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COMM 1315: Introduction to Speech Communication

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Assignment

Your team will be using the newspaper databases below to research a historical event from the past 25 years. 

Your group will need to gather information about:

  • politics
  • weather
  • movies
  • sports
  • community spotlight

Possible dates you could select:

  • John Glenn first US astronaut to orbit earth (Feb. 20, 1962)
  • Pres. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas (Nov. 22, 1963)
  • Pres. Johnson signs the Civil Right Act (July 2, 1964)
  • March in Selma, Alabama (March 7, 1965)
  • Walt Disney World opens in Orlando (Oct. 1, 1971)
  • President Richard Nixon resigns (Aug. 9, 1974)
  • The movie “Star Wars” opens and becomes the highest grossing film at the time (March 25, 1977)
  • Three Mile Island reactor releases radioactive gas (March 28, 1979)
  • Iran takes US Embassy personnel as hostages (Nov. 4, 1979)
  • Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer (July 29, 1981)
  • Sandra Day O’Conner named first female Supreme Court Judge (Sept.  25, 1981)
  • First commercial cell phone call is made (Oct. 13, 1983)
  • Berlin Wall falls (Nov. 9, 1989)
  • Space Shuttle Challenger explode on lift off (Jan. 28, 1986)
  • ATF Launches attach on David Korsesh compound in Waco, Texas (April 19, 1993)
  • Oklahoma City bombing (April 19, 1995)
  • Columbine School Shooting (April 20, 1999)
  • American Online (AOL) purchases Times Warner (Jan. 10, 2000)
  • Terrorist attack on World Trade Center/Pentagon (Sept. 11, 2001)
  • First version of iPod (Oct. 23, 2001)
  • Space Shuttle Columbia explodes (Feb. 1, 2003)
  • Human Genome Project was completed (April 14, 2003)
  • Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans (Aug. 29, 2005)

Databases with Newspapers

Newspapers on Microfilm

We have microfilm up to the present for these newspapers:

  • Amarillo Daily News (1960-2001) & Amarillo Globe-News (2001 to the present)
  • New York Times (1851 to present)
  • Wall Street Journal (1889 to present)
  • Christian Science Monitor (1908 to present)
  • Times [of London] (1788 to present)

Or see our detailed list of what years we have covered by more newspapers on microfilm.

How to find microfilm

  • Go to the microfilm cabinets or the Special Collections desk (2nd floor) for help.
  • On nights and weekends, please go to the 2nd floor Research & Access Information Desk for help.
  • Look for one of the titles above.
  • Find a roll that contains your birthday.
  • Ask for help using microfilm scanner.
  • Find the day after your birthday.
  • You can scan articles and email them to yourself or save them to a flash drive.
  • You can then print any articles for free by using Buff Print.

Finding Historical Weather Information

There are a few different ways that you can find out what the weather was like on the day you were born:

1). If you find a print or microfilm copy of a newspaper published on the day you were born, you should be able to get the forcasted weather for that day. This is especially true if the newpaper was published in the city or area you were born. 

2). If a newspaper isn't available for your community from your date of birth, you can also search in the New York Times archives. If you select "on this date" from the drop-down menu next to "publication date" and enter your birthday, and select "weather" in the "document type" box, you should be able to find a national forcast for that day which will allow you to approximate the weather in your area on that day.

3). You can also find past weather through the National Weather Service by following the instruction on the linked page. 

About Your Community

The QuickLinks will not have information for the birthday date, as the information is recent, not historical.  Topics include population, housing, income and poverty, education, race and ethnicity, and health.