Flash Newspapers: New Digital Collection

Flash newspapers were a type of “underground newspaper” that catered to people interested in reading about, or participating in, illicit activities, such as gambling, prostitution, and other forms of vice. Flash newspapers were often published and circulated secretly, so as to avoid detection by law-enforcement, and consequently these newspapers were  rarely collected by libraries. The best collection of flash newspapers in the United States is held by the American Antiquarian Society, and a large portion of that collection has now been digitized by Readex. The University of Illinois Library is pleased to announce that we have acquired this digital collection, American Underworld: The Flash Press.

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Latin American Newspapers Series 2

Now available: Latin American Newspapers Series 2. Part of the World Newspaper Archive (which also includes African Newspapers, and South Asian Newspapers), Latin American Newspapers Series 2 is the second module in what is arguably becoming the best digital collection of Central and South American newspapers available anywhere.

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Introduction to Scholarly Research: Pilot Instruction Series

Introduction to Scholarly Research is a multipart workshop series designed to assist undergraduate and graduate students with the research process, from start to finish. Join a team of librarians for this series of five workshops, during which you will learn how to become a more successful researcher. These sessions are open to students in any discipline. (Although taught by librarians from the Slavic Reference Service, the course content will not be specific to Slavic studies or any other discipline.) You will also learn how the University Library can support you in your research.

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Digitized Pittsburgh Newspapers

The Library now has permanent access to a collection of digitized Pittsburgh newspapers. Although the database is called ProQuest Historical Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the collection is actually a couple dozen different newspapers related to the Post-Gazette, which did not begin publication under that title until 1927. This collection boasts newspapers dating back to 1786.

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New Digitized Newspaper Collection: Historical Communist Newspapers

The Library now has permanent access to ProQuest Historical Communist Newspapers, a collection of nine labor, socialist, and communist newspapers published in the United States. All nine newspapers are connected to the Daily Worker (either preceding or succeeding titles).

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2 New Digital Collections of Women’s Magazines

The Library now has permanent access to the second series in ProQuest’s Women’s Magazine Archive. Series 2 adds six more titles to the collection (for a total of twelve magazines), and like its predecessor the magazines are, wherever possible, digitized in full color. Series 2 is also notable for the addition of Essence magazine, a publication for African American women.

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Something Interesting About Early American Newspapers Series 13

Series 13 of Early American Newspapers boasts over 2,300 titles from the trans-Mississippi west. If you browse the series, however, you might notice something peculiar: over a third of these titles are represented by only a single issue, with all these single issues coming from the year 1876. Why does the collection contain so many random issues from the year 1876?

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New Online Resource: Neues Deutschland Archive

We now have access to the Neues Deutschland Archive. Neues Deutschland began publication in 1946 as the official newspaper of the East German Communist Party (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands). Since the Wende, the newspaper has remained a socialist organ, even as its circulation has plummeted.

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Watch Your Language, Please: Researching Queer History

Evidence of queer history is often elusive, but it can be found throughout the historical record, in both expected and unexpected places. A challenge for the researcher, however, is that libraries and archives have not traditionally described these documents in ways that make them easily discoverable. Aside from its appearance in medical and penal records, queer experience might often not even have been recognizable to librarians, archivists, museum curators, and others charged with collecting and organizing historical documents.

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New Online Resource: American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection, 1684-1912

Library patrons now have access to EBSCO’s digital collection American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection, 1684-1912. Originally released in five series, this collection has long been on our “wish-list”, and we have finally acquired the entire collection, which complements several existing digital collections (American Periodical Series Online, America’s Historical Newspapers, 19th Century American Newspapers, and Early American Imprints), and makes pre-1900 American print culture among the best covered source bases for online historical research here at the University of Illinois Library. Continue reading “New Online Resource: American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection, 1684-1912