The 19th Century Masterfile indexes articles from selected American and British magazines written prior to 1925. It covers history, literature, religion, law and current events from that time period, but it does not provide subject headings or abstracts. It is the 19th century equivalent of the The Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature. The Watzek Library owns the print version of Poole's Index, but the 19th Century Masterfile also includes online versions of the following print indexes:

• Poole's Index to Periodical Literature, 1802-1907
• Index to Periodical Literature, Supplements (1882--1907)(Ed. Poole and Fletcher.)
• Stead's Index to Legal Periodical Literature 1786-1922. (ed. Jones and Chipman)
• An Alphabetical Subject Index and Index Encyclopedia to Periodical Articles on Religion, 1890-1899. (ed. Ernest Cushing Richardson).
• The Psychological Index (1894-1905)
• ALA Index to General Literature (1801-1910)
• Southern Historical Society Papers (1876-1910)
• New England Magazine Index (1831-1835)
• Congressional Record File for the 19th Century