Although The New York Times has taken some hits in the last few years (remember the Jayson Blair and Judith Miller controversies?), I still tend to think of the paper as rather staid and set in its ways. However, even The New York Times can change as evidenced by their letter to readers announcing that TimesSelect, a feature of nytimes.com, will be no more—all content of the newspaper back to 1987 is now freely available online (TimesSelect was previously only available to paid subscribers and colleges). However, many pre-1987 articles will have a $ icon next to them indicating you’ll have to pay a fee, so be careful while searching.
But for people who like to go straight to nytimes.com rather than through a database, this increased free access is great news. Note: you still need to create a free account for access to many articles. Want access prior to 1987 without having to pay? Check out the database New York Times Historical, 1851-2004 or see what other newspapers we have on our Newspapers page.