Archive for the ‘Collection Development’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

The Readex Report: In Praise of Librarians and Archivists; Of Presidents and Papers; Ephemeral Loyalties; and Playing Hardball

Tuesday, November 15th, 2011

In our latest issue: A professor lauds his colleagues in the library; dissecting a timeless inaugural speech; consumption versus nationalism in early America; and the unheralded impact of a hard-swinging civil rights giant.

In Praise of Librarians and Archivists: Appreciating the Colleagues Who Make Professors’ Jobs Easier

By Mark Cheathem, Associate Professor of History, Cumberland University

Since I was a child begging my mother to take me to the library on a daily basis, I have appreciated the designated keepers of books. Conducting research as an undergraduate student made me aware of the specialized jobs that academic librarians did every day to make life easier for the clueless young people like me who wandered into the building with no idea about how to find academic journal articles or primary sources…. (read article)

Of Presidents and Papers

By Martha King, Associate Editor, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson

The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, established at Princeton University, is preparing the authoritative and comprehensive edition of the correspondence and papers of our nation’s third president. As historians editing Jefferson’s incoming and outgoing correspondence, we are responsible for gathering documents and making them available to posterity in an accurate, transcribed, and contextualized format through our published and digital editions…. (read article)

Ephemeral Loyalties? Consumption, Commerce and Jeffersonian Politics, 1806-1815

By Joanna Cohen, School of History at Queen Mary, University of London

While the Revolution may have secured Americans their political independence, economic independence remained elusive. As early as 1783, Americans realized that they had not extricated themselves in any meaningful way from the mercantile system of the Atlantic world, still dominated by European imperial might…. (read article)

Playing Hardball: Brushing Off the Memory of a Civil Rights Giant

By Harvey M. Kahn, Humanities Reporter

Many scholars consider Rube Foster’s impact on the civil rights movement as important as that of Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, or any other early twentieth-century figure. Today, with the exception of diehard baseball fans, few people recognize his name…. (read article)

Subscribe today to receive the next quarterly issue of The Readex Report in your inbox. Browse previous issues in our archive. If you would like to comment, contribute or suggest an article, please email The Readex Report editor: readexreport@readex.com.

Be Sociable, Share!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in American History, Announcements, Collection Development, Digital Humanities, Primary Sources in the Classroom, Print Culture, Product Updates, Trends in Database Use | No Comments »

A Sports Legend and His Dream: Bobby Jones, the Augusta National Golf Club and the Birth of the Masters

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

Bobby Jones entered the Roaring Twenties still the teenage prodigy who had first come to the public’s attention when he qualified for the U.S. Amateur Championship at the age of 14. By the end of the 1920s, Jones was firmly established as a major star. The only golfer considered one of the true icons of the Golden Age of Sports, Bobby Jones stood alongside Babe Ruth, Red Grange, Jack Dempsey and Bill Tilden as giants in the public eye.

Jones’ road to success was not as quick, or easy, as his precocious abilities might have made it appear. It took several years, a few near-misses, and evolving maturity before Bobby broke through. Although winning the amateur championships brought enough glory and achievement to earn him a place in golf’s pantheon, Bobby took his fame a major step further by regularly beating the top professionals of the day.

He won three British and four U.S. Opens against strong fields that included such legends as Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen—the only two U.S. golfers of that period whose triumphs earned them a mention alongside Jones. Beating professionals at their own game elevated Jones beyond golf and made him one of the most popular sports stars in the United States. Such was the public affection for Bobby Jones that he remains the only individual athlete to be honored with two New York City ticker-tape parades. The second ticker-tape parade, in 1930, celebrated Jones’ unprecedented Grand Slam.

By winning both the Open and Amateur Championships of Great Britain and the United States, and thus triumphing both at home and overseas against fields made up of the finest players in the world, Bobby’s accomplishment was unparalleled.

After his Grand Slam, Jones was eager to escape the pressures of both celebrity and championship-caliber golf.

For a one-dimensional athlete, retirement from his or her chosen sport can be a challenge greater than any faced on the fields of competition. Jones, however, was a well-educated, intelligent soul interested in much more than the game of golf. Not only had he earned undergraduate degrees from Georgia Tech (B.S., Mechanical Engineering) and Harvard College (B.A., English Literature), but after just one year of law school at Emory he passed the Georgia bar exam.

Jones looked forward to embracing the rewards of a well-rounded life. Determined to remain part of the golf world, Jones sought to establish a club with members from across the nation. It was to be situated in a climate warm enough for winter play. Members were to be successful men who took their golf seriously and had the financial standing necessary to form the type of club that Bobby envisioned.

On July 15, 1931, The Augusta Chronicle devoted most of its front page to coverage of the announcement that Jones and his associates were founding the Augusta National Golf Club. Nearly six of its eight columns were necessary to display four articles on Jones and his new club.

Among the specific details in the Chronicle’s reporting were items such as:

The site Jones chose was a former nursery with enough land to build several courses:

Jones discussed his intentions for the club:

O.B. Keeler, famed golf writer and long-time chronicler of Jones’ career, made a prediction that at the time might have seemed more fantasy than fact, but now seems remarkably accurate:

Even with Jones’ involvement, building a new golf course in the early years of the Great Depression was no small challenge. Few private clubs would open during the 1930s, and many established clubs closed, falling victim to the tough economic times. Not until the Works Progress Administration began building public courses later in the ‘30s would course construction resume with any regularity. By encouraging a national membership, Jones and his backers had access to enough capital to make this confident statement:

Jones intended to use his experiences playing the world’s great golf courses to lay out the new course, but realized he needed a professional golf course architect to ensure the greatest success. He chose Alister MacKenzie, a Scottish physician-turned-course designer as his architectural partner:

With sufficient financing, excellent topography and natural features, as well as the best design instincts of both Jones and MacKenzie, the course was ready for its debut in January 1933. The Chronicle’s coverage is replete with interesting details:

The reporting hints at the affluence of the visiting golfers:

In addition to the obvious attractions of warm southern weather and Jones’ hospitality, the course itself was to be the star of the gathering:

The Masters, world famous as one of golf’s major championships, has been played since 1934. Conceived by Jones, the annual event was intended to bring the top professional and amateur players together in the spring when the Augusta National course would be at its best. Originally called the “Augusta National Invitational Tournament,” the hometown Chronicle began referring to it as the “Masters’ Invitation Tournament.” By 1939 this was shortened to the Masters, a name known today by even the most casual sports fans.

