CRL licensing and community input features are only available with a CRL member login.
If your institution is a CRL Member please:
log in or sign upCRL Status:
Expired Offer
Feedback:
0 User comments 0 0
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
Details
CRL Review
Collection Content
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.
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
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
Community Ratings
Content scope and completeness
Cost and price-structure
Platform and user interface