Readex

READEX

Over several decades, Readex has published many of the most widely used collections of primary source research materials in academic libraries. Librarians and scholars alike recognise Readex for its efforts to transform research in the humanities and social sciences, and to dramatically reshape the study and teaching of centuries of world history, literature, culture and daily life.

Learn more about Readex's flagship primary source collections in the following areas:

Intelligence Documents

International Intelligence Documents

FOREIGN BROADCAST INFORMATION SERVICE (FBIS)
DAILY REPORTS, 1941–1996

The Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports offers access to millions of news reports and radio transcripts from the years 1941 to 1996, as published and broadcast in Africa, Asia, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and the Soviet Union.

The reports were recorded, transcribed and translated into English by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service, a division of the US's CIA, from the middle of World War II through to the end of the Cold War as part of an open source intelligence operation.

The complete FBIS Daily Reports collection constitutes a one-of-a-kind archive of four million pages of radio and news reports, providing a fascinating insight into the events and issues of the 20th century. Many articles are firsthand reports of events as they occurred, some of which no longer survive in the original form. As a result, the FBIS Daily Reports are an invaluable resource for students of international studies, political science and world history.

Digitised from the original printed copies and high-quality microfilm, the definitive online collection of the FBIS Daily Reports features a full-text search capability using OCR technology, individual bibliographic records for each report, and highlighted events to assist researchers.

Examples of Events and Issues Covered in the FBIS Daily Reports:

World War II
The creation of Israel and new Islamic countries of the Middle East
The construction and fall of the Berlin Wall
Colonialism and crises in Africa
The Cold War
The Suez Crisis
The Space Race
The Korean and Vietnam Wars
The peace agreement between Egypt and Israel
The Soviet intervention in Afghanistan
The formation of Sandinista government in Nicaragua
The assassination of Indira Gandhi
The Persian Gulf War
The fall of the Soviet Union
The beginnings of Rwandan genocide
The rise to power of Pol Pot in Cambodia, Deng Xiaoping in China, Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran, Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union, Lech Walesa in Poland, and Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, among several others

JOINT PUBLICATIONS RESEARCH SERVICE (JPRS)
REPORTS, 1957–1995

The Joint Publications Research Service (JPRS) Reports offers access to five million pages' worth of foreign research publications (monographs, reports, serials and journals) and international media reports (newspapers, and radio and television transcripts), as published and broadcast between the years 1957 and 1995.

The JPRS Reports were collated and translated into English by the Joint Publications Research Service, a unit within the CIA, to monitor the research output of countries outside of the U.S. during the Cold War. The reports initially provided translations of scientific and technological reseach publications, but over time, the scope expanded to cover environmental concerns, world health issues, nuclear proliferation, social research, and other areas.

Now available online, the JPRS Reports provide an exceptional tool for the study of history of science, global economics, agriculture, health, political culture, international relations, military affairs and social research during the second half of the 20th century. In particular, the archive offers a unique collection of hard-to-find materials from communist and developing countries.

The comprehensive digital edition of the JPRS Reports from Readex features an intuitive interface that offers a full-text search capability using OCR technology, metadata search assistance, an individual bibliographic record for each report, and filtered subject areas to assist researchers. The content is cross-searchable with its companion database, the FBIS Daily Reports (see above).

Examples of Research Areas Covered in the JPRS Reports:

Agriculture: animal behaviour, herbicides, pests and diseases, water supply
Conflicts: the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War
Health Research: allergens, diseases, diagnostic technology, medicines, viruses
Medical Science: cardiology, immunology, neurology, obstetrics, psychiatry
Politics and International Relations: arms control, communism, democracy, foreign aid, military intelligence, nuclear proliferation, political groups, the Space Race
Social Research: drug use, economics, emigration, religions, women, youth
Science: astronomy, biotechnology, climate change, ecology, geology
Technology: aircraft engineering, biotechnology, chemical engineering, computer engineering, military equipment and weaponry, nuclear energy, renewable energy, telecommunications

TWENTIETH-CENTURY GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

This new family of digital resources for 20th-century international studies provides global perspectives on many of today’s most relevant research areas. Each of these unique collections offers new insight and unprecedented opportunities for teaching and scholarship in some of the most-searched topics in libraries today. Researchers are increasingly looking to 20th-century geopolitics to complement and inform a variety of disciplines, and these five collections from the Archives of the Central Intelligence Agency give libraries the opportunity to meet these current needs of their institutions.

