New e-resource for American history: Early American Newspapers – Series 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19

Cambridge University Libraries are delighted to announce the acquisition of series 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 of the Early American Newspapers, adding to the access available to series 1 through 13:

Early American Newspapers Series 14, 1807-1880: The Expansion of Urban America

Early American Newspapers Series 15, 1822-1879: Immigrant Communities

Early American Newspapers Series 16, 1800-1877: Industry and the Environment

Early American Newspapers Series 17, 1844-1922: American Heartland

Early American Newspapers Series 18, 1825-1879: Racial Awakening in the Northeast

Early American Newspapers Series 19, Southern Newspapers: The Politics of Race in the South

Access these resources via this link or via the Cambridge University Libraries E-resources A-Z.

For this new acquisition, we are sincerely grateful to the legacy of Dr. Mark Kaplanoff, Fellow of Pembroke College, whose endowment provides Cambridge with rich and diverse collections to support the study of the history of the United States in the University.

These collections offer essential primary sources for exploring the people, places, and events that shaped the nation and thousands of rare historical American newspapers offering a rich chronicle of daily life in America.

As the first draft of history, American newspapers have preserved essential records and everyday accounts of the people, issues, and events that shaped the nation for hundreds of years.

From the late 17th century to the end of the eighteenth, most American newspapers were published by small-town printers and reflected the interests and values of the communities they served. As the country grew and changed through the 1800s, so too did its newspapers.  During this period, the number of new titles rose dramatically, and newspapers were transformed by an increasing emphasis on society, industry, scientific advances, investigative journalism, and human-interest stories. By the early 20th century, nearly every town in the United States had its own newspaper.

Multiple series, thousands of titles, all on a single platform
For searching and browsing American newspapers from four centuries, America’s Historical Newspapers is the most comprehensive digital resource of its kind. It offers access to thousands of titles sourced from all 50 states and is constantly growing with newly sourced content. The newspapers in America’s Historical Newspapers provide eyewitness reporting, editorials, letters, advertisements, obituaries, and much more. Together, they are an indispensable chronicle of the evolution of American culture and daily life from 1690 to the recent past. 

For a full title list to browse visit here.

THE NEGRO’S OPINION.—Some years ago, the boiler-men negroes on Huckenfield estate were overheard by the book-keeper discoursing on this subject, (the superiority of the whites,) and various opinions were given, till the question was thus set at rest by an old African:- “When God Almighty made de world, him make two men, a nigger and a buckra; and him give dem two box, and him tell dem for make dem choice. Nigger, (nigger greedy from time,) when him find one box heavy, him take it, and buckra take t’other; when dem open de box, buckra see pen, ink and paper; nigger box full up with hoe and bill, and hoe and bill for nigger till this day”–Freedom’s Sentinel (Athol, Massachusetts), February 19, 1828 — EAN Series 18 Racial Awakening in the Northeast

Road on Minachoque Farm, Wilbraham Massachusetts — close to the site of the Sentinel Elm, Athol, thought to have supplied the name for the newspaper Freedom’s Sentinel

New e-resource for American history: Congressional Record – Congressional Hearings & Unpublished Hearings – Congressional Research Digital Collection Committee Reports

Cambridge University Libraries are delighted to announce the acquisition of all parts published to date of the United States Congress Congressional Record, the Congressional Hearings & Unpublished Hearings, and the CRDC (Congressional Research Digital Collection) Committee Reports.

The ProQuest Congressional is available to the University of Cambridge via this link or via the Cambridge University Libraries E-Resources A-Z.

New to Congressional research? Check out the ProQuest LibGuide Congressional Help.

For this new acquisition, we are sincerely grateful to the legacy of Dr. Mark Kaplanoff, Fellow of Pembroke College, whose endowment provides Cambridge with rich and diverse collections to support the study of the history of the United States in the University.

Bringing these digital resources up to date is enabled by Dr Kaplanoff’s legacy and completes publishing so far of the acquisitions Cambridge University Libraries had started in 2019 – Please see our earlier news for the launch of these collections.

The western front of the United States Capitol. The Neoclassical style building is located in Washington, D.C., on top of Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall. The Capitol was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_Capitol_west_front_edit2.jpg

New e-resource for American studies: University of Virginia Press (Rotunda) “American History Collection”

Cambridge University Libraries are delighted to announce the acquisition in perpetuity and in full of the “American History Collection” published by the University of Virginia Press (Rotunda imprint).

For this new acquisition, we are sincerely grateful to the legacy of Dr. Mark Kaplanoff, Fellow of Pembroke College, whose endowment provides Cambridge with rich and diverse collections to support the study of the history of the United States in the University.

