What Happened on Your Birthday?... and Before?

Before starting, check out the Assignment Calculator.

Find the front page of the New York Times for the day you were born by using the Historical New York Times. (Put your date of birth in the "Date Range-On This Date" box, then hit "Enter" or click "Search").

Follow the same instructions for any other date you are looking for.

To locate sources of information for each of the years you are investigating:

Try iBistro for books on particular era or decades. There are two series of particular interest "American Decades" and "American Eras".

Can't find enough in any of the iBistro libraries? Try Worldcat and request the items through Interlibrary Loan.

Try Academic Search Premier (particularly for your birthday year). Articles for pre-1980s are indexed but many of them are not fulltext. Use the Interlibrary Loan request form and the Library will try to get you a free copy of the article.

The the Facts on File history databases to view timelines and information for particular years.

Search JSTOR for journal articles written in or about a particular year.

You might check how prices translate from past years to today's dollars by using the Cost of Living Calculator.

To see the calendar for any year, check this CALENDAR.

Remember, MCC Reference Librarians are here to help:
Call 732 906-2561
Email us at refmcclibrary@yahoo.com
or post a question on this blog.