Two New Primary-Source Databases: Illustrated London News Historical Archive, 1842-2003 and Slavery & Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive
The GSU Library now subscribes to two new primary-source databases, Illustrated London News Historical Archive, 1842-2003 and Slavery & Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive, available through our Databases A-Z list under “I” and “S,” respectively.
The Illustrated London News is a historical London newspaper, first appearing in May 1842 and publishing until its closure in 2003. The world’s first fully illustrated weekly newspaper, The Illustrated London News appeared weekly from 1842-1971, then monthly from 1971-1989, bi-monthly from 1994, and twice a year from 1994-2003. A conservative newspaper known for its reliance on illustrations and, after 1890, photographs, the Illustrated London News published well-known illustrators and authors (see here for examples). Our subscription to this database complements our existing subscription to the Times Digital Archive, which includes coverage of the Times of London from 1785-1985. For other British newspaper holdings, see the “International Newspapers” tab in the Historical Newspaper Holdings research guide.
Slavery & Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive is a collection of primary sources covering the history of slavery from the early colonial period through the late nineteenth century. Organized thematically, this database has four parts:
- Part I: Debates over Slavery and Abolition
- Part II: Slave Trade in the Atlantic World (with particular focus on the United Kingdom, France, and the United States)
- Part III: Institution of Slavery
- Part IV: Age of Emancipation
Materials included are books, pamphlets, newspapers, periodicals, legal documents, speeches, court records, monographs, manuscripts and historical maps. A taste of collections included (among others):
- American Colonization Society: A Register of Its Records in the Library of Congress
- Indexes to Deposit Ledgers in Branches of the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company, 1865-1874
- Office of the Adjutant General, Office of the Freedman’s Bureau, 1872-1878
- Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. Board of Missions for Freedmen Annual Reports, 1866-1923
- Records of the Senate Select Committee That Investigated John Brown’s Raid at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia
- Records of the Spanish Governors of Puerto Rico, Registro Central de Esclavos, 1872 (Slave Schedules)
In addition to many primary sources, in its “Research Tools” section, Slavery & Anti-Slavery also includes suggestions for using its resources in teaching, a chronology of slavery with links to relevant primary sources in the database, several historiographical essays, and links to other relevant websites and resources.