At first the Masters’ primary draw was less the prospect of seeing out-of-town competitors than watching the great Bobby Jones in action once again. Jones had entered no important tournaments since his post-Grand Slam retirement in 1930, but was still in the public eye thanks to a series of instructional films made in Hollywood as well as golf equipment endorsements which he had accepted after retiring from amateur competition. While Jones intended the tournament to be a gathering of old friends and top-level players, his other aspirations were publicity and recognition for his new club and the resulting prestige that would come from hosting such an event. Though he was firmly retired there was much speculation about how Bobby would do in his dual roles of host and competitive golfer. 

Speaking to reporters on the eve of play, Bobby said, “I hope to step four fast rounds,” but sportswriters knew that his putting was not thought to be tournament-ready.

Veteran Atlanta Journal reporter O.B. Keeler, who had gained fame as Jones’ Boswell after years of chronicling Bobby’s triumphs, gave the details:

The first Masters was a rudimentary affair compared to today’s professional production with its worldwide live media coverage and sold-out crowds proudly holding one of the toughest tickets in all sports. Prize money in the heart of the Depression was far more modest than today’s seven-figure purses and first-place checks. The first playing featured a total purse of $5,000, $1,500 of which went to winner Horton Smith. The March 26 edition of the Chronicle featured extensive coverage:

The following year would see changes to the course, something that would become a regular occurrence at the Augusta National through the decades. Although the course remains basically the same as the original design by Jones and MacKenzie, it has continued to evolve. In 1935 the tournament drew extra attention when winner Gene Sarazen holed his second shot at the par-five 15th for a headline-making double-eagle during his triumphant final round.

Bobby Jones would remain an integral part of both Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters tournament through the remaining years of his life. Even today he is still listed as the Club’s President-in-Perpetuity.

This view of the 1990 Masters shows the gallery watching play on the 12th tee with the 11th green in the background. (Copyright: Larry Petrillo)

Forty years after Jones’ death, the Masters retains its unique position in championship golf—the first men’s major of the year. For many northern golfers the Masters is proof that spring is on its way. It remains the only major championship played at the same course each year, a course that thanks to extensive television coverage is as well known to many golfers as their own home course, despite the club’s exclusive nature during the other 51 weeks of the year.

Today, the lasting popularity of Augusta National Golf Club, and the continued success of the Masters, is a fitting legacy for Bobby Jones, a legendary champion and stellar sportsman.

[Editor's note: The articles and black-and-white images above are found in America's Historical Newspapers. To learn more, please contact readexmarketing@readex.com.]

Be Sociable, Share!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in American History, Collection Development, Primary Sources in the Classroom | 1 Comment »

Archive of Americana transports you through time into 18th- and 19th-century America

Friday, October 28th, 2011

As a Readex account executive, I enjoy the opportunity to help bring our digital collections to the attention of students and scholars at some of the smallest four-year colleges. Occasionally, this extends to working collaboratively with librarians and faculty.

Among my accounts is Washington College on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. At this liberal arts institution known for its strong commitment to undergraduate education, I consulted closely with Ruth Shoge, Associate Professor, College Librarian, and Adam Goodheart, Director of the College’s C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, among others, to help bring the acclaimed Archive of Americana collections to their campus.

The Archive of Americana was used extensively by Adam Goodheart in writing his highly praised new book, 1861: The Civil War Awakening (Knopf, 2011). Reviewing 1861 recently, the Boston Globe wrote, “Goodheart shows us that even at 150 years’ distance there are new voices, and new stories, to be heard about the Civil War.” The New York Times review said, “1861 creates the uncanny illusion that the reader has stepped into a time machine,” and Pulitzer Prize winner James M. McPherson describes its author as “a Monet with a pen instead of a paintbrush.”

Last month Adam sent me these comments about our Archive of Americana, and encouraged me to share them further:

“Readex’s databases transport you through time into 18th- and 19th-century America. The eloquent, cantankerous voices of the young nation come through loud and clear in literally millions of speeches, sermons, editorials and newspaper ads. The most remarkable thing is that just a few years ago, reading many of these publications would have required traveling hundreds of miles to rare-book libraries or waiting weeks for microfilm reels to arrive. Now you can summon them up instantly without getting up from your chair. My own book would not have been the same without Readex.

“Best regards to you—and thanks to all those at Readex who work hard to create these tremendous resources.”

I was pleased to also learn that our databases are now helping Adam research his second book.

Does your institution have research needs that Readex digital collections might help fill? Please let me know. My e-mail address is gmauerhoff@readex.com. 

 

Be Sociable, Share!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in American History, Collection Development, Primary Sources in the Classroom, Trends in Database Use | No Comments »

Key Titles in African American Periodicals, 1825-1995: Part One of Three

Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

African American Periodicals, 1825-1995, reflects more than a century and half of the African American experience. The first collection in Readex’s new America’s Historical Periodicals series, this wide-ranging resource features more than 170 titles from 26 states. Below is a brief description of seven of these publications. For descriptions of fourteen others, please visit the Key Periodicals page on the Readex website.