The “American History Collection” includes documentary editions spanning three centuries, from the earliest surviving writings of George Washington through the presidential correspondence of Woodrow Wilson: more than 20 publications with content from over 550 letterpress and born-digital volumes, for a total of nearly 300,000 documents, diary entries, and editorial essays, all cross-searchable.

The “American History Collection” comprises the sub-collections:

The American Century Collection: Presidential Recordings; Papers of Woodrow Wilson; Booker T. Washington Papers

Antebellum, Civil War, and Reconstruction: Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, Daniel Webster, Andrew Johnson, Andrew Jackson, Frederick Law Olmsted; Correspondence of James K. Polk

The Founding Era Collection: People of the Founding Era; Papers of George Washington; Adams Papers; Papers of Thomas Jefferson; Diaries of Gouverneur Morris; Papers of Revolutionary Era Pinckney Statesmen; Dolly Madison Digital Edition; Papers of James Monroe; Papers of Eliza Lucas Pinckney & Harriet Pinckney Horry; Papers of James Madison; Documentary History of the First Federal Congress of the United States of America; Selected Papers of John Jay; Papers of Alexander Hamilton; Papers of John Marshall; Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution; Letters of Benjamin Rush

Access the collection via this link or via the Cambridge University Libraries E-Resources A-Z.

Painting depicting Parson Weems and his famous story of George Washington and the Cherry Tree.https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Parson_Weems%27_Fable.jpg – Artist: Grant Wood (1891-1942); Painting: Parson Weems’ Fable; Collection: Amon Carter Museum of Modern Art

New e-resource: American Indian Newspapers

Cambridge University Libraries are delighted to announce the acquisition of the digital archive American Indian Newspapers.

For this new acquisition, we are sincerely grateful to the legacy of Dr. Mark Kaplanoff, Fellow of Pembroke College, whose endowment provides Cambridge with rich and diverse collections to support the study of the history of the United States in the University.

From historic pressings to contemporary periodicals, explore nearly 200 years of Indigenous print journalism from the US and Canada. With newspapers representing a huge variety in publisher, audience and era, discover how events were reported by and for Indigenous communities.

American Indian Newspapers aims to present a diverse and robust collection of print journalism from Indigenous peoples of the US and Canada over more than 9,000 individual editions from 1828-2016.

Representing a huge variety in style, production and audience, the newspapers include national periodicals as well as local community news and student publications. The 45 unique titles also include bi-lingual and Indigenous-language editions, such as Hawaiian, Cherokee and Navajo languages.

A link to this database is included in the A-Z Databases Libguide. Records for titles included in this database are available in iDiscover.

Text taken from the Adam Matthews platform

New eresource – Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926

Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926 has been acquired from the legacy of Dr. Mark Kaplanoff, Fellow of Pembroke College, who endowed the University Library with funds to support the study of the history of the United States in the University of Cambridge.

Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500–1926 offers a perspective on life in the western hemisphere, encompassing the arrival of the Europeans on the shores of North America in the late fifteenth century to the first decades of the twentieth century.

Covering more than 400 years and more than 65,000 volumes in North, Central, and South America and the West Indies, this easy-to-use digital collection highlights the society, politics, religious beliefs, culture, contemporary opinions, and momentous events of the time through sermons, political tracts, newspapers, books, pamphlets, maps, legislation, literature, and more.

This digital collection, drawn from Joseph Sabin’s famed bibliography, Bibliotheca Americana: A Dictionary of Books Relating to America from Its Discovery to the Present Time, includes the following topics:

• Discovery and exploration of the Americas — accounts from British, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and Danish explorers and adventurers
• Colonization — features both American and European views and firsthand accounts of colonial life
• Slavery — memoirs, original speeches, lectures, sermons, discourses, reports to legislatures across America, pamphlets, books, and international essays
• Cities and states — the social and political evolution of America’s major cities and states
• Civil War — a wide array of memoirs, political tracts, published legislative proceedings, and broadsides
• Reconstruction — records that describe the reorganization and re-establishment of the seceded states in the Union after the Civil War
• American women — education, civil rights, domestic life, and employment
• Native Americans — essays, booklets, treaties, land tracts, congressional speeches, journals, and letters that document social attitudes and personal experiences
• Immigration — pamphlets, broadsides, speeches, articles, and books
• Constitution — pamphlets, letters, speeches, and essays provide detailed information about the early political organization of the American colonies

Image by Abhay Bharadwaj from Pixabay

New eresource : Caribbean Newspapers, 1718-1876

The Readex Caribbean Newspapers, 1718-1876 database has been  acquired from the legacy of Dr. Mark Kaplanoff, Fellow of Pembroke College, who endowed the University Library with funds to support the study of the history of the United States in the University of Cambridge.

