The Readex Report: In Praise of Librarians and Archivists; Of Presidents and Papers; Ephemeral Loyalties; and Playing Hardball

In our latest issue: A professor lauds his colleagues in the library; dissecting a timeless inaugural speech; consumption versus nationalism in early America; and the unheralded impact of a hard-swinging civil rights giant. In Praise of Librarians and Archivists: Appreciating the Colleagues Who Make Professors’ Jobs Easier By Mark Cheathem, Associate Professor of History, Cumberland University Since I was a child begging my mother to take me to the library on a daily basis, I have appreciated the designated keepers of books. Conducting research as an undergraduate student made me aware of the specialized jobs that academic librarians did every day to make life easier for the clueless young people like me who wandered into the building with no idea about how to find academic journal articles or primary sources.... (read article)
The Readex Report: In Praise of Librarians and Archivists; Of Presidents and Papers; Ephemeral Loyalties; and Playing Hardball

Tecumseh's Dream Shattered: 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Tippecanoe

When reading accounts of the tragic conflict between whites and Native Americans, such as Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, one cannot help but wonder why the Indians did not see the whites as a common enemy and band together for their common safety and survival. Unfortunately for them, ancient tribal enmities seemed to erect insurmountable barriers. So it was that in one of the earliest “Indian wars,” the Mohegan and Pequot tribes helped the English colonists defeat the Narragansett and Wampanoag tribes in 1675-76. Arikara and Crow scouts helped Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer find Sitting Bull’s Arapaho, Cheyenne and Lakota village at the Little Bighorn in 1876. Chiricahua scouts helped General George Crook wage war against the Apache in 1882.

However, in this sorrowful history of the decimation of one tribe after another by the advance of white civilization, a heroic figure stands apart. One Native American leader tried to do the seemingly impossible: Tecumseh, the charismatic and influential Shawnee chief who organized a tribal confederacy to oppose the white encroachment on Indian lands. A fierce warrior, powerful orator and cunning diplomat, Tecumseh spent the first decade of the nineteenth century skillfully building his dream confederacy. Then it all fell apart in two hours. In the cold drizzle, overcast skies and pitch darkness of a pre-dawn battle, Tecumseh’s dream was shattered and his confederacy decimated at the Battle of Tippecanoe in Indiana Territory on Nov. 7, 1811—a clash Tecumseh had warned his people to avoid, and a battle that happened without him.

Tecumseh's Dream Shattered: 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Tippecanoe

A Sports Legend and His Dream: Bobby Jones, the Augusta National Golf Club and the Birth of the Masters

Bobby Jones entered the Roaring Twenties still the teenage prodigy who had first come to the public's attention when he qualified for the U.S. Amateur Championship at the age of 14. By the end of the 1920s, Jones was firmly established as a major star. The only golfer considered one of the true icons of the Golden Age of Sports, Bobby Jones stood alongside Babe Ruth, Red Grange, Jack Dempsey and Bill Tilden as giants in the public eye.
A Sports Legend and His Dream: Bobby Jones, the Augusta National Golf Club and the Birth of the Masters

Archive of Americana transports you through time into 18th- and 19th-century America

As a Readex account executive, I enjoy the opportunity to help bring our digital collections to the attention of students and scholars at some of the smallest four-year colleges. Occasionally, this extends to working collaboratively with librarians and faculty. Among my accounts is Washington College on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. At this liberal arts institution known for its strong commitment to undergraduate education, I consulted closely with Ruth Shoge, Associate Professor, College Librarian, and Adam Goodheart, Director of the College’s C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, among others, to help bring the acclaimed Archive of Americana collections to their campus.
Archive of Americana transports you through time into 18th- and 19th-century America

Key Titles in African American Periodicals, 1825-1995: Part One of Three

African American Periodicals, 1825-1995, reflects more than a century and half of the African American experience. The first collection in Readex’s new America’s Historical Periodicals series, this wide-ranging resource features more than 170 titles from 26 states. Below is a brief description of seven of these publications. For descriptions of fourteen others, please visit the Key Periodicals page on the Readex website.

The Voice of the Negro (Atlanta, Georgia)

Key Titles in African American Periodicals, 1825-1995: Part One of Three

"Appeal to Loyal Women!" -- The Creation of the United States Sanitary Commission and the Impact of Civilian Volunteers during the American Civil War

Henry Whitney Bellows (1814-1882), planner and president of the United States Sanitary Commission, the leading soldiers' aid society, during the American Civil War.

On April 12, 1861, Confederate artillery opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The first shots had been fired in a war that would last four long and bloody years. This April marked the beginning of a four-year commemoration of the 150th anniversary, or Sesquicentennial,of the American Civil War. Over the next four years, Civil War re-enactors, historians and history enthusiasts from across the United States will gather to help commemorate the battles and other important events linked to the war.

"Appeal to Loyal Women!" -- The Creation of the United States Sanitary Commission and the Impact of Civilian Volunteers during the American Civil War

Early American Newspapers, Series 1: Key Titles and Their Nameplates

Artist: Joseph H. Davis (1811-1865). Title: Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Otis and Child (1834). Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Focusing on the 18th and early 19th centuries, the first series of Early American Newspapers offers over 350,000 issues from more than 710 titles. This widely used digital collection, based primarily on Clarence S. Brigham's authoritative "History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820," contains newspapers from 23 states and the District of Columbia. Below is a brief description—and the nameplate—of several key titles:

Albany Register (New York) One of the most successful and influential American newspapers of the late 18th and early 19th century, the Register was edited from 1808 to 1822 by the ardent anti-Federalist Solomon Southwick.

Early American Newspapers, Series 1: Key Titles and Their Nameplates

Newly Discovered Materials Enrich Early American Imprints

Nearly 2,000 rare printed items from the Library Company of Philadelphia—previously unavailable in the Evans and Shaw-Shoemaker series—have been digitized by Readex.

Newly Discovered Materials Enrich Early American Imprints

The Digital Detective: Tracking Criminals When the Trail Runs Cold (by Stephen Mihm)

[The article below by University of Georgia professor Stephen Mihm first appeared in The Readex Report (Sept. 2008). Last month, an op-ed by Mihm headlined "The Biographer's New Best Friend" was published in The New York Times Sunday Review section. In his Times piece, Mihm quotes historians and biographers James McGrath Morris, Joshua Kendall and Graham Hodges to help explain why "Readex's America's Historical Newspapers...has the potential to revolutionize biographical research."]

The Digital Detective: Tracking Criminals When the Trail Runs Cold

By Stephen Mihm, Associate Professor of History, University of Georgia

The Digital Detective: Tracking Criminals When the Trail Runs Cold (by Stephen Mihm)

World Newspaper Archive: A uniquely comprehensive collection spanning the globe

The World Newspaper Archive represents the largest searchable collection of historical newspapers from Asia, Africa and Latin America. Providing new opportunities for fresh insight across wide-ranging academic disciplines, this collection was created in partnership with the Center for Research Libraries (CRL)—one of the world's largest and most important newspaper repositories.
World Newspaper Archive: A uniquely comprehensive collection spanning the globe

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