Each is comprised of primary source documents from around the world, including government publications, magazines, newspapers and transcribed television and radio broadcasts, all collected and translated by the Central Intelligence Agency between 1941 and 1996. All are available individually, giving libraries the opportunity to tailor their research collections to the current needs of their students and scholars.

Immigrations, Migrations and Refugees: Global Perspectives, 1941–1996

For wide-ranging perspectives on human migration that stretch far beyond the borders of the United States, Immigrations, Migrations and Refugees: Global Perspectives, 1941-1996, is an unparalleled new resource. This fully searchable digital archive includes firsthand accounts from reputable sources around the world, covering such important events as post-World War II Jewish resettlement, South African apartheid, Latin American migrations to the United States and much more.

Middle East and North Africa: Global Perspectives, 1958–1994

For anyone seeking to understand one of the world’s most complex, volatile and internationally significant regions, Middle East and North Africa: Global Perspectives, 1958-1994, is an indispensable resource. This fully searchable online archive offers firsthand reporting and deep analysis on important issues and historic events from Morocco to Egypt to Afghanistan. And with unique content not available anywhere else, it allows researchers unprecedented opportunities to delve into the cultural, economic and political forces that are integral to an array of interdisciplinary topics.

The Cold War: Global Perspectives on East-West Tensions, 1945-1991

From the end of World War II to the early 1990s, the Cold War was the central driving force in global politics. In addition to nuclear arms races and shifting military alliances, the Cold War years had a critical impact on many of today’s most intriguing research topics, from technology to terrorism, immigration to international politics. No other resource but The Cold War: Global Perspectives on East-West Tensions, 1945-1991, brings together primary source documents from around the world to shed new light on this crucial period in world history.

Apartheid: Global Perspectives, 1946–1996

Apartheid, the Afrikaans word for “apartness,” defined life in South Africa in the mid-20th century. As white colonists systematically stripped away the rights of Native Africans, the effects of their actions seeped through South Africa, reverberating throughout the continent and the world. Nowhere is the worldwide reaction to apartheid captured as thoroughly as in Apartheid: Global Perspectives, 1946-1996. This fully searchable digitised collection contains nearly 60,000 translated news broadcasts and publications, written by both the people who experienced apartheid and those around the world who watched, reacted to and analysed it.

American Race Relations: Global Perspectives, 1941–1996

As America transitioned from the Jim Crow era to the Civil Rights movement and beyond, the rest of the world paid close attention. The only comprehensive collection covering these foreign reactions to America’s racial struggles in the mid-20th century is American Race Relations: Global Perspectives, 1941-1996. In addition to providing unique viewpoints on America’s fight for racial justice, this fully searchable online collection also offers rare insight into race relations in Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia.

American Proxy Wars: Korea and Vietnam

The Korean and Vietnam wars were two of the defining events of the 20th century. While the origins of both are rooted in their countries’ respective histories, much of the world regarded the wars as proxies for the larger Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. To understand the Korean and Vietnam wars and their influence on 20th-century geopolitics, researchers need original sources covering Cold War politics, East-West relations, colonial history and more—all of which are found in American Proxy Wars: Korea and Vietnam.

Nuclear Arms and Weapons of Mass Destruction

Beginning at the end of World War II and continuing through the Cold War period and beyond, tools of radioactive, chemical, and biological warfare played a role in many of the 20th century’s most significant events. From the Cuban missile crisis to the Gulf War, the development, proliferation, and containment of weapons of mass destruction shaped technology, international conflicts, politics, and more. Researchers in a variety of disciplines will find no more comprehensive resource for studying these issues than Nuclear Arms and Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Propaganda and the Chinese Press

With more than 170 foreign and 31 domestic bureaus, Xinhua, or New China News Agency, has a broad reach in China and around the world. And as the official organ of China’s Communist Party, it’s long provided the country’s perspective on international issues and events. Now, for the first time, a wide-ranging archive of articles published by Xinhua between 1946 and 1996 is available in English through Propaganda and the Chinese Press—a vital digital resource for researchers seeking to understand the role that Communist mass media played in Chinese culture, the Cold War, and 20th-century world history.

