At the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, Readex vice president Remmel Nunn shared his expertise on “Ethnic Studies in the Digital Age.” Drawing from the Archive of Americana and other resources, he presented multiple examples of how recently digitized materials have opened new doors for researchers. Remmel demonstrated how specific newspaper articles have provided fresh insight into such topics as the Emancipation Proclamation, the “Prayer of Twenty Millions,” and Lincoln’s colonization plans for African Americans. He also illustrated how new perspectives on the Civil War have arisen through the digitization of newspapers like The Black Warrior, a paper published by Black soldiers in the Union Army. 

Remmel also discussed the creation of new bibliographies, collection development challenges, oral history trends, and more. I hope you’ll appreciate the slides shown, which include compelling examples of the kind of historical images that are emerging as essential primary sources.

Please share the video with your colleagues. We welcome your feedback and suggestions, and we hope to see you at a future Readex presentation. The short video below captures reaction to the most recent Readex breakfast presentation from Hamilton College librarian Kristin Strohmeyer:

For previous Readex presentations on video, including talks by Howard Dodson, James McGrath Morris, and Steve Daniel, please see our Event Talks page.