4 million fully-searchable pages of historical newspapers
Online publisher brightsolid and The British Library have today announced the launch of the British Newspaper Archive website (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk), which will transform how people research their past online. The new website will initially host up to 4 million pages from more than 200 newspaper titles (UK and Ireland) mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries and will be added to daily. It is fully searchable across a local, regional and national level – not only giving consumers access to previously hard-to-reach material, but also preserving this unparalleled resource for generations to come.
The newspapers available illustrate the stories, issues, anxieties and obsessions of 19th century Britain and Ireland, and also the parallels between the 19th century and present day. The archive includes articles reporting on the Great Exhibition of 1851 highlighting Victorian creativity and enterprise as well as the complaints registered about strikes, delays and the effect on trade in the capital during the Exhibition’s run. Plus stories on infamous murder trials and men, women and children transported to the other side of the world for minor crimes; to prominent illustrations and adverts, flagging the latest fashion to cures for illnesses – all illuminating local history on an unprecedented level.
Welcoming the new website, Ed Vaizey MP, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, said: “The British Newspaper Archive is a rich and hugely exciting resource, packed with historical detail. It’s a great example of the public and private sectors collaborating to deliver something that neither party could have delivered by themselves. I searched for my own constituency of Wantage and within seconds had 42,000 results – an indication of the breadth and variety of material featured. I’m delighted that the British Library and brightsolid are working together to transform access to the nation’s published memory.”
brightsolid was chosen by the British Library as the partner for this project as it had successfully delivered on similar projects such as the 1911census.co.uk project in partnership with The National Archives (TNA) and owns the leading family history resources findmypast.co.uk and genesreunited.co.uk.
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