Humanities content remains relevant and influential. Now more than ever, scholars and students need access to decades of sweeping digital content and features that enhance their studies. Cross-search with other digital primary-source content including historical newspapers, magazine archives and government documents for an expanded field of inquiry.
Historical Periodicals are among the Top 10 most used content types according to a ProQuest Survey. Faculty encourage students to use different content types and primary source materials are recommended to support the development of critical thinking skills.
Physical archives take up a lot of space which is in-demand to fulfill the evolving needs of library users. Digitized collections not only preserve the quality the fragile materials and free up shelf space but are often more comprehensive, spanning the entirety of a titles’s run, from the first issue to that last published.
As libraries and campus have needed to close their doors, the need for robust digital resources is critical to support distance teaching, research and learning. Replacing currently inaccessible materials with electronic versions minimizes the disruption shifting to online-only environments.
This cross-disciplinary content, spanning 15M pages, 770 journal backfiles and three centuries of scholarship, supports studies of the arts, humanities and social sciences to surface key research material and inspire serendipitous discovery of information and insights that might not otherwise be uncovered.
The wide cross-section of periodical types in these collections reveal various perspectives, biases and developments over three centuries for comprehensive research into countless topics spanning history, arts, politics and society over three centuries.
In American Periodicals, over 1,500 publications reflect two centuries of American – and world – history and culture. They provide insights into key periods and events including the transition from colonial times to independence, through to the emergence of modern America.
The British Periodicals collections comprise nearly 500 publications published from the late-17th to the 21st centuries and encompass almost every variety of periodical, from magisterial quarterlies and professional organs, through to penny weeklies, illustrated family magazines, and coterie art periodicals.
Thematic collections of consumer/trade magazine backfiles covering entertainment / popular culture, LGBTQ topics, fashion, and more support the acute need for primary source materials in emerging subject areas where print editions are hard to access and traditional scholarly sources are limited. They also often contain cross-disciplinary content that offers unique insights and information in a variety of subject areas. Examples of some topics that are covered in these discipline-specific collections include the study of education, religion, women’s history, LGBTQ issues, fashion, design and photography, health and fitness and much more!
Analysis of dissertations and scholarly journal usage on the ProQuest platform reveals a high demand for historical periodical databases:
*13 Historical Periodicals collections or stand-alone titles were analyzed