journal, the first juvenile periodical and the first magazine to give special attention to women, through advice and fiction.

Series II. UNO only has selected reels of this very large collection including reels 40-2, 44, 127, 167-183, 220-1, 243-4, 270-281, 311, 348-61, 382-3, 438-447, 507-508, 546-60, 566-77, 616-40, 671, 679-80, 684-87, 691-97. The serial titles on these reels are in the online catalog and include the earliest issues of Scientific American (1845-66), the Federal American Monthly, Southern Literary Messenger, Graham’s American Monthly Magazine, Princeton Review, Spirit of the Times (1821-61), U.S. Democratic Review, DeBow’s Review, etc.

How to search the collection: Finding aids located on the Multimedia Index Table include paperbound reel guides which give more information about the various titles and inclusive dates. The microfilm card catalog also contains title cards for each periodical that we own from the two collections. The online catalog contains most of the titles we own in this collection. To get a list of these titles from the online catalog, simply do a SERIES search from the advanced search screen for “American Periodical Series.” The series statement from the catalog record (located in parentheses) will give you the reel numbers on which you can find this title.