Search the Star Tribune paid archives
Articles dating back to 1986 are available in the Star Tribune's archival news database.
What's included in the archive
The archive includes articles published in the Star Tribune newspaper since Jan. 1, 1986. It includes articles from the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times - Washington Post News Service but not from the New York Times and other news services and news syndicates. Most freelance articles are not available, unless the author has given the Star Tribune permission to include his or her article in the archives. Photos and news graphics are not searchable.
The archive does not include articles published only on the StarTribune.com website. Articles published on the website since December 2007 are available through the regular site search.
Paid obituaries published after Jan. 1, 2003 are available in the archives. Older obituaries can be found in the StarTribune.com Obituaries section.
Archive search tips
Enter your search terms: To search the archives, enter the word or phrase you're trying to find. You do not need to place quotes around your search terms, nor do you need to use capital letters.
You can refine your search
- by using connectors:
- to find all terms use "and" or "&"
- to find any terms, use "or" or "|" (pipe key)
- to exclude terms, use "butnot" or "%"
- by searching on specific fields, such as section, byline, headline or source, using parentheses. For example:
- to find an article on the economy in the business section, type:
section(business) and economy - to find an article with Sid Hartman's byline, type:
byline(hartman) - to find an article with Twins in the headline, type:
headline(Twins) - to find a specific source, such as the Associated Press, simply type it as your search term.
- by entering your search term and then specifying where it appears. For example:
- to find an article on the economy in the business section, enter "economy" as your search term and then select "business" from the "Section" drop-down box.
- to find an article with Sid Hartman's byline, enter "Hartman" as your search term and then select byline from the "Appearing" drop-down box.
- to find an article with Twins in the headline, enter "Twins" as your search term and then select "headline" from the "Appearing" drop-down box.
Select the date or year to search: You can choose articles published within the last 30 or 60 days, in a certain year or all years; or, you can specify a date range. If you do not specify a date, your search defaults to the last 30 days.
Specify how you would like articles sorted: Articles, by default, are sorted in reverse chronological order, or latest first. Instead, you can choose to sort your results by oldest to newest or by term frequency. Frequency ranking list articles according to the number of search words they contain.
Decide how many article abstracts you want to view: By default, the first 25 article abstracts of a search request are displayed on a page. However, you can choose to display 50, 100 or 200 abstracts per page, too. Increasing the number of abstracts per page increases the time required to perform the search.
Viewing an article: After you enter your search criteria, click on the "Search" button; a list of your results will be displayed. For each article you will see its headline, author, date published and an abstract (the first 100 words or so) and an indication of the story's length. To view the full text of an article, click on "Download story." If you have an account, enter your user name and password and then click on "Sign In" to download the story. (Your credit card will be automatically billed for the article.) If you don't have an account, you will be asked to register for one at that point. This will provide you with a user name and password.
Saving or printing stories: If you want to save an article, first make certain that you have downloaded the story and the full text of the article is displayed. Then click on "File" from the task bar in your browser window and select "Save As" under the File menu. Navigate to the folder where you wish to save the document. If you wish to print the article, first make certain that you have downloaded the story and the full text of the article is displayed. Then click on "Print" or on the printer icon located on the task bar in your browser window.
Archive fees
Searching the archives is free. To retrieve the full text of an article, you may choose among several new purchase options designed to better fit your needs:
- Purchase a single article for $2.75: Just click on the Download Now link on any Search Results page.
- Better value: Buy three articles for $5.95. This package is good for one week from the date of purchase. Three articles are at a 28 percent discount from the single-article price.
- Student special: Buy 10 articles for $17.95. Need to do research for a school project? Get a 35 percent discount from the single-copy price by buying a 10-pack of articles. This package is good for one month from the date of purchase.
- Frequent-user special: Buy 25 articles for $47.95. In addition to the 30 percent discount from the single-article price, under this package frequent users can download articles for two months from the date of purchase.
- Best value: Buy 100 articles for $169.95. For our highest-volume users, this package gives you a 38 percent discount and is good for three months from the date of purchase.
When you conduct a search, you will be able to preview an article before purchasing it. For each article you will be shown the headline, author, date published, an abstract (first 100 words or so) and an indication of the story's length.
The charges you incur for purchasing articles from the archives will show up on your credit card bill as charges from NewsBank Media Services. After you register and/or purchase an article, you will receive an e-mail confirmation from NewsBank Customer Service listing the article that you purchased. NewsBank is the company that the Star Tribune has selected to host our archives and provide customer support.
Billing questions and technical support
The Star Tribune archives are hosted and maintained by NewsBank Media Services. All billing inquiries and technical questions should be directed to NewsBank.
- Email: startribune@newsbank.com. Please include your name, e-mail address, daytime phone number, browser type and version, and a brief description of your problem or inquiry.
- Phone: 1-800-896-5587. The support line is staffed 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central time, Monday through Friday.
If you are denied access when trying to retrieve an article, please check to see that you have entered your user name and password correctly. Both your user name and password are case-senstive, so make sure that your "Caps Lock" key on your computer is not on.
If you should encounter a "search session expired" message while using the archives, this is a technical problem usually caused by an overload of temporary Internet files stored within your browser or an overload of the "history" function of your Web browser. You should clear both of those items from your browser, exit the browser, then relaunch your browser and try again.
Feedback
The Star Tribune is responsible for the contents of the archives. If you have questions regarding the contents of the archives or believe that an article is missing, please use our feedback form. Check the circle on the form that says "Star Tribune archives," and then enter your feedback.
Please remember that neither the Star Tribune nor NewsBank Media Services is able to do research on your behalf.