The Voice of the Negro (Atlanta, Georgia)

A literary journal aimed at a national audience of African Americans, The Voice of the Negro was published from 1904 to 1907. It published writings by Booker T. Washington, as well as a younger generation of black activists and intellectuals, including W.E.B. Du Bois, John Hope, Kelly Miller, Mary Church Terrell and William Pickens. It also featured poetry by Paul Lawrence Dunbar, James D. Corrothers and Douglas Johnson.

• Includes issues published between 1904 and 1907

The Colored American Magazine (Boston, Massachusetts)

One of the most prominent vehicles for black intellectual, artistic, and political expression during the first decade of the 20th century, The Colored American was edited by Pauline Hopkins, African American novelist, playwright and journalist. The magazine’s masthead read: “An Illustrated Monthly Devoted to Literature, Science, Music, Architecture, Facts, Fiction, and Traditions of the Negro Race.”

• Includes issues published between 1902 and 1908

The Horizon: A Journal of the Color Line (Washington, D.C.)

Edited by W.E.B. Du Bois, The Horizon was the precursor to The Crisis—Du Bois’ groundbreaking publication for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. However, The Horizon was a very different publication in that it functioned as an aggregator of news from other sources, as well as an outlet for its editors’ views. It had three main sections: “The In-Look” was a digest of the “Negro-American press,” “The Out-Look” was a digest of the periodical press, and “The Over-Look” was a digest of opinions and general catch-all for books, political discussions, and the views of Du Bois and his editors. It ceased publication in 1910 when Du Bois started The Crisis.

• Includes issues published between 1907 and 1910

The Crisis: A Record of the Darker Races (New York, New York)

The official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), The Crisis was founded by W.E.B. Du Bois in 1910 and is widely considered one of the most important African American publications of the twentieth century. Primarily a current-affairs journal promoting the NAACP’s liberal program of social reform and racial equality, The Crisis also included poems, reviews and essays on culture and history. “The object of this publication,” Du Bois wrote, “is to set forth those facts and arguments which show the danger of race prejudice, particularly as manifested today toward colored people. It takes its name from the fact that the editors believe that this is a critical time in the history of the advancement of men.”

• Includes issues published between 1910 and 1922

The Negro: A Review (St. Louis, Missouri)

Billed as “America’s Best Negro Monthly,” The Negro: A Review contained articles, illustrations, advertisements and short stories. Edited by Frederick Bond in St. Louis, it was one of the only general interest African American magazines published in the Midwest during World War II.

• Includes issues published between 1943 and 1948

The African World (Greensboro, North Carolina)

Published first by the Student Organization for Black Unity, The African World described itself as the “Voice of the Revolutionary Pan-African Youth Movement in the Americas.” It contained articles and photographs covering civil rights, the youth movement, prison abuse, and the exploitation of African American workers. Its founders later helped form, and publicize, the February First Movement, the civil rights group named for the date in 1960 when four African American students asserted their right to sit at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.

• Includes issues published between 1971 and 1975

Black Careers (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

A bi-monthly journal that did much to educate African American job seekers about the importance of Equal Opportunity Employment legislation, Black Careers contained articles on employment trends, educational opportunities and discrimination in employment. It was also popular with teachers in inner city schools due to its profiles of role models from the African American business community.

• Includes issues published between 1977 and 1982

For more information about African American Periodicals, 1825-1995, please write to readexmarketing@readex.com. To request trial access for your institution, please use this form.

Be Sociable, Share!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in American History, American Literature, Collection Development, Journalism History, New Collections, Print Culture, Product Updates | No Comments »

“Appeal to Loyal Women!” — The Creation of the United States Sanitary Commission and the Impact of Civilian Volunteers during the American Civil War

Wednesday, October 19th, 2011

Henry Whitney Bellows (1814-1882), planner and president of the United States Sanitary Commission, the leading soldiers' aid society, during the American Civil War.

On April 12, 1861, Confederate artillery opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The first shots had been fired in a war that would last four long and bloody years. This April marked the beginning of a four-year commemoration of the 150th anniversary, or Sesquicentennial, of the American Civil War. Over the next four years, Civil War re-enactors, historians and history enthusiasts from across the United States will gather to help commemorate the battles and other important events linked to the war.

With the start of the Civil War in 1861, hundreds of aid societies sprang up across the country almost as quickly as young men rushed to enlist. Women of course were barred from enlisting in the military, although a few successfully disguised themselves as men and joined the fight. In New York, a group of women wishing to show their loyalty and patriotic spirit formed the Women’s Central Association of Relief, inspired by the work of Florence Nightingale and the British Sanitary Commission during the Crimean War. However, efforts to gain government support for their organization proved unsuccessful until Dr. Henry Whitney Bellows stepped in to help. Dr. Bellows and a group of male doctors traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with President Abraham Lincoln on behalf of the women’s organization. At first, the president and other government officials were reluctant to have civilians become involved with the needs of the military. In spite of this, the United States Sanitary Commission (USSC) was established on June 9, 1861, with Dr. Bellows as its president.

"United States Sanitary Commission. Our Heroes." Source: Harper's Weekly. Courtesy: Brooklyn Museum Libraries

The headquarters of the USSC was in Washington, D.C., but regional commission branches were established throughout the Northern states, most notably in Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia. These branches acted as collection and distribution centers. Individuals and local aid societies shipped boxes of supplies to the commission branches where they were repackaged for delivery to soldiers in the field. Money was also collected and used to purchase additional food, clothing, and medical supplies.  

