American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series 1 (1749-1900)

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Overview

American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series 1, offers images of approximately 15,000 broadsides printed between 1820 and 1900 and 15,000 pieces of ephemera printed between 1749 and 1900. The content was digitized from originals in the collections of the American Antiquarian Society.

Provider:

Readex

Posted:

Mar 5, 2014 2:45pm

Updated:

Aug 15, 2014 1:22pm

Source

CRL reviews are based on independent research. Information is researched by CRL staff and other specialists at CRL libraries. See CRL Review for additional source notes.

Collection Content

Subject Areas:

Arts and Humanities

Social Sciences

Resource Types:

Pamphlets

Major Languages:

English

- Denotes data sourced directly from publisher

Content Details:


Topics covered	Commerce, theater, transportation, politics, international trade, government agencies
Geographic coverage	United States
Chronological coverage	1749-1900
Source format(s)	paper
Total titles	29,616
Total pages	70,728
Major language (s)	English
Digital collection launch date	Dec. 2005
Completion date	Jan. 2006
Collection ongoing	N
Update frequency	NA
Available supplements	NA

Specifications

Metadata:


MARC records available	Y
Creator of MARC records	American Antiquarian Society
Source for obtaining MARC records	Readex
Fee for MARC records	N
Subject authorities used	Library of Congress
Name authorities used	NA

Technical Platform:


Browser compatibility	IE+6, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera
Authentication options	IP recognition, username & password, library card, shibboleth
Archiving solution (master files)	400 dpi group 4 TIFF- bitonal or grayscale (dependent on source material
Archiving solution (derivative files)	400 dpi group 4 TIFF (bitonal)
Available in web discovery tools	N
Open url target	Y
Federated searching, z39.50	Y
Local host option	Y
Usage stats based on Counter code	Y

Interface Tools:


Full text displayed	N
Page images	Y
Color images	Y
Search full text	Y
Advanced search	Y
Search within results	Y
Limit results by dates and/or document types	Y
Display highlighted search terms	Y
Display snippet (search term in context)	N
Relevance sorting	N
Save searches	N
Download PDF	Y
Download HTML	N
Print page	Y
Print full document	Y (up to 75 pp. at one time, can do multiple downloads for long documents)
Export citations	Y
Annotation tools	N
Cross-product searching	Y
ILL permitted	Y
Text/data mining permitted	Upon request
Restrictions on use	Y

Terms and Provider Details

Terms:


Subscription option	Y
Purchase option	Y
Multiple year payments option	Y
Maintenance fees	Y
Hosting charges	Y
Provider notes

Provider:

Readex

Website:

http://www.readex.com/

Main Address:

5801 Pelican Bank Boulevard

Suite 600

Naples, FL 34108

United States

CRL Review

Collection Content:

This collection presents an enormous range of types of publications and subjects, with the distinguishing feature being that they are not lengthy publications or serials. Considering the geographic scope as being limited to American is somewhat misleading as well, since ABE includes items published in at least twenty other countries, apparently based on their relation to American commercial or diplomatic interests (such as an 1870 poem about the former U.S. ambassador to Chile, or an 1854 broadside from Commodore Perry’s exploratory mission to Japan printed by the “Japan Expedition Press.”) The majority of the documents have been scanned in color, which gives a rich sense of the original artifacts, although the extent of actual color printed documents seems slight (375 items are indexed under “color printing”).

Delivery:

Metadata

Cataloging from AAS is extremely detailed, to the point of being most appropriate for use by a specialist. Documents can be browsed by genre, subject, author, “history of printing” (e.g. imprint documentation for printers and printing companies), place of publication, and language. Genre terms can be very specialized, such as “bill heads”, “rebuses”, and “illegible markings (provenance)”. Subject terms are also very detailed, and are displayed for browsing under various broader categories. In some cases terms overlap, such as the subject term “advertising” and the genre “advertisements”.

Interface

Through a cross-collection interface with the overal title America’s Historical Imprints, one can search American Broadsides and American Pamphlets and together or separately.The search, browse, results, and image viewer have a similar appearance to other Readex products, demonstrating the same straightforward logic and low-key design. Multiple options offered for some functions should not lead to excessive confusion; for instance, the presence of a search term in a document can be discovered through picking out the rather subtle icons displayed next to page numbers in a full contents list of pages, or alternatively by re-executing the search within the document to narrow the page listings to just those containing the search term(s). Search terms are highlighted within the page image of the document (reflecting the full text OCR), but this display can be turned off if desired.The interface allows for easy reference to the full citation or a shorter version. And subject headings listed within the catalog entries are clickable, offering an additional method for expanding a subject browse.

Searches can be saved, as can document entries in a personalized "my collection" window.

The advanced search interface is very straightforward and allows flexible combinations of the various indexed fields.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

This is a valuable resource for specialized scholars, presenting such an extensive selection from the SAA's collection of ephemeral material along with its very detailed cataloging records. While the interface functions are extensive and their presentation is very logical, a novice history student might have some difficulty grasping the cultural context of this material given the fairly linear process required to retrieve items. For instance, what is the historical background behind over 2000 items listed under the genre heading "Civil war envelopes"? The SAA website offers a brief explanatory essay on the origins and uses of envelopes printed with various wartime vignettes and propaganda, but this is not referenced from the ABE database.

Less experienced researchers and students may also be somewhat put off by the interface design, which employs Readex's typical muted color scheme and print-oriented layout, lacking an inviting, dynamic design and interactive features

Reviewers:

Center for Research Libraries

Sources

Sources for this review include information publicly posted or obtained directly from the publisher; data collected by CRL staff and specialists at CRL libraries; and examination of the digital collection when possible. Other sources are noted where cited. CRL continues to gather additional information on this resource and to solicit critical assessment.

Additional Reviews in Other Sources:

Desmarais, Norman, “American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series I: 1760–1900” The Charleston Advisor Volume 8, Number 4, April 2007, pp. 10-12(3) http://charleston.publisher.ingentaconnect.com/content/charleston/chadv/... consulted March 14, 2014

CRL Offers & Status

Status	Current	Description
CRL Flagged	no	Potential interest to CRL community
Offer Pending	no	Currently a candidate for CRL offer
Active Offer	no	Currently offered for purchase or new subscription
Trial Access	no	Available for trial
Renewal Offer	no	Currently offered for renewal
Expired Offer	yes	Past offers
Inactive / Declined	no	No longer under consideration by CRL
Reviewed by CRL	yes	Evaluation available by CRL and community
Special Access	no	Member-only access available for a limited time

The complete offer and activity details for this resource are only available to CRL members.

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