Pravda Archive, 1959-1996

For decades the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Pravda was widely read both within the Soviet states and by foreign diplomats, politicians, and intelligence agencies. Researchers have long considered Pravda a bellwether of Soviet thought, yet access to the paper’s archives has been limited to those who could read Russian or travel to find it on microfilm. Now, with Readex’s Pravda Archive, 1959-1996, this important trove of primary source documents is available in English via a fully searchable digitised collection.

World Protest and Reform Movements

From politics to human rights to environmental issues, protests and reform movements have shaped modern global society. A protest that marked a turning point in one country, however, may have had entirely different consequences for another. Readex’s World Protest and Reform Movements is the only digital resource that brings diverse global reactions to major 20th-century social movements together into a single fully searchable resource. This unique collection of primary source material offers researchers in a variety of disciplines valuable insight into the protests and reforms that changed the course of world history.

International Historical Newspapers

AFRICAN NEWSPAPERS, SERIES 1 AND 2, 1800–1925

African Newspapers, Series 1 and 2, 1800–1925 offers unmatched coverage of the people, issues and events that shaped the continent during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Featuring titles from Algeria to Angola, Zambia to Zimbabwe, this unique resource chronicles the evolution of Africa through eyewitness reporting, editorials, legislative information, letters, poetry, advertisements, obituaries and other items. Together, African Newspapers, Series 1 and 2, provide news and perspectives from a wide range of counties and cultures during a time of sweeping change.

African Newspapers, Series 1, 1800–1922

African Newspapers, Series 1, 1800–1922 is a groundbreaking online collection which provides access to more than 60 searchable African newspapers published in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Featuring English- and foreign-language titles from Angola, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, African Newspapers offers unparalleled coverage of the issues and events that shaped the continent and its peoples between 1800 and 1922.

Through eyewitness reporting, editorials, legislative updates, letters, poetry, advertisements, matrimony and death notices, this unique collection chronicles the evolution of cultures and countries across Sub-Saharan Africa during a time of drastic change.

African Newspapers, Series 2, 1835–1925

African Newspapers, Series 2, 1835–1925 expands the coverage found in the inaugural edition of African Newspapers, delivering more than 50 additional African newspapers published between 1835 and 1925.

Titles from Algeria, Angola, Liberia, Madagascar, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda offer deep and unique coverage of nearly a century of African history.

Included are such notable publications as the Demain (Algeria), Africa’s Luminary (Liberia), France Orientale (Madagascar), Al-Moghreb Al-Aksa (Morocco); O Moçambique (Mozambique), Voortrekker (Namibia), Nigerian Times (Nigeria), Munno (Uganda) and many widely sought South African titles from Cape Town, Grahamstown, Port Elizabeth, Pietermaritzburg and Johannesburg. Among the South African titles are Black Man, British Settler, Cape Times, Johannesburg Times, South African Spectator and others.

CARIBBEAN NEWSPAPERS, 1718–1876

Caribbean Newspapers, 1718-1876 provides students and scholars with easy access to more than 150 years' worth of Caribbean and Atlantic history, culture and daily life. It is the largest collection of 18th- and 19th-century Caribbean newspapers available online.

As a primary source archive, this unique collection is already proving essential for research into colonial history, the Atlantic slave trade, international commerce, New World slavery and international relations with the region, going as far back as the early 18th century.

Featuring more than 140 newspapers from 22 islands, Caribbean Newspapers chronicles the region's evolution across two centuries through eyewitness reporting, editorials, legislative information, letters, poetry, advertisements, obituaries and other news items. The majority of titles in this collection are in English, but a number of Spanish-, French-, and Danish-language newspapers are also provided.

LATIN AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS, SERIES 1 & 2, 1805–1922

Latin American Newspapers, Series 1 and 2 offers unprecedented coverage of the people, issues and events that shaped this vital region between 1805 and 1922.

