National, Regional, and International Newspapers

The NDSU Libraries subscribe to Proquest Newspapers, which provides full text access to several hundred newspapers.

The Fargo Forum:

Search the Fargo Forum’s web site (Fulltext search, 1995 to Present)

The Forum Index: 1976 through 1995
This database provides citations to articles published in the Forum pertaining to the Red River Valley, North Dakota, and Western Minnesota. Omitted are most national news items, syndicated columns, and routine birth and marriage announcements. Indexing practices varied somewhat from year-to-year: business news, letters to the editor, editorials, sports news, and reviews of theater, music, opera, and dance performances were selectively indexed some years and not indexed during others. Obituaries for this time period are available in another database.

If an article included a map, graph, chart, illustration, cartoon, or photograph, this is usually indicated. Indexing terms and keywords were taken from Library of Congress Subject Headings, the Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature, and from the newspaper articles themselves.

Fargo Newspapers Index: 1879 through 1975
This database provides citations to articles published in a number of Fargo newspapers, but currently primarily for the Fargo Forum, regarding events in North Dakota and to a limited extent in other states. Other Fargo newspapers represented in this database include the Argus (predecessor to the Fargo Forum which began publication in 1879), the Fargo Daily Courier-News (a competitor of the Fargo Forum in the 1910s and 1920s until purchased by the Fargo Forum in 1924), and the only issue published of the Cass and Clay County Review. The latter was published in December 1892 and contains articles on businesses in Fargo, N.D. and Moorhead, Minn. as well as surrounding communities.

A number of special editions of the Fargo Forum are included in this database. Among them are the 1907 Industrial edition, 1935 Fargo 60th anniversary issue, 1938 Fargo Forum’s 60th anniversary, 1950 Fargo Diamond Jubilee edition, 1953 Oil edition, and the 1957 Fargo tornado editions.

Entry format and topical headings follow closely those used for the entries in the 1976-1995 index. Bracketed titles indicate no actual title. Note is made of various accompanying illustrations, including photographs, maps, engravings, and cartoons. Occasionally an informative advertisement has been indexed and is so identified in brackets. The subdivision –North Dakota generally has not been included in the topical heading, but rather is implied. The proper subdivision for other states and provinces is used.

Entries for businesses which are a personal name have been inverted to file by the surname. This was done because the name given in the article may not be the complete or the correct name of the business. Also, there are extensive subdivisions under Fargo, ND, Moorhead, MN, North Dakota Agricultural College, and North Dakota State University due to the large number of entries.

The user of this database should be aware that for some articles the exact edition of the Fargo Forum could not be determined, and thus the exact edition is not reflected in the citation. Because of the anomalies in the way the Fargo Forum was microfilmed, it is important that the full name of the newspaper be used. The Fargo Forum and Daily Republican was the evening edition and does not include the Sunday issue. The Fargo Forum and Daily Tribune was the morning edition and does not include a Monday issue. The complete title appears only on the front page masthead of the newspaper. The two editions were microfilmed separately and the NDSU Libraries does not have the morning editions for most of the 1930s and into the 1940s.

Spectrum Index: 1896-1927, 1938-present
The Spectrum is the student newspaper of North Dakota State University. The first issue was published in December 1896. The Spectrum Index database currently contains indexing to over 25,000 articles published in The Spectrum for the years 1896 through 1927 and 1938 to present.

The Record Index: 1895-1899
The Record historical magazine was published at Fargo, N.D. from 1895 to 1905 by Col. C.A. Lounsberry. The magazine’s main focus was historical and biographical articles related to North Dakota, with numerous illustrations of persons, places and events. This index covers issues from 1895 through 1899.