# New York Times Article Archive **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 29, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-article-archive/451020 "2008-05-29T15:27:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mark\_Ryle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@Mark\_Ryle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Ryle)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-article-archive/451020/1 "2008-05-29T15:27:04Z")
Sometime last year the New York Times became available online back to 1851. [Their FAQ](http://www.nytimes.com/membercenter/faq/historical_archives.html#tendsqa24) says: > [@](#): > > **Which parts of the Archive are free and which are premium?** > All articles back to 1987 are free. > All articles from 1851-1922 are free. > Articles from the period 1923-1986 remain in our paid Archive and are available for purchase as single articles or as article packs. > > **[How much does it cost to purchase an article from the Article Archive: 1851-1980?](http://www.nytimes.com/membercenter/faq/historical_archives.html#archives1851qa99)** > Articles in the public domain (1851-1922) can be accessed for free. Articles from 1923-1980 can be purchased individually for $3.95 per article or as part of an article 10-pack. Note that all articles from 1851-1980 are only available in PDF format. But the FAQ nowhere deals with my question: Why are articles 1987-to-present free while 1923-1986 are pay? Does anyone know? There seems to be a discrepancy or typo in the two FAQ questions, the first giving a dividing date between pay and free of 1986, the second 1980. Does anyone know which is correct? Once an article is paid for it can be accessed 90 days only. Downloading is permitted. No articles are searchable. Google did a good job for me picking out an obscure reference to the long-demolished Blair Building in New York. It occurred, once only, in a 1903 NYT article about the construction of the New York Public Library. Once actually at the article, though, the .pdf’s search function would not find “Blair” for me in the body of the text. Google is supposed to be so anti-New York Times, but Yahoo and AltaVista did not come up with that reference to the Blair Building. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2008, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-article-archive/451020/2 "2008-05-29T16:35:24Z")
[QUOTE=Mark Ryle] But the FAQ nowhere deals with my question: Why are articles 1987-to-present free while 1923-1986 are pay? Does anyone know? [/quote] Probably a rights situation. Articles prior to 1923 are public domain, so can be given away. From 1923 and beyond, they might or might not be public domain, so there can’t be a blanket rule. I would guess that in 1987, there was some change in who owned the rights to the article – most likely, a change in the Times’s standard contract. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2008, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-article-archive/451020/3 "2008-05-29T18:21:10Z")
You should check your local library. Most people have no idea that they’re already paying for massive article databases with their property taxes. Your state may even be providing it to all citizens. The New York Times is a very popular paper for libraries to provide to patrons electronically. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2008, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-article-archive/451020/4 "2008-05-29T18:49:28Z")
If your library gets the NY Times Historical from ProQuest it will much easier to search than the website. And you can fine tune the searches much better. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-article-archive/451020/5 "2008-05-30T00:37:19Z")
[QUOTE=Mark Ryle] Once an article is paid for it can be accessed 90 days only. Downloading is permitted. No articles are searchable. Google did a good job for me picking out an obscure reference to the long-demolished Blair Building in New York. It occurred, once only, in a 1903 NYT article about the construction of the New York Public Library. Once actually at the article, though, the .pdf’s search function would not find “Blair” for me in the body of the text. . [/QUOTE] Yep. That’s one problem with Proquest Historical Newspapers and their pdf viewer. You can’t do searches. I’m not enough of a tech to tell you why. That particular article was only a slight reference to the Blair building, saying it took only 1/10 the marble that the new library would. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-article-archive/451020/6 "2008-05-30T00:44:11Z")
And, the Blair bldg. was razed in 1955. I found about 62 hits in the Historical NYTimes. Many will only be incidental to the story. If you want me to search for something specific, just PM me the questions. I’ll get back to your. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Ryle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@Mark\_Ryle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Ryle)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-article-archive/451020/7 "2008-05-30T03:52:22Z")
I learned tonight I have access to ProQuest at Muhlenberg College library but, as a town user, only from a library computer. [QUOTE=samclem] That particular article was only a slight reference to the Blair building, saying it took only 1/10 the marble that the new library would. … And, the Blair bldg. was razed in 1955. I found about 62 hits in the Historical NYTimes. Many will only be incidental to the story. [/QUOTE] That’s the information I was looking for. Within those 62 hits I’ll find what I need. Google had only that one hit. I’m glad to know about Proquest, **Zsofia** and **BobT**. I was unaware of it. Allentown Public Library’s and Muhlenberg College’s ProQuest have full access to our local daily newspaper as well (I also learned this evening) so my days of reading article stubs at the Morning Call’s website have come to an end. Allentown Public’s Proquest is available to me from any computer but it does not offer the New York Times. Thanks for the invitation to PM, **samclem**. I may do that when I can’t get to Muhlenberg. The new term started Tuesday so, for now, I’m good for the summer.