Featuring over 280 titles from over 20 countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela, these newspapers provide a wide range of viewpoints from diverse Latin American cultures during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Together, both series of Latin American Newspapers chronicle the evolution of Latin America over two centuries through eyewitness reporting, editorials, legislative information, letters, poetry, advertisements, obituaries and other items.

SOUTH ASIAN NEWSPAPERS, 1864–1922

South Asian Newspapers is a one-of-a-kind collection which provides online access to a select group of historical newspapers published in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Featuring English-, Gujarati- and Bengali-language newspapers, South Asian Newspapers offers extensive coverage of the people, issues and events that shaped the Indian subcontinent between 1864 and 1922.

Offering a variety of perspectives, the important newspapers in this collection are ideal for comparing and contrasting views on both local and global issues. Through eyewitness reporting, editorials, legislative updates, letters, poetry, advertisements, matrimony and death notices, this collection chronicles the evolution of cultures and communities across South Asia during a time of intense change.

Events and Issues Covered in South Asian Newspapers:

the aftermath of the Indian Rebellion
construction of railroads
effects of British Colonial rule
Hindu-Muslim conflicts
information about shipments and travellers on colonial trade routes
life on coffee, tea and rubber plantations
formation of the Indian National Congress
the start of Mahatma Gandhi’s independence movement
economics, politics and the arts in South Asia

American Historical Newspapers

EARLY AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS, 1690–1922

Readex's flagship archive, Early American Newspapers, is widely considered to be the single most comprehensive and authoritative online source of early American newspapers available. Nearly 2,000 historical newspapers from all 50 states provide an unparalleled record of the people, issues and events that have shaped America between 1690 to 1922.

Early American Newspapers has been created through partnerships with the American Antiquarian Society, the Library of Congress, the Wisconsin Historical Society and more than 90 other institutions, including the Boston Athenaeum, the Connecticut Historical Society, the Connecticut State Library, the Library Company of Philadelphia, the libraries of universities such as Brown and Harvard and private collections. This joint effort has led to the creation of an historical newspaper archive of unparalleled breadth and depth. A distinguished academic advisory board supervises the title selection process, considering the historical significance of each newspaper and the diverse political positions of the period.

Acquisition Options:

AFRICAN AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS, 1827–1998

African American Newspapers, 1827–1998 provides online access to approximately 270 U.S. newspapers which chronicle a century and a half of the African American experience. This unique collection features papers from more than 35 states – including many rare and historically significant 19th century titles.

Newly digitised, this collection of newspapers published by or for African Americans offers researchers valuable primary sources for such diverse disciplines as cultural, literary and social history, ethnic studies, and more.

Users can compare and contrast African American views on practically every major theme of the American past, including life in the Antebellum South, the spread of abolitionism, the growth of the Black church, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Jim Crow Era, the Great Migration to northern cities, the West and Midwest, the rise of the NAACP, the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights movement, and much more.

WASHINGTON EVENING STAR, 1852–1981

Until its demise in 1981, The Washington Evening Star was universally regarded as the ‘paper of record’ for the U.S. nation’s capital. Published under such titles as Washington Star-News and The Washington Star, this long-running daily afternoon paper was one of the highest profile publications in the States.

From its earliest years, the Star was a contrarian powerhouse, not afraid to buck Washington’s prevailing political winds. Prior to the Civil War, as abolitionists decried slavery in their own publications, the Star presented both sides of the debate. During the War itself, the Star’s excellent reporting increased its popularity; even today Civil War historians frequently cite Star articles at length.

By the 1930s, the Star's coverage of national politics – including the daily activities of every branch of government – made it the number one paper in the U.S. for advertising revenue.

By the mid-20th century – a period marked by McCarthyism, landmark Civil Rights legislation and the beginning of the space race – the Star reached its zenith in local circulation and national influence. Between 1944 and 1981, Star writers, reporters and cartoonists accumulated 10 Pulitzer Prizes.

American Government Documents

American Historical Government Documents

U.S. CONGRESSIONAL SERIAL SET, 1817–1994

The single most important series of American government publications, the U.S. Congressional Serial Set is an incomparably rich, largely untapped collection of primary source material on the people, issues and events of American history and politics. Readex’s digital edition of this national treasure – the Reports, Documents and Journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives – is the most accurate and complete replica available.

