East India Company | eDesiderata

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Overview

East India Company is a digital collection of the official records of the East India Company (1595-1858) and the India Office (1858-1947) held at the British Library. Adam Matthew is digitizing the IOR archive over the next five years in conjunction with the British Library, .

This collection will include the charters and minute books of the East India Company and the minute books of the post-1858 governing agency, the Council of India.

The modules are as follows:

Module I: Trade, Governance and Empire, 1600-1947
Modules II and III: Factory Records for South Asia, South-East Asia, China, Japan and the Middle East (1595-1870)

The first module is scheduled to launch in January 2017. Module 2 is planned for release in spring 2018, and Module 3 in summer 2019.

Provider:

Adam Matthew Digital

Posted:

Sep 28, 2016 9:37am

Updated:

Jun 25, 2019 10:41am

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.

Details

Collection Content

Subject Areas:

Arts and Humanities

Social Sciences

Resource Types:

Archival materials

Correspondence

Diaries

Government publications

Government records

Inter-governmental organization data

Personal papers

Reports

Statistics

Major Languages:

English

- Denotes data sourced directly from publisher

Content Details:


		Comments
Topics covered	Administrative and ecclesiastical appointments; Agriculture; Charters and the Company’s relationship to the English/British Crown; Courts and legal affairs, including legislation; Diplomacy, treaties and ambassadorial expeditions; Finance and debt; The machinery of government; Pay and pensions for Company servants and their families; Railways; Trade; Early voyages to Japan and the Spice Islands (Indonesia); Warfare and military matters
Geographic coverage	Afghanistan; East Asia; South-East Asia; Bangladesh; Bhutan; India; Myanmar; Nepal; Pakistan; Sri Lanka; China; Japan
Chronological coverage	1600-1947
Source format(s)	Paper: charters, treaties, minutes, correspondence, deeds, statutes, treaties	Manuscript and printed documents, mostly bound
Total titles	936
Total pages	475,000
Major language (s)	English; French (minimal)
Digital collection launch date	11th January 2017
Completion date	2019
Collection ongoing	Y
Update frequency	Two more modules to be made available in 2018 and 2019.
Available supplements	Y	Modules 2 and 3.

Specifications

Metadata:


		Comments
MARC records available	Y	Within 3 months of publication
Creator of MARC records	BDS http://www.bdslive.com/
Source for obtaining MARC records	AMD website
Fee for MARC records	N
Subject authorities used	not used
Name authorities used	not used

Technical Platform:


		Comments
Browser compatibility	IE11 and EDGE; latest Chrome, firefox and Safari on Mac
Authentication options	IP address (including proxy)
Archiving solution (master files)	Source Archive
Archiving solution (derivative files)	Y	Portico
Available in web discovery tools	Y	Google; plus other services such as Summon, OCLC, Ex Libris
Open url target		Secondary resources cited in supporting articles are linked via OpenUrls and logged institution referrer
Federated searching, z39.50	N
Local host option	Y	Not technically supported so would require local implementation
Usage stats based on Counter code	Y

Interface Tools:


interface		Comments
Full text displayed	Y
Page images	Y
Color images	Y	100%
Search full text	Y
Advanced search	Y
Search within results	N	You can perform a new search within a document by clicking into it from the original search results list.
Limit results by dates and/or document types	Y
Display highlighted search terms	Y
Display snippet (search term in context)	Y
Relevance sorting	Y
Save searches	Y
Download PDF	Y
Download HTML	N
Print page	Y	Via PDF
Print full document	Y	Via PDF
Export citations	Y
Annotation tools	N	Can save searches, documents and images to private My Archive area
Cross-product searching	Y
ILL permitted	Y	5% of total collection
Text/data mining permitted	Y
Restrictions on use	The Licensee and Authorised Users may make all use of the Licensed Materials as is consistent with US Fair Use Provisions or UK or European or other equivalent. In addition, the Licensed Materials may be used for purposes of research, education or other non-commercial use. The Licensee shall not knowingly permit anyone other than Authorised Users to use the Licensed Materials. The Licensee shall not modify or create a derivative work of the Licensed Materials without the prior written permission of Licensor. The Licensee may not remove, obscure or modify any copyright or other notices included in the Licensed Materials. The Licensee may not use the Licensed Materials for commercial purposes, including but not limited to the sale of the Licensed Materials or bulk reproduction or distribution of the Licensed Materials in any form.

Terms and Provider Details

Terms:


Subscription option	N
Purchase option	Y
Multiple year payments option	Y
Maintenance fees	N
Hosting charges	Y

Provider:

Adam Matthew Digital

Website:

http://www.amdigital.co.uk/

Main Address:

Pelham House, Pelhams Court

London Road

Marlborough

SN8 2AG

United Kingdom

CRL Review

Collection Content:

East India Company (EIC) is a digital collection of the official records of the East India Company (1595-1858), and the India Office (1858-1947), held at the British Library. This collection will include the charters and minute books of the Company and the minute books of the post-1858 governing agency, the Council of India. It will also include official trading diaries plus correspondence from the "factories," or individual trading posts, to the London headquarters of the Company.

Archival content of the modules includes:

Module I: Trade, Governance and Empire, 1600-1947

IOR/A Charters, deeds, statutes and treaties, 1600-1947
IOR/B Meeting minutes of the Courts of Directors and Proprietors, 1599-1858
IOR/C Minutes and memoranda of the Council of India, 1858-1947
IOR/D Minutes and memoranda of the general committees and offices of the East India Comapny, 1700-1858

Modules II and III: Factory Records for South Asia, South-East Asia, China, Japan and the Middle East (1595-1870)

IOR/G Letters between the "factories" (trading posts) and London office, official trading diaries, Company embassy accounts, proceedings of provincial councils and revenue boards, military documents, and account books.

The completed modules are expected to comprise over 1.2 million pages. The original source material is in paper form, primarily in bound volumes.

Additional enriched content will include: a chronology of events in India and the broader areas of Asia impacted by the Company; interactive maps and graphs of trade statistics; and contextual essays.

The publisher describes the historical significance of this material: "By the mid-18th century, the company had unprecedented powers to raise armies, purchase territories, mint currency and administer criminal justice to citizens of its dominions. It . . . generated over a quarter of the world's entire trade. The Indian Uprising of 1857 was the death knell for the Company, which was . . . replaced by direct governance of India by the British Raj [through the Council of India]."

Delivery:

EIC will have its own platform. That platform will be separate from Archives Direct, which is the shared platform delivering the Adam Matthew digital collections sourced from The National Archives,UK.The EIC database is planned to have many of the same interface features as the Archives Direct platform, however.

In addition to supporting browsing and searching of the archival material, the database will offer interactive maps and graphs.

Terms:

Unlimited number of concurrent users, remote access, downloads and scholarly sharing are all permitted. The 2017 pricing on the database for ARL libraries is considered by many to be exorbitant, even prohibitive.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

By comprehensively digitizing directly from the original source documents of this historically powerful trading company the publishers will make accessible important primary material for both scholars and students. The documents targeted extend beyond a record of the commercial enterprise, incorporating official records of governments and their interaction with this immense colonial power.

It would be helpful if this collection could be cross-searched with the extensive colonial materials the publisher has digitized from the holdings of The National Archives, as found in Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, 1947-1980, as well as the archival content in the India Raj and Empire database.

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:

ccAdvisor Review of East India Company (accessed June 2019)

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.

Appendix

Video of Adam Matthew's webinar on the East India Company is now available, click here to view.

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