Subject Searching
A subject search lets you search for citations based on an assigned subject category. You can type one or more words and then click on the submit button. Your words must be entered in the exact order, including spaces, which appear in the list of subject categories used in the Pasadena News Index.
See a complete list of subject categories.
A correct entry looks like this: Bogaard, William J.
An incorrect entry looks like this: William J. Bogaard or Bogaard,William.
If your subject search is successful, you will see a page or pages listing all the citations with that subject in reverse chronological order. Once sorted by date, the articles are then sorted alphabetically by the first word of the title.
If your search was successful, you may use this search as the basis for one further search. To do so, type in the term you would like to limit your results in the "Search within results" box. This search function like a Boolean AND search. Thus adding "Elections" to the previous search "Bogaard, William J." would give you those citations that only have "Elections" and "Bogaard, William J." as subject headings. At this time, further terms added in the "Search within results" box will only search within the first set of results.
At this time, you cannot search using connectors such as OR or NOT.
Phrase Searching
Phrase searching lets you search through all of the words in the Pasadena News Index, including all of the subject headings. A phrase search will search for words in the title of an article as well as the words in the subject categories. You can type in one or more words and then click on the search button.
Remember that a phrase search will not necessarily retrieve all the articles that might be relevant to your particular topic.
For example, using "710 Freeway" as a phrase search will retrieve articles which have the phrase "710 Freeway" as part of the title. "Long Beach Freeway," used as either a subject or phrase search will retrieve all of the relevant articles in the database.
If your phrase search is successful, you will see a page showing all citations with that phrase in reverse chronological order. Once sorted by date, the articles are then sorted alphabetically by the first word of the title.
If no exact matches are found, you will see the message, "No Records Found."
If your search was successful, you may use this search as the basis for one further search. To do so, type in the term you would like to limit your results in the "Search within results" box. This search functions like a Boolean AND search. Thus adding "Elections" to the previous search "710 Freeway" would give you those citations that only have "Elections" and "710 Freeway" as phrases in either subject or title field. At this time, further terms added in the "Search within result" box will only search within the first set of results.
At this time, you cannot search using connectors such as OR or NOT.
Author Searching
Author searching allows you to search and retrieve citations by author. The results are given in reverse chronological order. The correct format for authors must be entered in the exact order, including spaces, which appear in the list of Authors used in the Pasadena News Index.
See a complete list of authors.
A correct entry looks like this: Seckler, Judy
An incorrect entry looks like this: Judy Seckler or Seckler,Judy
If your author search is successful, you will see a page showing all citations by that author in the database in reverse chronological order. Once sorted by date, the articles are then sorted alphabetically by the first word of the title.
If no exact matches are found, you will see the message, "No Records Found."
If your search was successful, you may use this search as the basis for one further search. To do so, type in the term you would like to limit your results in the "Search within results" box. This search functions like a Boolean AND search. Thus adding "City Council" to the previous search "Seckler, Judy" would give you only those citations that only have "Seckler, Judy" in the author field and "City Council" in either the subject or title field.
At this time, you cannot search using connectors such as OR or NOT.
What is "Search with results?"
"Search within results" is a way to narrow your search results. If your initial search was successful in retrieving citations, you may use this "Search within results" as the basis for one further search. To do so, type the term you would like to limit your results in the "Search within results" box. This search functions like a Boolean AND search. Thus adding "Elections" to the previous subject search "Bogaard, William J." would give you those citations that only have "Elections" and "Bogaard, William J." as subject headings. At this time, further terms added in the "Search within result" box will only search within the first set of results.
What is "Find text entered within words?"
By checking this box you are in effect truncating your search word at both the beginning and end of your search term. Since this database is searched exclusively by looking for phrases, this is the most powerful and useful way to search the database. Not checking this box forces the computer to do an exact match between your search terms and the terms found in the PNI.
Newspapers Indexed
At this time, we index the Pasadena Star-News, the Pasadena Weekly, and the Pasadena Journal.
The Herald Tribune is indexed through March 13, 1998 when it ceased publication.