Presenting every publication from the 15th Congress through the 103rd Congress, including items missing from other editions, Readex's U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817–1994 contains more than 370,000 individual documents in more than 14,000 volumes.

Designed for legislative and historical research, this digital edition features unique browse capabilities and comprehensive metadata, offering new research opportunities for students and scholars in cultural, economic, ethnic, government, military, political and science history and other fields. Readex used the original volumes to create fine new digital images of every publication, including 74,495 maps. Nearly 14,000 maps and 8,000 illustrations appear in high-resolution colour.

This extraordinary collection offers information on topics pertaining to both the U.S. and the international community, and serves as an excellent general reference work to support research across a wide variety of disciplines.

English Literature

AMERICAN STATE PAPERS, 1789–1838

As an essential complement to the U.S. Congressional Serial Set (see above), the American State Papers, 1789–1838 enables students and scholars to easily search and browse legislative and executive documents of the first 14 U.S. Congresses. With over 6,000 publications, this seminal set of U.S. government publications is a rich source of primary material on wide-ranging aspects of early American history.

English Literature Archives

BLACK AUTHORS, 1556–1922

Created from the renowned holdings of the Library Company of Philadelphia, Black Authors, 1556–1922, is the most complete and compelling collection of its kind. It offers access to more than 550 works by authors of African or African-American descent, as published across three centuries in Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean.

A wide range of genres is covered, including literary works, anti-slavery letters, speeches, autobiographies, histories, expedition reports, military reports, novels, essays, poems and musical compositions.

EARLY AMERICAN IMPRINTS, SERIES I:
EVANS, 1639–1800

Hailed as the definitive resource for researching every aspect of 17th- and 18th-century America, this incomparable digital collection contains virtually every book, pamphlet and broadside published in America over a 160-year period.

Digitised from one of the most important collections ever produced on microform, Early American Imprints, Series I is based on Charles Evans’ renowned American Bibliography and Roger Bristol’s supplement. Includes more than 36,000 printed works and 2.3 million pages.

Supplements from the Library Company of Philadelphia, 1670–1800

This expansion of the original Evans collection includes over 1,000 rare and unique titles printed during a 130-year period, spanning the colonial era and the formation of the new nation. The supplement offers access to a broad range of recently uncovered books, pamphlets and broadsides, most of which were not included in the Evans’ original bibliography or Bristol’s supplement.

Supplements from the American Antiquarian Society, 1652–1800

This new expansion of the renowned Evans collection contains more than 850 additional books, pamphlets, broadsides, expedition logs, maps, criminal confessions, recipe books, speeches, songs and poetry. Undiscovered until now, the titles included in this collection were either missed in Evans’ original bibliography of early American literature, or were thought to no longer exist.

EARLY AMERICAN IMPRINTS, SERIES II:
SHAW-SHOEMAKER, 1801–1819

Following on from the Series I: Evans collection (see above), Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker, 1801–1819 provides a comprehensive set of American books, pamphlets and broadsides published in the early part of the 19th century. It is based on the noted American Bibliography, 1801–1819 by Ralph R. Shaw and Richard H. Shoemaker. Includes more than four million pages' worth of content from over 36,000 works.

Supplements from the Library Company of Philadelphia, 1800–1819

This expansion of Shaw and Shoemaker’s original collection includes over 900 rare and unique titles printed during the Early Republic, spanning the inauguration of Thomas Jefferson and passage of the Indian Civilization Act. This Supplement offers access to a broad range of recently uncovered books, pamphlets and broadsides, most of which were not included in Shaw and Shoemaker’s American Bibliography.

Supplements from the American Antiquarian Society, 1801–1819

This new expansion of the renowned Shaw-Shoemaker collection contains more than 1,500 additional books, pamphlets, broadsides, histories, captivity narratives, military records, maps, nautical charts, execution confessions, sermons, plays, songs, short stories and poetry. Undiscovered until now, the titles included in this Supplement were either missed in Shaw and Shoemaker's American Bibliography, or were thought to no longer exist.

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