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 May 2017 the Cambridge University Library Syndicate approved the acquisition of the Readex company’s unparalleled digitization of thousands of American newspapers from the late seventeenth century to the early twentieth century, in its America’s Historical Newspapers series “Early American Newspapers”. The University Library is delighted to announce this collection is now available online to all full members of the University, and looks forward to further liaison with the Faculty of History in fostering the discoveries afforded to research and teaching in American history by this acquisition.
The Early American Newspapers digitization comprises thirteen collections of newspapers, all of which have been acquired from the legacy of Dr Mark Kaplanoff, Fellow of Pembroke College. The bequest forms a fund called the Kaplanoff Fund, and was given solely for the purchase of materials for the University Library to support the study of American history.
Earlier online collections of distinction and depth that have been acquired from Dr Kaplanoff’s generosity to the University Library include the United States Nineteenth Century Newspapers collection and the American Periodicals collection. Trans-Atlantic collaboration is vibrant in Cambridge where its community of scholars in American history, “one of the largest and most vigorous” outside of the United States, makes Cambridge the UK’s leading university for graduate studies in American history.
Dr N. S. Guyatt, University Lecturer in American History, writes: “The University Library’s acquisition of the Early American Newspapers database will be warmly welcomed by students and researchers throughout the University. American history remains one of the most popular fields for undergraduate and postgraduate study at Cambridge, and the Early American Newspapers database offers a vast and unrivalled collection of primary material that will be avidly consumed by students, postdoctoral researchers and faculty. This acquisition will consolidate our position as the leading institution for graduate training in American history in the UK, and one of the premier institutions for the study of American history outside the United States.”
Access the Early American Newspapers site via this link. All the individual newspaper titles in the thirteen series of Early American Newspapers are discoverable in iDiscover. A full list of the titles can be found on the Readex site here.