From the Jamestown Journal (NY), Oct. 18, 1861. Source: America's Historical Newspapers

By 1863, there were nearly 7,000 local aid societies affiliated with the USSC. Knitted socks, linens for bandages, quilts, baked goods, writing paper, stamps, and medicines were just a few of the many items that poured in. Even the little town of Chester, Vermont sent items, as reported in The Vermont Phoenix on May 7, 1863:

The Chester Soldiers’ Aid Society was organized in October of 1862. We very soon decided that the Sanitary Commission was the best channel through which to send our supplies and accordingly sent our first box to the care of “The Womans Central Relief Association, New York. Nine boxes have been sent there—three to the Vt. 4th Regiment and one to Brattleboro Hospital….The following is a list of articles sent: 107 quilts, 509 towels, 233 prs. Socks, 27 flannel shirts and under shirts, 9 woolen blankets, 147 shirts, 22 pillows, 102 sheets, 232 prs. drawers, 86 pillow cases, 212 handkerchiefs, 24 cushions, 239 napkins, 14 cans currant and apple jelly, 41 prs. Slippers, 43 bed sacks, 10 dressing gowns, 6 bottles raspberry shrub, 78 lbs. dried apple, 12 lbs. currants, 3 bottles lemon syrup. 

I was pleased to learn that my hometown of Springfield, Vermont also contributed to the war effort—as seen in this Nov. 9, 1861 item in the Springfield Weekly Republican:

“Springfield has done most excellently well in the war thus far. The town contains but 3000 inhabitants, yet has sent 80 men to fight for the country, five being from one family. The ladies also, during the three weeks just past, have manufactured articles for the sanitary commission, and have sent off five large boxes, containing the following articles: 46 bed quilts, 32 woolen blankets, 120 pairs of woolen socks, 111 pillow cases, 7 linen sheets, 43 cotton sheets, 67 napkins, 27 old linen handkerchiefs, 84 books and magazines, 5 old shirts, 2 cravats, 1 muffler, 1 dressing gown, 1 bag mutton tallow, 25 pounds dried apples, 3 boxes guava jelly, one can solidified milk, a quantity of cotton batting, and a quantity of old linen and cotton for bandages and compresses. Other articles have been handed in since the articles named were forwarded, and another box is to be sent soon.”

“Amateur theatricals in aid of The National Sanitary Commission, at Brinley Hall ... Nov. 28, 1862. Programme.” Source: American Broadsides and Ephemera

To help raise money for the USSC, fundraisers held sanitary fairs, bazaars, concerts, raffles, and plays.  Play bills and concert programs for these charitable events are among the many USSC-related items found in America’s Historical Imprints. During its existence the USSC raised roughly $5 million in money and $15 million in donated supplies for the Union Army. The Western Sanitary Commission and the United States Christian Commission also supported the Union Army but worked separately from the USSC. The Confederate States had small aid societies, but none as large as the USSC.

The USSC relied heavily on volunteers. Only a handful of individuals, mostly men, held paid positions. Sanitary agents were employed to inspect the living conditions of military camps and hospitals as well as the health of the soldiers, much to the disgust and annoyance of some military officers and surgeons. These agents would make note of any needed supplies, especially for sick or wounded men, and advise the officers on how to request such supplies from the USSC. Mary A. Livermore was one of the few paid female agents. Livermore and women like Clara Barton and Dorothea Dix, the Union’s Superintendent of Female Nurses, were instrumental in organizing aid societies, collecting goods and money, and recruiting qualified nurses to work in the hospitals. In response to the flood of letters inquiring about wounded or missing soldiers, the USSC created a hospital directory. By April of 1863, the directory included the names of wounded or sick soldiers in every general hospital.

Time and again the USSC proved its worth by providing aid when it was needed most. In many cases the organization was the first to provide medical care and supplies after major battles. Aid delivered after the battles of Fredericksburg, Antietam, and Gettysburg, for example, stands as a testament to the hard work and devotion of thousands of civilian volunteers. The USSC was also able to provide some relief to Union soldiers held at the infamous Andersonville Prison.

"The Sanitary Commission ministering to the wounded and dying after the battle." Courtesy: New York Public Library Digital Gallery

Although the Civil War ended in April, 1865, relief work continued for several months. The USSC aided soldiers and their families by providing food, lodging, and occasionally, travel expenses for returning veterans. Volunteers helped fill out pension claims, locate missing soldiers, and identify the graves of thousands of unknown soldiers. In 1866, the organization was officially disbanded. Work with the USSC opened many doors for women in the field of medicine and helped to convince people that women were capable of achieving great things. In 1881, Clara Barton helped found the American Red Cross using the United States Sanitary Commission as a model.  

From the Oregonian, May 22, 1917. Click to open full article in PDF. Source: America's Historical Newspapers

For more information about Readex collections, or to request a trial for your institution, please contact readexmarketing@readex.com.

Be Sociable, Share!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in American History, Collection Development, New Collections, Primary Sources in the Classroom, Trends in Database Use | No Comments »

Early American Newspapers, Series 1: Key Titles and Their Nameplates

Monday, October 17th, 2011

Artist: Joseph H. Davis (1811-1865). Title: Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Otis and Child (1834). Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Focusing on the 18th and early 19th centuries, the first series of Early American Newspapers offers over 350,000 issues from more than 710 titles. This widely used digital collection, based primarily on Clarence S. Brigham’s authoritative “History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820,” contains newspapers from 23 states and the District of Columbia.

Below is a brief description—and the nameplate—of several key titles:

Albany Register (New York)
One of the most successful and influential American newspapers of the late 18th and early 19th century, the Register was edited from 1808 to 1822 by the ardent anti-Federalist Solomon Southwick.

