Wes,

The Making of America sites, from U of Michigan (http://moa.umdl.umich.edu/)
and Cornell U (http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/), have hundreds of 19th
c. monographs and periodicals digitized online.  They are fully searchable
and quite easy to use.  The Cornell site is a bit more extensive and has
Harper's New Monthly Magazine from 1850-1899.

As for newspapers, you won't find them on MoA, so you may have to find a
library that subscribes to Proquest Historic Newspapers (at least for the
NYTimes).  Not sure about other online newspapers sources.

Good luck!

Jeff Miller
University of Tennessee at Martin