New electronic resources: three centuries of newspapers

13 Jul 2009

We've just added two fantastic new electronic resources to our collection. Both are created from holdings at the British Library, and complement Early English Books Online and the Times Digital Archive as primary source material in digital form.

The first is 19th Century British Library Newspapers, a great new resource that contains the digitised content of 49 influential newspapers from the 19th century. The titles are both national and regional, and include the Daily news (1846-1900), the Morning Chronicle (1801-1865) and the Liverpool Mercury (1811-1900).

The British Library also hosts its own version of the database, which is free to search but you will have to pay-per-view to see the digitised articles. It's worth looking at this version however, as it offers some good background essays, such as this primer on the Napoleonic Wars. Perhaps best of all though, are the entire runs of the Graphic and the Penny Illustrated News on open access.

The second new resource is the 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection. This resource includes newspapers, pamphlets and broadsides from the very beginning of serial publishing, all of which were collected by the Reverend Charles Burney (1757-1817) and are now held at the British Library. Most of the material is from London, but there are also English provincial, Irish and Scottish papers, and a few examples from America, Europe and India. Titles include the Daily Courant (1702-1735) and the London Gazette (1666-1792). You can find out more about the Burney collection from the British Library website.

Both of these resources are available free of charge from the Library and E-Library here at the museum. If you would like to know more or arrange a introductory session, leave a comment or email me at library[at]nmm.ac.uk.

Renee (Digital Resources Librarian)