• Includes 485 issues published between 1794 and 1813. Early American Newspapers, Series 2 includes 1,462 issues published between 1789 and 1822.

American Beacon (Norfolk, Virginia)
Published by a ship captain in the busy 19th-century seaport of Norfolk, the Beacon focused on seafaring activities.

• Includes 1,670 issues published between 1815 and 1820

American Mercury (Hartford, Connecticut)
With a reputation for outspokenness, the Mercury was for many years Connecticut’s leading reform paper as well as a key proponent of ensuring legal equality for religious sects.

• Includes 2,586 issues published between 1784 and 1829. Coverage between 1830 and 1833 will be found in Early American Newspapers, Series 6

American Minerva (New York)
Self-described as “Patroness of Peace, Commerce, and the Liberal Arts,” Noah Webster’s federalist newspaper was established to support the policies of President George Washington.

• Includes 744 issues published between 1793 and 1796

American Weekly Mercury (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Founded in 1719 and the first newspaper in the Colonies to be published outside Boston, the Mercury was well known for its essays on political liberty.

 

• Includes 1,370 issues published between 1719 and 1746

Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock)
One of the first newspapers west of the Mississippi, the Gazette was founded 16 years before Arkansas achieved statehood. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, it remained one of the most influential newspapers in the region.

 

• Includes 337 issues published between 1819 and 1826. Early American Newspapers, Series 6 includes 8,638 issues of the Arkansas Gazette published between 1820 and 1900.

Boston News-Letter (Massachusetts)
Established in 1704, the News-Letter was the first regularly published newspaper in the British Colonies of North America. Noted for its pro-British sympathies, the News-Letter went through a succession of printers, including Margaret Draper, one the few women printers of the 18th century.

• Includes 3,500 issues published between 1704 and 1776

City Gazette (Charleston, South Carolina)
The City Gazette provides extensive coverage of the culture and history of Antebellum South Carolina, including the invention of the cotton gin and the rise of slavery.

• Includes 10,306 issues published between 1787 and 1821. Early American Newspapers, Series 2 includes 3,011 issues published between 1712 and 1826, and Series 4 includes 1,864 issues published between 1827 and 1833.

Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, D.C.)
As the official publication for Congressional reports, the Intelligencer’s government news was shipped to editors across the country.

• Includes 2,127 issues published between 1813 and 1820. Early American Newspapers, Series 6 includes 16,763 issues published between 1821 and 1869.

Eastern Argus (Portland, Maine)
This long-running weekly argued for Maine’s independence from Massachusetts.

• Includes 2,582 issues published between 1803 and 1833. Early American Newspapers, Series 3 includes 488 issues published between 1833 and 1880, and Series 7 will include issues published between 1835 and 1876.

Enquirer (Richmond, Virginia)
This influential southern newspaper was edited and published for 41 years by leading American journalist Thomas Ritchie. Of the Enquirer, Thomas Jefferson wrote:” I read but a single newspaper, Ritchie’s Enquirer, the best that is published or ever has been published in America.” Later issues of the Enquirer offer perspectives on the Confederacy’s reaction to Reconstruction.

• Includes 1,905 issues published between 1804 and 1820. Early American Newspapers, Series 2 includes 258 issues published between 1838 and 1865, and Series 6 will include issues published between 1866 and 1876.

Evening Post (New York City)
First published by Alexander Hamilton in 1801 as a broadside, the Post remains today the oldest continuously published daily in the country. It gained national fame under the editorship of poet and abolitionist William Cullen Bryant.

• Includes 6,090 issues published between 1801 and 1821. Early American Newspapers, Series 7 will include issues published between 1822 and 1876.

Farmer’s Cabinet (Amherst, New Hampshire)
The Cabinet is especially noteworthy for remaining neutral when many newspapers of its time were openly influenced by political controversy.

• Includes 4,943 issues published between 1802 and 1879

Georgia Gazette (Savannah)
Georgia’s first newspaper, the Gazette provides a rich record of southern colonial life.

• Includes 363 issues published between 1763 and 1770. Early American Newspapers, Series 2 includes 600 issues published between 1788 and 1802. Early American Newspapers, Series 5, includes 19 issues published in 1803.

Massachusetts Spy (Boston and Worcester)
Initially neutral but soon openly supporting the Patriots, the Massachusetts Spy was arguably the most important newspaper in America leading up to the Revolution. It was co-founded by Isaiah Thomas, one of the most successful and colorful journalists of the 18th century and founder of the American Antiquarian Society.

• Includes 283 issues published in Boston between 1770 and 1775, and 2,371 issues published in Worcester between 1775 and 1820. Early American Newspapers, Series 6 will include issues published between 1821 and 1876.

National Aegis (Worcester, Massachusetts)
Offering a political counterpoint to Worcester’s Federalist paper, the Massachusetts Spy, the Aegis defended Jeffersonian Republicanism throughout its run.

• Includes 989 issues published between 1801 and 1820. Early American Newspapers, Series 2 includes 155 issues published between 1825 and 1827, and Series 7 will include issues published between 1821 and 1876.

New-England Courant (Boston)
Shortly after founding the Courant in 1721, James Franklin was imprisoned and his paper suppressed for its radical views against the General Court. Franklin’s younger brother, Benjamin, who had been serving his apprenticeship at the Courant, assumed control of the paper in 1723. Benjamin Franklin’s early writings, under the name Silence Dogood, appear in this paper.

• Includes 243 issues published between 1721 and 1726

New-Hampshire Gazette (Portsmouth)
The first newspaper in the state of New Hampshire, the Gazette is also one the nation’s oldest existing papers.