Caribbean Newspapers, 1718-1876—the largest online collection of 18th- and 19th-century newspapers published in this region—will provide a comprehensive primary resource for studying the development of Western society and international relations within this important group of islands.  This unique resource will prove essential for researching colonial history, the Atlantic slave trade, international commerce, New World slavery and U.S. relations with the region as far back as the early 18th century.

Created in cooperation with the American Antiquarian Society—one of the world’s largest and most important newspaper repositories—this collection will provide students and scholars with easy access to more than 150 years of Caribbean and Atlantic history, cultures and daily life. Featuring more than 140 newspapers from 22 islands, this resource will chronicle the region’s evolution across two centuries through eyewitness reporting, editorials, legislative information, letters, poetry, advertisements, obituaries and other news items.

Most of these newspapers were published in the English language, but a number of Spanish-, French-, and Danish-language titles are also provided.  Countries represented include Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominica, Grenada, Guadaloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Nevis, Puerto Rico, St. Bartholomew, St. Christopher, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Tobago, Trinidad, and the Virgin Islands. Also found within this resource are newspapers from Bermuda, an island not technically part of the Caribbean, but situated on shipping routes between Europe and this region and integrally related to this region.

Records will be made available in iDiscover for titles in this collection.

Text taken from the Readex platform

New eresource: American Sermons (Series 1 & 2, 1652-1819)

The Readex American Sermons databases have been acquired from the legacy of Dr. Mark Kaplanoff, Fellow of Pembroke College, who endowed the University Library with funds to support the study of the history of the United States in the University of Cambridge.

In the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries, ministers and preachers delivered powerful weekly sermons that were often printed and distributed across the burgeoning colonies and towns of early America. In many communities, these sermons were the cornerstone of civic and political discourse, and played a pivotal role in shaping the culture, morals and politics of the British Colonies and the United States of America. American Sermons, 1652-1819, is the most comprehensive digital collection of these publications, providing more than 8,000 sermons printed between 1652 and 1819. Available in two series (1652-1795 and 1796-1819), this product offers text analysis tools, author biographies, and suggested search paths for easy browsing and discovery

A unique window into the American past
“The sermon has a range of eloquence that no other literary form can rival, though novelists, poets, playwrights, and secular orators have never stopped trying,” writes Yale professor Michael Warner. Indeed, sermons are widely regarded as the earliest and most enduring literary form in America—passionately delivered, keenly argued and concerned with both spiritual questions and reflections on civic duty. Almost any topic was fair game, from local gossip to slavery to witchcraft. As such, the sermons offer intriguing research opportunities for not only religious scholars and historians, but anyone interested in the daily life, politics, society, child-rearing and educational systems of early America. Additionally, these sermons provide contemporary cultural commentary on a range of important historical events, from the American Revolution to the abolition movement to immigration debates.

Records will be made available in iDiscover for titles in this collections.

New eresource: Foreign Broadcast Information Service

The University of Cambridge continues to build on its worldwide reputation for the study of American history by supporting researchers with an ever expanding collection of online resources.  In February 2021 the University Library Syndicate approved the acquisition of the Readex company’s two Foreign Broadcast Information Service Daily Reports databases with combined coverage from 1941 to 1996. FBIS has been  acquired from the legacy of Dr. Mark Kaplanoff, Fellow of Pembroke College, who endowed the University Library with funds to support the study of the history of the United States in the University.

FBIS Daily Reports, 1941-1974 and FBIS Daily Reports, 1974-1996

As the United States’ principal historical record of political open source intelligence for more than half a century, the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Report is an indispensable source for insights into decades of turbulent world history. The original mission of the FBIS was to monitor, record, transcribe and translate intercepted radio broadcasts from foreign governments, official news services, and clandestine broadcasts from occupied territories. Accordingly, it provides a wealth of information from all countries outside of the U.S.—from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.

FBIS Daily Report Annexes, 1974-1996

Like the Reports themselves, FBIS Daily Report Annexes, 1974-1996 offers international views and perspectives on historical events from thousands of monitored broadcasts and publications. Created by the U.S. intelligence community to benefit analysts and policy makers, Annexes were “For Official Use Only.” Although a very small number of copies may have found their way into the Government Documents collections of some libraries, no institution outside of the Central Intelligence Agency holds all of the records. Full-text searchable for the first time, FBIS Daily Report Annexes features individual citations for each item as well as highlighted events to assist student researchers.

Records will be made available in iDiscover for titles in this collections.

New eresources: Early American Imprints – Evans

Three Readex Early American Imprints databases have been acquired from the legacy of Dr. Mark Kaplanoff, Fellow of Pembroke College, who endowed the University Library with funds to support the study of the history of the United States in the University of Cambridge.

Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800

Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800, has been hailed as the definitive resource for teaching and researching nearly every aspect of 17th- and 18th-century America. This incomparable digital collection contains virtually every book, pamphlet and broadside published in America over a 160-year period. Providing complete digital editions of nearly 38,000 printed works, Series I covers subjects ranging from history, literature and culture to politics, government and society.

Early American Imprints, Series I, is comprised of a vast range of publication types. Among the genres included are advertisements, allegories, almanacs, autobiographies, ballads, bibles, captivity narratives, cookbooks, diaries, elegies, eulogies, hymns, imaginary voyages, narratives, novels, operas, plays, poems, primers, sermons, songs, speeches, textbooks, tracts, travel literature and many others.

Early American Imprints, Series I: Supplement from the Library Company of Philadelphia, 1670-1800

Fully integrated with Early American Imprints: Evans, this Supplement includes items that are relevant to a host of humanities topics and are representative of numerous genres of colonial print, many emanating from the middle and lower orders of society. The fragile bound books, as a result of their popularity, are generally unknown today because they were read repeatedly until they disintegrated. Among these are guide books to the perplexities of life, which served to shape individual and community identities. The pamphlets, often containing writing of considerable significance, present sermons, religious tracts, political arguments, reports of organized bodies and other influential items. The broadsides—which capture a slice of life, unedited for posterity— include doggerel ballads, advertisements, official decrees, news extras, amateur elegies and more.

Early American Imprints, Series I: Supplement from the American Antiquarian Society, 1652-1800

This extensive collection is comprised entirely of works that fall into the scope of the original Evans and Bristol bibliographies (which formed the basis of Early American Imprints, Series 1: Evans, 1639-1800) but were either missed by Evans and Bristol, or were listed by Evans and Bristol but could not be found until now. For today’s students and scholars of early America, no other collection offers the opportunity to view previously unknown publications from the first 150 years of American history. Broad subject areas covered by these works include the Atlantic World, Cartography, Colonial History, Ethnic Studies, Gender Studies, Literature, Music, Revolutionary War and Sociology. The materials cover a wide range of important document types: histories, personal narratives, military records, government acts, expedition logs, treaties, maps, almanacs, children’s primers, criminal confessions, recipe books, poems, songs and speeches.

Records will be made available in iDiscover for titles in this collections.

Image credit Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay

 

New eresource: Native American Indians, 1645-1819

The Readex Native American Indians, 1645-1819 database has been acquired from the legacy of Dr. Mark Kaplanoff, Fellow of Pembroke College, who endowed the University Library with funds to support the study of the history of the United States in the University of Cambridge.

By the late 17th century, Britain had established colonies along the New England coast and Chesapeake Bay, alongside small groups of Dutch and Swedish settlers. Many of the region’s Indigenous inhabitants were pushed West, where they joined hundreds of other tribes whose lives were irrevocably changed by the arrival of Europeans. Likewise, the presence of Native Americans influenced almost every element of early American settler life, and an enormous number of books were printed about this relationship over the next century and a half. Every major book about Native Peoples from this period is included in Native American Indians, 1645-1819. This product also offers text analysis tools, author biographies, and suggested search paths for easy browsing and discovery.

A comprehensive record of Native America
The documents in Native American Indians, 1645-1819, include treaties, transcribed letters from Native American leaders, the minutes of tribal meetings, histories of numerous tribes, missionary reports, captivity narratives, firsthand accounts of battles, trading records, military rosters, expedition logs and maps, trial records, legislative bills, books on Native American languages and grammar, military rosters, governors’ and legislators’ reports, ballads, songs, plays and more. While such documents are invaluable for scholars and students of Native American studies and early American history, they also offer insight into numerous other fields, including natural history, border studies, military history, political science and linguistics. Additionally, a suite of tools aimed specifically at the Digital Humanities provides word frequencies, keywords in context and other functions that bring this unique content to life in ways never before possible.

Foundational works for understanding Native history
The documents in Native American Indians, 1645-1819, are derived from the holdings of the American Antiquarian Society, Library Company of Philadelphia and many other institutions. Among the seminal works included in this collection are “The Conference with the Eastern Indians, at the ratification of the peace…in July and August 1726,” “A Bill to Authorize the President of the United States to select such tribes of Indians as he may think best prepared for the change, and to adopt such means as he may judge expedient in order to civilize the same,” “Travels and adventures in Canada and the Indian territories between the years 1760 and 1776…” “A Treaty with the Shawanese and Delaware Indians…,” “A history of the voyages and adventures of John Van Delure. Giving an account of his being left on the N.W. coast of America…where he lived almost seven years and married the daughter of an Indian chief,” and more than 1,500 others.

Records will be made available in iDiscover for titles in this collection.