JISC

New resource offers one million pages from forty-six 19th century newspapers to unlock a rich seam of hidden treasures

JISC and the British Library, in partnership with Gale/Cengage Learning, have launched their 19th century British Library Newspapers website. The UK’s Further and Higher Education communities can now enjoy free online access to a cross section of 19th century national and regional titles, greatly enhancing research into the society, culture and history of the UK between 1800-1900. HE and FE lecturers will be able to download material from the website and use it for teaching purposes.

For the first time, iconic historical events that shaped our present will be fully searchable online. Vital newspaper reports on the Congress of Vienna, the Slavery Abolition Act and the opening of the Suez Canal will become accessible from researchers’ desktops. Users will be able to read and repurpose the factual reporting of the Battle of Trafalgar in the Examiner and the gory details of the Whitechapel murders in the melodramatic Illustrated Police News. Some of the most famous authors of the 19th century are represented, including Dickens and Thackeray.  

The 19th century British Library Newspapers website, developed by Gale/Cengage Learning will enable users to search material previously only available in London-based reading rooms. Employing new imaging techniques, the website offers its users highly illustrated materials on topics as diverse as business and sport, politics and entertainment. The collection will focus on London national newspapers, English regional papers, home country newspapers from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, and titles in specialist areas such as Victorian radicalism and Chartism.

The newspapers have been chosen by leading experts and academics to present a cross section of national and regional titlesby making one million pages searchable online. Howev“This is a highly impressive resource which amply demonstrates the power of the web to inform, educate and delight.' er, it should be noted that present-day leading national papers, including The Guardian, the London Times, The DailyTelegraph and the Daily Mail are not part of this collection. It is anticipated that the newspaper publishers will follow the lead of the London Times and invest in the technology needed to create their own digital archives. 

The 19th century British Library Newspapers is one element of a £22 million JISC programme to digitise a critical mass of resources, including sound, film, journals, pamphlets, images, government and parliamentary papers, maps and cartoons and make them available to further and higher education. The initial one million pages of content will grow thanks to funding from JISC as part of its £22 million digitisation programme. As part of this programme, the British Library has worked with JISC to digitise 4000 hours of recordings from its Sound Archive to make this historic material similarly available via the Web.

Sir Colin Lucas, Chairman of the British Library, commenting on the launch of the 19th century British Library Newspapers website, said: “Research by UK communities relies on access to the very best publications and information sources for its survival. The creation of the 19th century British Library Newspapers website, through partnership between JISC, Gale/Cengage Learning and the British Library, has created a vital online research tool providing the very best resources for the UK’s Higher and Further Education communities.” 

Professor Sir Ron Cooke, Chair of JISC, welcomed the launch of the 19th century British Library Newspapers website: “This is a highly impressive resource which amply demonstrates the power of the web to inform, educate and delight. It will be of immense value to a great many people in a range of subject disciplines and JISC is delighted to have worked closely with the British Library to produce such a fascinating and groundbreaking resource.”   

Brandon Nordin, Publisher of Gale Digital Collections, added: “We are delighted and honoured that the British Library selected us as partners in this exciting venture. This project strengthens our position as leaders in newspapers digitisation. Moreover, it allows us to offer an essential research tool for the study of British history and culture at crucial period of the nation’s development as a world power.” 

The 19th century British Library Newspapers can be used across a range of courses and subject areas including advertising, business, economics, genealogy, British and world history, journalism, literature, politics, social sciences.

To access the 19th century British Library Newspapers, institutions will need to complete the licence agreement, which can be found on the JISC Collections website. This resource will then be added to their library holdings so that academics, researchers and students can immediately benefit from searching a rich record of the 19th century to enhance research and study into the society, culture and history of the UK between 1800-1900.

Further information on this resource can also be found on the Gale/Cengage website at: Newspapers