• Includes 4,140 issues published between 1756 and 1833. Early American Newspapers, Series 2 includes 415 issues published between 1836 and 1844, Series 3 includes 486 issues published between 1834 and 1851, Series 4 includes 772 issues published between 1836 and 1851, and Series 7 will include issues published between 1852 and 1876.

Pennsylvania Gazette (Philadelphia)
Published by Benjamin Franklin, this prominent 18th-century newspaper contains not only in-depth articles on every aspect of Colonial America but also the full text of many seminal government documents, including the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the Federalist Papers.

• Includes 635 issues published between 1742 and 1757. Early American Newspapers, Series 2 includes 1,524 issues published between 1736 and 1775

Providence Patriot (Rhode Island)
The Patriot, an influential and often eloquent paper, provides a local look at two early race riots: the 1824 Hardscrabble Riot and the 1831 Snow Town Riot in which working class whites attacked African American residents. Unable to control the violent mob, Providence officials requested that the Governor send in military troops.

• Includes 1,507 issues published between 1814 and 1829. Early American Newspapers, Series 2 includes 1,192 issues published between 1814 and 1834.

Publick Occurrences (Boston)
The first newspaper in North America, Publick Occurrences: Both Forreign and Domestick was published for the first and last time on September 26, 1690 before being shut down for printing “sundry doubtful and uncertain Reports” without royal consent.

• Includes the single issue published in 1690

Vermont Gazette (Bennington)
Publisher Anthony Haswell, who brought the first printing press to Vermont, was jailed for publishing articles in the Gazette that criticized the United States’ newly established government.

• Includes 2,199 issues published between 1783 and 1832. Early American Newspapers, Series 3 includes 105 issues published between 1843 and 1844, and Series 5 includes 834 issues published between 1832 and 1850.

For more information about Early American Newspapers, Series 1, 1690-1876, please contact readexmarketing@readex.com or visit our website.  To request a free trial for your institution, please use this form.

Be Sociable, Share!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in American History, Collection Development, Journalism History, Print Culture | No Comments »

Newly Discovered Materials Enrich Early American Imprints

Monday, October 10th, 2011

Nearly 2,000 rare printed items from the Library Company of Philadelphia—previously unavailable in the Evans and Shaw-Shoemaker series—have been digitized by Readex.

Available in two parts, Supplements from the Library Company of Philadelphia, 1670-1819 may now be seamlessly searched and browsed within Readex’s fully integrated America’s Historical Imprints collection—the definitive resource for researching every aspect of 17th- and 18th-century America.

Representing the largest collection of early American imprints to have been identified and cataloged during the last 40 years, these new series of remarkable printed materials include items relevant to a host of humanities topics and are representative of numerous genres of colonial print. These newly discovered materials are particularly valuable for studying popular culture; many emanate from the middle and lower orders of society.

Early American Imprints, Series I:

Supplement from the Library Company

of Philadelphia, 1670-1800

Sample Documents – Title List – Request Trial


Early American Imprints, Series II:

Supplement from the Library Company

of Philadelphia, 1801-1819

Sample Documents – Title List – Request Trial

 “These collections are rich in imprints that have never before been available in the digital Early American Imprints because they came to light after the completion of the bibliographies on which it was based,” says James N. Green, the Library Company’s Librarian. “By adding them to their Archive of Americana, Readex has made it even more truly the national digital library of early American print.”

 

For more information or to arrange a product trial, please contact Readex at 800.762.8182, sales@readex.com or use this form.

Be Sociable, Share!

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in American History, American Literature, Announcements, Cataloging and Indexing, Collection Development, New Collections, Print Culture, Product Updates | No Comments »

The Digital Detective: Tracking Criminals When the Trail Runs Cold (by Stephen Mihm)

Thursday, October 6th, 2011

[The article below by University of Georgia professor Stephen Mihm first appeared in The Readex Report (Sept. 2008). Last month, an op-ed by Mihm headlined "The Biographer's New Best Friend" was published in The New York Times Sunday Review section. In his Times piece, Mihm quotes historians and biographers James McGrath Morris, Joshua Kendall and Graham Hodges to help explain why "Readex's America's Historical Newspapers...has the potential to revolutionize biographical research."]

The Digital Detective: Tracking Criminals When the Trail Runs Cold

By Stephen Mihm, Associate Professor of History, University of Georgia

When I began work on a history of American counterfeiting between the Revolution and the Civil War, I was faced with some peculiar research problems. With a few rare exceptions, counterfeiting during this period was a crime that was not prosecuted by federal authorities. The problem was instead left to state and local law enforcement officials who were often outnumbered and incompetent. This was partly a consequence of the fact that the paper money in circulation originated not with the federal government, but with hundreds of state-chartered banks. But it was also a reflection of the relative weakness of the federal government’s policing.

And therein lay a serious problem, not only for the police of the day, but for the historian who would attempt to reconstruct this kind of criminal activity. Counterfeiting involved vast numbers of players spread out across state and even national lines. This meant that local law enforcement officials often operated in the dark as to the scope and scale of the network of manufacturers, distributors, retailers and passers of bogus bills. Local law enforcement records—what few have survived—often provide but a fleeting snapshot of an individual counterfeiter who typically posted bail and fled, never to be seen again. What, then, is a historian to do, particularly a historian who wants to reconstruct the entire criminal careers of some of these colorful individuals?

When I began research for A Nation of Counterfeiters, I started keeping tabs on the names of criminals who surfaced at multiple times and places in the historical record. But this is like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack: you could spend many lifetimes reading through newspapers and other sources, trying to track your quarry. The advent of a new generation of digital resources—particularly America’s Historical Newspapers—made life much easier, and netted results that not only surprised me, but would have stunned the detectives and bounty hunters who spent so much time unsuccessfully tracking counterfeiters in the early republic.