We very selectively index major articles about Pasadena from the Los Angeles Times, usually within about three to five days of publications. To be thorough we recommend that you search the Archives of the Los Angeles Times
You will also find a random selection of articles from these publications:
Independent
Independent Star-News
Pasadena Daily Evening Star
Pasadena Daily News
Pasadena Daily Star
Pasadena Evening Post
Pasadena Evening Star
Pasadena Journal
Pasadena News
Pasadena Star
Pasadena Weekly Star
Dates Covered
Comprehensive coverage of Pasadena related events in the Pasadena News Index begins with June 1, 1996 and is usually current to within about ten days of publication. Prior to that date we have selected citations taken from the research folders and questions compiled by the Reference Staff of the Pasadena Public Library. It is a very random collection of citations with some concentrations on minority history, the Water and Power department, and obituaries.The complete collection of research folders itself is housed in the Centennial Room of the Pasadena Public Library. Please consult our local history master index in the library or contact the reference staff at the Pasadena Public Library for further information regarding these files.
We would like to systematically index our older publications and we are looking for volunteers who can help us.
Can I Search by Date?
It is possible to retrieve all items in the database between certain dates by merely leaving either the subject or phrase search box empty and setting the date fields for the dates you wish to see all the entries for. Clicking "Search" with the search box empty will retrieve all the citations for the date range specified. Once sorted by date, the articles are then sorted alphabetically by the first word of the title.
Whats kinds of articles are indexed?
In the Pasadena News Index, you will find only citations to articles about Pasadena and Pasadenans. We find these in every section of the newspapers. We index obituaries of identified Pasadenans and those individuals who had some kind of connection to Pasadena.
We do not index wire service articles, advertisements, or syndicated advice columns.
The Pasadena News Index is not a complete cover-to-cover index for Pasadena newspapers.
Consequently, you will not find articles, which are primarily about other communities or their residents such as Alhambra, Altadena, Arcadia, etc., which are in Pasadena newspapers.
Printing lists of citations
Printing results from the Pasadena News Index is handled through your browser’s print function. There are two ways to access your browser’s print functions:
- Click on the print button, which should be visible on your browser’s toolbar.
- If your browser does not have a print button visible, you can print your results by selecting File – Print from your browser’s menu bar.
When you execute the print command, the browser will send the entire contents of the screen to your printer. In some cases, this output may be many pages. Be sure you are comfortable printing the entire contents of the screen before proceeding. Some browsers have a "Print Preview" function that will allow you to view a representation of what your printed output will look like before actually sending the information to the printer. If your browser has this capability, you many want to use it to select specific pages that you wish to have sent to your printer.
Viewing complete articles
Depending on how the Library permanently stores a newspaper, articles may be copied from microfilm or from a paper copy at the Central Library of the Pasadena Public Library. You may also request copies of articles by calling Reference Services at (626) 744-4066, option 6, by faxing your request to (626) 796-3818 or by e-mailing your request to our Ask A Librarian reference service. Costs vary and we will inform you of those costs before we process your request.
Definitions
Here is our definition of terms used in the Pasadena News Index.
In the title field, the titles and subtitles are separated by a semicolon. The first word of the title and each subtitle and all proper nouns are capitalized. Otherwise, the title is entered as it appears in the newspaper.
The article type is displayed in parentheses after the title. If an article type is not listed, then the citation is to a regular news article.
The author, if given, is listed as the byline appears with the format of last name, comma, space, first name.
The date of the publication is given in the mm/dd/yyyy format for citations before 12/31/1929 and in the mm/dd/yy format for citations on and after 1/1/1930.
The page number, when given, is the section number first, capitalized in a letter or in Roman numerals, followed by a dash and then a page number.
The column number, when given, is the number of columns from the left hand side of the page to where the headline of the article is located.
For article size, a small article is a very brief article less than 1/4 column in length or 5 paragraphs. A medium article is larger than small, but fits all on one page. They are also all photo essays. Large articles are all articles continued on another page no matter the size.
The subject headings are the controlled vocabulary term that describe the Pasadena related aspects to the article.
If you do not find the information you are looking for, the Pasadena Centennial Room at the Central Library of the Pasadena Public Library houses a rich collection of local history materials, including newspaper clippings organized in subject files, books, maps, and other items. For assistance, please contact Reference Services by calling (626) 744-4066, option 6, by faxing your request to (626) 796-3818 or by e-mailing your request to our Ask Us! reference service.