British Guardian and The Observer Added to ProQuest Historical Newspapers

Historical archives of two major British newspapers are now being added to ProQuest. Note this is NOT a part of HeritageQuest Online, a separate service from ProQuest. You can view these databases at your local library, if that library subscribes to ProQuest's ProQuest Historical Newspapers. Here is the announcement:

Ann Arbor, Mich. – October 15, 2007 – The Guardian and The Observer will be the first British titles to join the acclaimed ProQuest Historical Newspapers™.  More than 212 years of continuous, independent reporting that covers the best in arts, politics, business, and sports will be searchable for the first time.  Digitised by Olive Software, Inc. and converted to ProQuest Historical Newspaper’s specifications, the digital archive will include the Guardian (1821- 2003) and The Observer (1791-2003).

The ability to cross-search the archives of two major British newspapers with ProQuest’s existing American historical newspapers provides researchers with contrasting  perspectives on key international events, such as World Wars I and II, the Middle East peace process, and the terrorist attacks in the United States September 11, 2001.  Researchers will be able to compare news, political cartoons, and editorials about the same events in both American and British newspapers. 

“The vivid and fearless reporting by both newspapers has set journalistic standards not only in the UK, but also worldwide,” said Rod Gauvin, Senior Vice President of Publishing for ProQuest.  “Indeed, globally many rely on the Guardian and The Observer for unbiased, thoughtful reporting on events in their own country. The addition of these two major British newspapers will propel ProQuest Historical Newspapers into a truly international news publication program, giving researchers comprehensive information that can be found easily from a single starting point.”

Gerard Baines, Head of Syndication & Rights, Guardian News and Media said,  “the launch of the archive will revolutionise the way in which users are able to access our historic content, whether for academic research or personal interest. Olive Software has proven to be a fantastic technology partner fulfilling the huge task of digitising the entire archive in less than 12 months. We are also thrilled to be working with ProQuest, the world’s largest distributor of digitised newspaper archives.” 

The Guardian’s and The Observer’s archive will be cross-searchable with ProQuest Historical Newspapers, the world's largest digital newspaper archive, encompassing more than 17 million pages dating from 1764.  A core research holding in major libraries around the world, it includes such formidable newspapers as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The New York Tribune, The Washington Post, Atlanta Constitution, Boston Globe, Hartford Courant, The Chicago Defender, New York Amsterdam News, Pittsburgh Courier, Los Angeles Sentinel, and Atlanta Daily World. ProQuest’s Historical Newspapers is the definitive digital newspaper archive with keyword searching, article-level search results, full page views, and the ability to browse through an issue page by page.   

About ProQuest
ProQuest provides seamless access to and navigation of more than 125 billion digital pages of the world's scholarship, delivering it to the desktop and into the workflow of serious researchers in multiple fields, from arts, literature, and social science to science, technology, and medicine.  ProQuest is part of Cambridge Information Group (www.cambridgeinformationgroup.com).

ProQuest's vast content pools are available to researchers through libraries of all types and include the world's largest digital newspaper archive, periodical databases comprising the output of more than 9,000 titles and spanning more than 500 years, the pre-eminent dissertation collection, and various other scholarly collections. Users access the information through the ProQuest®  and CSA Illumina™ online information systems, Chadwyck-Healey™ electronic and microform resources, UMI® microform and print reference products, eLibrary® and SIRS® educational resources, Ulrich's® Serials Analysis System, COS Scholar Universe, and Serials Solutions® resource management tools. Through the expertise of business units Serials Solutions and COS, ProQuest provides technological tools that allow researchers and libraries to better manage and use their information resources.   For more information, visit www.proquest.com, www.proquest.co.uk, and www.csa.com.

Comments

[Mic Barnette]

I love that ProQuest is adding more content to their websites.

However....I wish they would complete indexing their US census collection.....

To date the 1830-1840 and 1850 censuses are browsable but not indexed and thus non-searchable. Because they are not searchable I use Ancestry's 1830-1840 and 1850 censuses. If ProQuest would like to be more competitive one would think indexing these censuses would be a major priority.

Maybe we need to petition/write them to get them moving on. Comments, anyone?

MIC

[Barbara]

Where are these newspapers based? Is there a way to read the archival papers for the Manchester, England area?

[Richard Heaton]

The two newspapers are now national titles - but for local news you really need to consult both the National and Local Press. You will sometimes find unique information in the National which the local paper didn't publish

The British Library launches its Newspaper Digitalisation (1800-1900) on Monday. The first wave includes the Manchester Times from 1828 - 1848 and then the Manchester Examiner and Times and Examiner from 1846 - 1900. This won't be available to the public at the moment and when it is - in common with several other digitisation projects there will be a fee payable.

I've found surviving early copies of Manchester newspapers quite rare. In my collection I do have a very few Manchester area newspapers that pre-date 1828. I recently put a transcript of an 1815 Manchester Mercury for example on my site, followed by a Bolton newspaper from 1823 - this compares with other areas where I have very good coverage.

So in short - its worth checking the Times / Guardian / Observer, but if these come up a blank the choice is to wait for the British Library collection or if you have a specific date to be checked, the Manchester Central Library / Salford Library have excellent collections (back to the 1750's)

Best Regards
Richard Heaton

[Ann Lamb]

Mr. Heaton: Where is your site, please?