Take a man like Seneca Paige. The epitaph of his gravestone notes that he was a “poor man’s friend,” a not-so-subtle reference to the fact that he was the head of a counterfeiting syndicate that straddled the border between Vermont and Canada. Paige was a notoriously slippery individual, someone who constantly escaped from the clutches of the law. That initially made tracking him almost absurdly difficult. I made a few serendipitous finds in records on both sides of the border, but when I ran searches for “Seneca Paige” or “Seneca Page” in millions of pages of America’s Historical Newspapers, some interesting things turned up.

Paige was everywhere. He showed up first in September 1809, where he was busted in Jersey City after trying to pass a counterfeit note.

He wriggled free in that instance, but was again in the news in April 1812, when a thousand dollar reward for his capture had the desired effect, and Paige was escorted to Baltimore to face charges.

The same key word searches revealed that after being indicted and committed to jail in Baltimore, he made his escape—only to be captured again a year later in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

Judging from the news reports, the local authorities weren’t aware that Paige had already escaped from other jails: how could they be? Local law enforcement officials didn’t correspond with one another on a regular basis, and they didn’t have access to every newspaper in the Union. If they had, they might not have been surprised at what happened next: Paige escaped from prison once more, “without breaking any locks or bolts,” as the Commercial Advertiser reported in August 1816.

Paige chose not to push his luck at this point: he apparently relocated to Canada, where he quickly assumed leadership of the so-called “Canada Counterfeiting Company.” And yet news of Paige’s movements continued to drift south of the border, sometimes in court papers, but just as often in the pages of newspapers.

In this particular case, finding Paige required expanding the search, dropping his first name and simply running searches for articles containing both “Paige” or “Page” and “counterfeiter.” When I did this, I found a curious mention of him in a Baltimore newspaper from 1826.

It seems that a man was caught in New Haven with a shipment of counterfeit money concealed in a mahogany dressing case. When examined, he confessed that he had received the bills and the case from “a Mr. Page, in Dunham, Canada.” Dunham was the town where most counterfeit money was manufactured in the 1820s. Again, a serendipitous find, but one that would have been impossible before the advent of digital resources.

America’s Historical Newspapers and other digital resources are extraordinarily powerful tools, enabling historians to reconstruct the movements of fugitives with startling precision. Indeed, with a few keystrokes, a historian working in the 21st century can often reconstruct the movements and careers of obscure criminals two centuries ago with comparable—if not greater—accuracy than the constables and cops who fruitlessly chased them in their own time.

More about the author

Stephen Mihm is the author, with Nouriel Roubini, of Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance (Penguin Press, 2010) and A Nation of Counterfeiters: Capitalists, Con Men, and the Making of the United States (Harvard University Press, 2007). He is also the co-editor, with Katherine Ott and David Serlin, of Artificial Parts, Practical Lives: Modern Histories of Prosthetics (NYU, 2002).

Be Sociable, Share!

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in American History, Collection Development, Digital Humanities, New Collections, Primary Sources in the Classroom, Print Culture, Product Updates, Trends in Database Use | No Comments »

World Newspaper Archive: A uniquely comprehensive collection spanning the globe

Monday, October 3rd, 2011

The World Newspaper Archive represents the largest searchable collection of historical newspapers from Asia, Africa and Latin America. Providing new opportunities for fresh insight across wide-ranging academic disciplines, this collection was created in partnership with the Center for Research Libraries (CRL)—one of the world’s largest and most important newspaper repositories.

Every historical newspaper in the World Newspaper Archive has been carefully selected by CRL and its expert advisory boards. In addition, the World Newspaper Archive may be searched with America’s Historical Newspapers for unprecedented coverage of local, national and global issues as well as daily life on four continents in the 19th and 20th centuries. 

African Newspapers, 1800-1922

Explore the issues and events that shaped the continent and its peoples

Overview – Title List – Request Trial

 

Latin American Newspapers, 1805-1922

From Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela and elsewhere

Overview – Title List – Request Trial

Coming soon! Latin American Newspapers, Series 2, 1822-1922

 

South Asian Newspapers, 1864-1922

Spanning colonial rule and the struggle for independence in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka

Overview – Title List – Request Trial

 

Using the World Newspaper Archive, researchers can compare perspectives and track topics related to repercussions of the Atlantic slave trade; the Zulu Wars; colonial rule in Africa and the Indian subcontinent; Hindu-Muslim conflicts; beginning of Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent resistance movement; the Mexican Revolution; independence movements in Argentina, Venezuela and neighboring countries; and much more.

For more information or to arrange a product trial at your institution, please contact Readex at 800.762.8182, sales@readex.com or use this form.

Be Sociable, Share!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Announcements, Collection Development, Product Updates, World History | No Comments »

Hello, Comrade Philby

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

Kim Philby on USSR commemorative stamp

In “Just Browsing: Cool Items from the Past,” I shared several unexpected items I recently stumbled upon in America’s Historical Newspapers.

I don’t however expect to find such wonderful things in Foreign Broadcast Information Service Daily Reports. What’s cool there comes more from the benefits of hindsight than sheer surprise. And that backward look lets the propagandistic nature of some of the documents shine through.

One I recently read is the somewhat hagiographic interview with Kim Philby, the former high-ranking member of British intelligence agent who spied for and later defected to the Soviet Union. The interview, first published in the Russian daily newspaper Izvestiya on Dec. 19, 1967, was translated into English for publication in FBIS supplement “MATERIALS ON 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF SOVIET STATE SECURITY ORGANS, FBIS-FRB-68-007-S on 1968-01-10. Supplement number 2”

Titled “Hello, Comrade Philby,” the article starts with a street scene in chilly Moscow:

Click to open page 1 in PDF.

“It was on a frosty morning, and the haze of the night had not yet departed from the snow-covered streets. The trees on Gogol Avenue were covered with hoarfrost. Muskovites rubbing their cheeks and stamping their feet stood in a queue at a trolleybus stop. A new day began with all its worries and fuss. Cars were also in a hurry, one outrunning the other.

“A man of medium height, no longer young, but still strong, leisurely strolls over the sidewalk inhaling the frozen air. He wears a warm, fur-lined overcoat and a fur cap. The man sincerely enjoys this morning, the frost, and the rapid stream of pedestrians. Sometimes people bump into him. ‘Pardon me,’ they say in a hurry. ‘Never mind,’ he replies, speaking with a light accent. He looks with interest at the little boys with rucksacks on their backs who are throwing snowballs at each other on the avenue. He always smiles, this man with a kind and frank face.

“Who is he? Why does he smile? What unusual thing has he discovered on the avenue, in the frost-covered trees, on that ordinary Moscow morning? The little children on the avenue, the passers-by on the sidewalk, the fashionable girls — to which of them would it occur that the person smiling at them this morning has had a most amazing life history? He used to be called a puzzle of a man, and his life was called a rebus. There were many years, whole dozens of years, 30 years of endless puzzles, a life as intricate as a labyrinth.”

It then segues into a description of a 1951 meeting in Washington, D.C., at which Allen Dulles, Frank Wisner and other American intelligence leaders awaited an important British guest. Arriving exactly on schedule, Philby took his place at their table. He listened carefully to the outline of a major operation in which dissidents would infiltrate an Eastern European country, and he offered suggestions to help polish the plan. The article explains that this top-secret operation failed because Dulles:

“…even in his most nightmarish dreams […] would not have imagined that on that August morning a cadre worker of the Soviet intelligence service was sitting at the table opposite him in the office. The Soviet intelligence agent had accomplished another task of the Center.

“And now it was our turn to sit at a table with Kim Philby,” the article continues, providing a further description of the Soviet spy:

“He is very calm and slow[,] his large grey head with hair parted in the middle rests on strong shoulders, his masculine, weatherbeaten face is softened by bright, slightly twinkled eyes. When he smiles, wrinkles run from the corners of his eyes to the temples, giving his face an even warmer expression.”

The interview, with copious direct quotes from Kim Philby, follows. Where he was born, his education, his career before recruitment in the Soviet and then the British intelligence services are covered.

“It was in my work in the Soviet intelligence service that I found the form of this struggle. I thought at that time, and still think, that in this work I served my own British people, too.”

He tells the following from his days as a reporter during the Spanish Civil War, at which point his coverage was favorable to Franco.

“At that time I lived in Bilbao. Once, an officer from Franco’s staff came to me, seated me in his car, and drove me to the fascist headquarters in Burgos. They showed me into a hall in which there was a group of ridiculously bombastic generals. In the center was the ‘Generalissimo’ himself. I noticed at that time that all of them, including Franco himself, were rather short men. I was introduced. After a couple of minutes, the ‘caudillo’ extraordinarily solemnly presented this very same, cross to me. It later came in very handy for my work: of all Western journalists, I was one of the few awarded with this exotic order. When joining the British ‘intelligence service,’ the cross, too, played its role.”

Philby also discusses his pre-World War II activities in Germany and his wartime rise in the British service. After the war he was sent to Turkey, where his life was hectic. It’s busy when you’re working both sides of the street.

“It was much easier for James Bond in the novels of my old friend Ian Fleming; he still managed to find time for merry holidays and love affairs,” joked Philby.

I love the next question the interviewer poses: “You mean you knew Fleming also?”

“Of course, since he also worked in the secret service as deputy director of naval intelligence. Also employed in intelligence was Graham Greene, who was also a colleague of mine at that time. Today he is a truly great and respected writer.”

A quick discussion of Philby’s taste in literature follows, and then it’s back to his career. When asked about American intelligence elite, he gives dismissive estimates of two CIA directors—Allen Dulles (“considerate in dealing with people, but essentially showed a haughty attitude toward them”) and Richard Helms (“more politician than a specialist in his business”). Philby continues:

“But one person who really made an indelible impression on me,” he continued, “was [FBI Director J. Edgar] Hoover’s deputy, Mr. Ladd. This astoundingly dull person was quite seriously trying to convince me that Franklin Roosevelt, the former president, had been a Komintern agent!”

The interview concludes with this ringing statement:

“We congratulate him with all our hearts on the occasion of the coming jubilee, the 50th anniversary of the VCHK-KGB organs, the holiday of the Soviet Cheka members. This is his holiday too, after all.”

The rest of the FBIS Supplement is cool, too. The articles come from Pravda, Red Star, Soviet Union, Trud as well as Izvestiya—all packaged together to let U.S. government readers see a wide degree of coverage of the anniversary. It opens with a speech to KGB personnel by KGB director Yuri Andropov, who would become leader of the U.S.S.R. fifteen years later:

“Remarkable Chekist cadres, inspired by the ideals of October, grew up and were tempered in the struggle against the enemies of Soviet power. The image of the Chekist as a passionate revolutionary, a man of crystal-clear honesty and vast personal courage, relentless in the struggle against the enemies, stern in his duty, but human and ready to sacrifice himself for the people’s cause to which he has devoted his life—an image which prevails among the people—is associated precisely with the activity of these men.”

Andropov’s style makes the Philby article read as if it came out of movie fan magazine.

For more information about Foreign Broadcast Information Service Daily Reports, please contact readexmarketing@readex.com.  To request a free trial for your institution, please use this form.

Be Sociable, Share!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in American History, Collection Development, New Collections, World History | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »