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From rare books to historical newspapers to translated CIA documents
Summary
Learn what makes these products unique

Readex offers a wide-range of online research collections in fields related to world history, including African, Asian and Latin American studies; international political science; foreign policy of the United States; political theory and methodology; religion and politics; and history of 20th-century economics, journalism, political thought, and science, technology and medicine. Resources range from digital editions of the U.S. government’s English-language open-source intelligence reports to United Nations documents to historical newspapers published on four continents.

Products
Collections in this product family
  • Digital archive of the United States’ principal record of historical open source intelligence (OSINT)information gathered from public sources to produce actionable intelligence for use by government and policy officials
  • Unmatched real-time coverage of critical world events—from WWII to the end of the 20th century—provides unique research value
  • Rare insight into geopolitics, global relations, political science and history
FBIS-v2-Monitor

“…two new products from Readex, via the meticulous translation work of the Joint Publications Research Service and the Foreign Broadcast Information Service, open our eyes to how Middle Eastern editors, journalists, and broadcasters viewed the events around them during the second half of the 20th century….

“Students of Middle East and North Africa history, politics, economics, and culture get an unfiltered view of the events of this intensely active region during the second half of the 20th century thanks to Middle East and North Africa: Global Perspectives, 1958–1994, and the companion product Part 1: Middle East, Africa, Near East and South Asia—one of eight distinct area subsets of the complete collection of Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports, 1974–1996….JPRS and FBIS translations are regarded as accurate and scrupulously unbiased.

“….both products stand apart from similar offerings, approaching unique and fascinating content on issues and events in the Middle East with perspectives that are not represented in other databases.”
— Gail Golderman and Bruce Connolly, “Reference eReviews,” Library Journal (July 2017)

“Highly recommended. Academic libraries supporting strong graduate programs in history and political science; upper-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers.”
L.E. Lyons, Northwestern University, reviewing FBIS, 1941-1974, in Choice(September 2013)

“For nearly 70 years, the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) monitored the world’s airwaves and other news outlets, transcribing and translating selected content into English and in the process creating a multi-million-page historical archive of the global news media. Yet, FBIS material has not been widely utilized in the academic content analysis community, perhaps because relatively little is known about the scope of the content that is digitally available to researchers in this field....”

— Kalev Leetaru, “The Scope of FBIS and BBC Open-Source Media Coverage, 1979–2008” in Studies in Intelligence (March 2010)

 

“This searchable, online archive [Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Report, 1974-1996] contains hundreds of thousands of pages of foreign press materials, news transmissions and radio broadcasts....When you first enter the site, you are presented with a standard search box, which you can filter by date, country or region, type of document, publication title, or a specific event. This last option is particularly useful when keyword searching would be imprecise....an extensive collection of primary materials which can be used to study not only modern historical events, but also the perception and portrayal of those events around the world. While more advanced researchers of these regions will likely have the language skills to view this material in its original form, having certified translations of these broadcasts and periodicals can provide undergraduates a way to access the material with fewer secondary filters. Furthermore, the breadth of material leaves little doubt that this collection will be an invaluable resource to seminar tutors of world and regional history as well as undergraduate students working through honours dissertations.”
—Reviewed November 2009 by Dr Melodee Beals, Academic Coordinator, History at the Higher Education Academy

 

"By digitizing this collection of FBIS Daily Reports, Readex has made available a set of material for the second half of the twentieth century that offers a foreign perspective vital to students and scholars for this time period. The database is recommended for all academic libraries and research collections, especially those in political science and world history."
—Suzanne L. Holcombe, Associate Professor, Documents Librarian, Edmon Low Library, Oklahoma State University in Reference Reviews (Fall 2009)

"Scholars once had to travel to far-flung destinations to gather primary sources. With the increasing amount of digitized content on the Web, they now can search through historical newspapers and broadcasts at the click of a mouse. Originally used by government and military officials, the Foreign Broadcast Information Service, a component of the CIA, was formed in the 1940s. It translated foreign countries' television, radio, and print media content, as well as public speeches and press releases, into English from over 50 languages. This online database from Readex is a searchable collection of the original print-based FBIS Daily Reports. From the database home page, users can choose to search across the entire collection, or target their searches to specific geographic areas. The user-friendly world map helps researchers narrow searching to specific countries of interest. The current collection spans the mid-1970s to mid-1990s and includes over two million articles. The content covered within these years is beneficial to scholars studying post-WW II events, particularly decolonization, emerging democracies, and communism.

"Summing Up: Recommended. Academic libraries supporting strong graduate programs in history and political science; upper-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers."
—J. A. Hardenbrook, Millikin University, reviewing FBIS, 1974-1996, in Choice (December 2008)

"Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Report, 1974-1996, released by Readex in 2007, is an electronic collection of the daily reports originally issued by FBIS in paper and microform. The reports include selected news bulletins and editorials, speeches, briefings, interviews, and policy papers gleaned from radio and television broadcasts and news services in approximately 100 countries throughout the world. Collected and translated into English by the Central Intelligence Agency, the texts are largely from sources in regions of American strategic interest during the period.

"Much of the content originated from local broadcast stations, some of them 'clandestine.' shortwave radio operations....The collection also includes CIA transcripts of news reports filed through foreign bureaus of Western news agencies and broadcasters such as the BBC World Service and Agence France-Presse....

"The Readex product begins in 1974, when the reports began to be published on microform, and continues through 1996, when the printed reports were discontinued. This was a time of great political upheaval and major changes in international alignments. The collection covers the last years of the Cold War, turmoil in the Middle East, struggles for liberation ill Africa, and the emergence of China and India as world powers. Since the original purpose of the reports was intelligence, to enable U.S. government agencies and military to monitor events and developments in countries of strategic interest to the U.S., the present series is particularly rich in materials from Southeast Asia, China, the Middle East, and key African nations like South Africa, Angola, and Kenya....

"While news reports, particularly broadcasts from zones of conflict and instability, are notoriously unreliable as fact, they afford unique insights on the views of the governments, opposition parties, and governments-in-exile that often controlled the media outlets in those parts of the world. The FBIS Daily Reports, 1974-1996 is one of the few sources of these kinds of materials. The archives of television and radio stations, particularly clandestine operations, simply do not survive in most instances. They are often lost or are not maintained in the first place, particularly in areas of chronic conflict, such as the West Bank and Afghanistan....

"...an outstanding and unique collection....includes extensive coverage of broadcast and news reports from emerging nations and conflict zones....Navigation and search are intuitive and enable users to easily pinpoint materials of interest."
—Bernard F. Reilly, Jr., President of the Center for Research Libraries in The Charleston Advisor (October 2008)

“The definition between government document and nongovernment document blurs, particularly as the intelligence tentacles of the United States government seek every shred of information, news, detail—and bring it home for contemplation, digestion and eventual redistribution....
 
“Prime examples of the ‘documentization’ of information are the United States Joint Publications Research Service (JPRS) and its equally acquisitive partner, the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS)....Of interest here are the transforming effect these services have on the information they amass and the research and societal value that results.
 
“The significance of information collected by JPRS and FBIS is enormous. Of greatest importance is the diversity of viewpoints suddenly made accessible by subject and in English. To be able to understand these resources in relation to their special provenances is especially critical in appraising their informational value.
 
“FBIS, for example, literally provides an ear to the rest of the world through the collection and translation of radio news and editorial broadcasts....
 
“JPRS provides equally important access to foreign newspapers, books, technical reports, and other printed materials. The significance may not end with the simple fact of convenient availability, but rather with the status accorded this information as newly created government documentation. That much of this material contradicts claims of the United States government (the very authority which, by virtue of its collection of these materials, gives them, in certain circumstances, greatly augmented validity) is an appropriate irony to be savored....
 
“Information acquires meaning when it can be used. The format of the material matters little; content should be the critical factor. Librarians have this opportunity to contribute to and participate in the evolution of meaning.”
— Glenda J. Pearson, “Government Publications on Microform: Integrated Reference Services,” in Microform Review (Dec. 1988)

A crucial resource for those seeking to understand events from other countries’ standpoints. Digitization...will dramatically expose the breadth and depth of this unique material.
Julie Linden, Government Information Librarian, Yale University
Daily Reports, 1941-1996

Foreign Broadcast Information Service Advisory Board

Jerry Breeze
Government Information Librarian
Columbia University

Betty Febo
Government Documents Coordinator
Wellesley College

Isabel D. Holowaty 
History Librarian
University of Oxford

Kelly Janousek 
Librarian for Law/Political Science/Public Policy
California State University, Long Beach

Sue Kendall
Reference Librarian/ Government Publications Coordinator
San Jose State University

Julie A. Linden
Government Information Librarian
Yale University

Mary Mallory
Head, Government Documents Library
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Chris Palazzolo 
Political Science and International Documents Librarian
Emory University

Glenda Pearson
Head, Microform & Newspapers Collections
University of Washington

Michael Poulin 
Digital Resources Librarian
Colgate University

“Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS)….provided immense amounts of information that were vital to shaping our understanding, not only of Russia, but of China, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, etc.…FBIS played a major role in educating an entire generation of US-trained specialists on Russia and the region in their efforts to learn more about the closed society of the Soviet Union, which significantly enhanced our ability to understand the USSR and the former captive nations of Eastern Europe.”
— The Hill, Congress Blog, Feb. 18, 2016

“Indeed there was an entire branch of CIA which monitored and published on a daily basis a thick booklet of selected broadcast items from around the world—available by subscription. The Foreign Broadcast Information Service provided an invaluable service. It is now sadly defunct, the victim of short-sighted budget cutting—an operation which probably cost less annually than one fighter aircraft and offered much more.

“One virtue of these broadcast items was the nuggets of domestic information from those countries which were otherwise not readily known about—a kind of news coverage. But the greater value was the ability to see how a foreign state viewed itself and the world around it. Propaganda? Sure, in one sense. But the thoughtful reader could fairly soon get a sense of how Russia, China, North Korea, or say Iran, saw themselves. Sometimes you might find a strikingly different interpretation of events that revealed a lot about their psychology and even their likely reactions and behavior down the road.

“For the thoughtful statesman and analyst, this was good stuff. It helped explain where other leaders were coming from, what they more or less believed. Their worldview also offered perspectives about how they saw the U.S. Whether we liked it or not, it contained a few revelations about our mutual, and differing, perspectives.”
— Graham E. Fuller, former senior CIA official, in “Value in Reading Others’ Propaganda,” published on Consortium News.com (Sept. 29, 2015)

"Scholars and students in an increasingly globalized world must engage with the history and cultural perspectives of other countries. The FBIS Daily Report is a crucial resource for those seeking to understand events from other countries' standpoints. Digitization of the Daily Report will dramatically expose the breadth and depth of this unique material."
— Julie Linden, Government Information Librarian, Yale University Library

"Heavily used by students and faculty, the FBIS Daily Report enables researchers to use foreign language primary sources, including newspaper articles, transcripts of radio and television interviews, intercepted clandestine radio broadcasts and more. Many researchers do not know all of the foreign languages necessary to follow news reports in the native languages of all of the countries they might wish to study. Because FBIS Daily Report provides consistently reliable English translations from the original sources in dozens of languages, students and faculty have expanded research opportunities. Without FBIS, researchers would have to rely entirely on secondary sources or to limit their research projects to primary sources in only those languages in which they are fluent. And even if a student is fluent in the language necessary to follow news reports in a particular country, many libraries do not subscribe to many of the news sources from which the FBIS reports are taken.

"An online edition of FBIS Daily Report—offering full text, consistently reliable English translations from the original news reports in dozens of languages from every region of the world—presents broad new opportunities for students shaping their research topics. The capability to perform full text searches of a resource previously available only in microform will open up years and years of information from foreign news sources that may not have been used before because of the effort required to access the material. This exciting resource provides access to primary source material of critical international importance and to the students and scholars researching diverse aspects of our global society. We eagerly await this digital product by a company known for scholarly excellence."
— Donna Koepp, Head of Government Documents and Microforms and Head of Reference and Instructional Services, and John Collins, Reference/Documents Librarian, both Harvard College Library

"An invaluable resource for scholars of international affairs. It is the premier collection of translated foreign press available in English."
— R. William Ayres, Ph.D., Director, Center for Global Citizenship and Associate Professor of International Relations, Elizabethtown College

"For decades, FBIS has been indispensable for all serious students of international politics. The new online searchable edition opens new avenues for important research in the social sciences and humanities."
— Robert A. Pape, Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago and author of Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism (2005)

"Using FBIS documents plunges the scholar and student directly into those moments in which history is made. Many of these materials are literally transcripts of events as they occurred, right down to parenthetical asides: "Gunfire heard in background" of a Ghanaian radio news program in progress as the station was stormed in an attempted coup.

"FBIS brings to the mind's eye what on-the-spot video does now: it makes the events of the last half of the 20th century come alive, as well as guarantee that firsthand descriptions will survive to tell the tale even after events have been deconstructed, re-assembled and interpreted according to the prevailing political and historical theories of the day."
— Glenda Pearson, Human Rights Librarian, University of Washington Libraries

"I am very excited to learn that the Foreign Broadcast Information Service's Daily Report will soon be digitized. In the past I have utilized this excellent source not only for the more recent broadcasts surveyed in 'Palestinian Radio and the Intifada' but also those from the 1950s and 1960s included in 'The Algerian War of Words: Broadcasting and Revolution, 1954-1962.' While I remember fondly countless hours spent reading the microfilm and microfiche versions, a searchable online version of the FBIS Daily Report will prove to be even more invaluable to future researchers."
— Robert Bookmiller, Ph.D., Director of International Studies and Associate Professor, Department of Government and Political Affairs, Millersville University of Pennsylvania

"Readex's digitized edition of the FBIS Daily Report will be essential for today's international and government information researchers. Comprehensive electronic access to the FBIS translations in English of worldwide daily broadcasts, news and government statements is unprecedented. Scholars, students, policymakers, citizens—anyone concerned with globalization, politics and culture—will be thrilled to use such an incredible interdisciplinary online resource."
— Mary Mallory, Head, Government Documents Library, and Associate Professor of Library Administration, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Fresh opportunities for deeper understanding of today’s headlines
  • Coverage spanning 1941 to 1996 from Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America
  • Ten individually available collections on critical topics in world history
20thCenturyGlobalPerspectives-Monitor

Twentieth-Century Global Perspectives [is] a new family of digital resources for teaching and research in popular topics in academic libraries. Each of these collections offers new insight for teaching and scholarship in 20th-century geopolitics for a variety of disciplines. The five collections from the Archives of the Central Intelligence Agency are comprised of primary source documents from around the world, including government publications, magazines, newspapers, and transcribed television and radio broadcasts, all collected and translated by the Central Intelligence Agency between 1941 and 1996.”
— Reference 2017, supplement to Library Journal (Nov. 1, 2016)

Twentieth-Century Global Perspectives is the collective title for five new Readex full-text databases of primary source materials derived from communications media and government documents produced outside North America. Collections feature topical selections drawn from the Central Intelligence Agency's Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports, 1941–1996 or its Joint Publications Research Service (JPRS) Reports, 1957–1995.

Apartheid: Global Perspectives 1946–1996…focuses on South African racial policy with numerous references to treatment of subordinated peoples elsewhere. Media sources covered are primarily from South Africa, the Soviet Union, or China, with occasional coverage elsewhere.…American Race Relations: Global Perspectives, 1941–1996…features African American and other US minorities' experiences during and following World War II as recorded by foreign governments and the media. Immigrations, Migrations and Refugees: Global Perspectives, 1941–1996…focuses on persons displaced or otherwise impacted by conflict (e.g., Vietnamese, Palestinian, or Salvadoran peoples, among others) ….The Cold War: Global Perspectives on East-West Tensions, 1945–1991…includes primary sources that document the pervasive fear (or favor) regarding communism and related ideologies as these sentiments were brought to bear on international alliances, wars and conflicts, economic relationships, technological competition and exchange, and the worldwide demonstration of support for (or opposition to) emerging post-colonial nations. The final collection, Middle East and North Africa: Global Perspectives, 1958–1994 … covers reporting from within and outside the relevant countries of that part of the world where commentary on politics, the economy, social relations, and ethnicity often appears inseparable from religious practice for much of the population….Summing Up: Recommended. Undergraduates through researchers/faculty; professionals/practitioners.”
—K. Cleland-Sipfle, Southern Oregon University in Choice (Nov. 2016)

 

 

20thCenturyGlobalPerspectives
  • International newspapers offer new perspectives on national and global issues
  • Exact digital replicas published in English and a variety of other languages
  • Expertly selected publications from Africa, Europe, Latin America, and South Asia
WNA-Monitor
World Newspaper Archive

"Readex, a division of NewsBank, has long been a provider known for its high quality digital collections of early books, documents, and newspapers, particularly America’s Historical Newspapers database of American newspapers from colonial times and the days of the early republic. With the World Newspaper Archive Collection, Readex has partnered with the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) to provide access to historical newspapers from other regions, giving historians, language specialists, political scientists, and other researchers the opportunity to explore these ephemeral primary texts. To date Readex offers nineteenth- and early twentieth-century newspaper collections from Africa...South Asia, and an impressive collection from Latin America."
-- David D. Oberhelman, Professor, Humanities-Social Sciences Division, Edmon Low Library, Oklahoma State University in Reference Reviews (2013, Volume 27, Number 1)

...of huge value to historical researchers in many different fields of the humanities and social sciences.
Kátia Couto, Department of History, Universidade Federal do Amazonas-UFAM
  • Created in partnership with the Center for Research Libraries and its contributing members
  • Online access to more than 100 African newspapers published in the 19th and early 20th centuries
  • Wide-ranging coverage of the issues and events that shaped the continent and its peoples
african newspapers by series
African Newspapers, Series 1 and 2

African Newspapers, Series 1 & 2 (1800-1925)….is essential for any institution with an African studies program….[It] offers direct access to valuable primary sources for a continent and period for which such resources are rare and hard to come by…..for individuals seeking to explore the colonial mind-set and customs, the collection is invaluable. The 100-plus newspapers offer a dazzling array of insights into imperial expansion and exploration….African Newspapers is a unique product. There is simply nothing comparable in terms of electronic access to journalism from the continent for the 19th and early 20th centuries….African Newspapers is unrivalled in its breadth, diversity, and sheer amount of content.”
— ccAdvisor (May 2018)

African Newspapers, 1800-1922, part of Readex’s World Newspaper Archive collection, is a rich database that indexes and provides full-page scans of 40-plus newspapers from several African countries (mostly countries in western, eastern, and southern Africa). While most of the countries represented in the database have only a few newspaper titles available, South Africa boasts the most—16. When looking at the list of available titles for a country, one can tell at a glance how many issues are included, along with the dates the publication started and ceased. This database, much like the others that Readex provides, allows searchers to locate material by dates and eras (in this case, users may enter custom publication dates or choose to search by decade), by language (from Afrikaans to Zulu and several in between), by place of publication or even within specific newspaper titles. The results from a search are listed chronologically, and each includes a thumbnail image of the search term where it appears within the article. Once clicked, the image opens up into a full-size image of the article as it appeared on the page and users may zoom out to view the entire page as well. Summing up: recommended. Academic libraries with users interested in primary sources for 19th- and early 20th-century African history; lower-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers.”
— E. A. Francis, Oberlin College Library in Choice (February 2010)

A rich database that indexes and provides full-page scans of...newspapers from several African countries....Recommended.
Choice (Feb. 2010)

Created in partnership between Readex, a division of NewsBank, and the Center for Research Libraries—one of the world’s largest and most important newspaper repositories—African Newspapers provides more than 40 fully searchable newspapers published in Africa during the 19th and 20th centuries. With titles from Accra to Mafeking to Windhoek, this revealing collection covers the people, issues and events that shaped the African continent between 1800 and 1922. Titles include:

Gold Coast Independent (Accra, Ghana) 1895-1922
Gold Coast Independent began in 1895 as the main competitor of the Gold Coast Chronicle, under the editorship of J. Bright Davies. Its motto (borrowed from Ireland’s The Nation) was “To create and foster public opinion in Africa and make it racy of the soil.” Nationalist in stance, the African-owned newspaper closed in 1898, but reappeared in 1918 and continued until 1956. (Language: English)

Gold Coast Leader (Cape Coast, Ghana) 1902-1922
This highly lauded nationalist title began in 1902 and continued until the early 1930s. It was co-founded and edited by J.E. Casely Hayford, a prominent activist and journalist and the author of Ethiopia Unbound, one of the first West African novels published in English. (Language: English)

Gold Coast Times (Cape Coast, Ghana) 1874-1885
Reportedly the first printed newspaper of the colony, the Gold Coast Times was founded by James Hutton Brew in March 1874. Gold Coast Times provided contemporary social commentary, tended toward moderation in its political coverage, and helped bring the British view of the colonies to Africa. One of the longest-running 19th-century titles, it ceased in 1885, but was revived in 1923 and continued to publish until 1940. (Language: English)

A Voz da Guiné (Bolama, Guinea-Bissau) 1922
Published in Bolama in 1922, this biweekly “republicano independente” was one of the earliest titles printed in Guinea-Bissau. Its editor was Luis Francisco Gravata, Jr. Like many of its short-lived contemporaries, the newspaper lasted for less than a dozen issues. (Language: Portuguese)

The East African Standard, Mombasa Times and Uganda Argus (Mombasa, Kenya) 1903-1915
The African Standard was founded in 1902 by Karachi-born A.M. Javanjee. This Mombasa weekly was sold to European owners in 1905. By 1910, the title became a daily and was moved to Nairobi. Together with the other titles Mombasa Times and Uganda Argus, the Standard Group became the dominating force in English-language journalism in East Africa in the early 20th century. Coverage here represents the weekly edition of the title, published as the East African Standard, Mombasa Times and Uganda Argus. (Language: English)

Leselinyana la Lesutho (Morija, Lesotho) 1863-1922
Founded in 1863, this Sesotho-language title was one of the first newspapers in southern Africa to appear in an African language. It was published in Morija as the organ of the Lesotho Evangelical Church, which was supported by the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society. It serialized important authors’ work in regional languages, and continues to issue a fortnightly edition. (Languages: Sotho, some English)

The Liberia Recorder (Monrovia, Liberia) 1902-1906
The Liberia Recorder was established in 1898 by Thomas W. Howard, Sr., chairman of the True Whig Party, Liberia’s sole political party from 1878 to 1980. As such, the paper was one of the first titles in Liberia to use journalism to promote political agendas and personal political gain. The paper ceased in 1906. (Language: English)

Observer (Monrovia, Liberia) 1878-1883
The Observer began in 1878, edited by Joseph W. Hilton, A.B. King (later a member of the Liberia Senate) and Arthur Barclay (later president of Liberia from 1904 to 1912). The paper pursued non-partisan journalism and became the leading Liberian paper of its time, though it only lasted until 1883. (Language: English)

La Cloche (Tamatave, Madagascar) 1880-1892
This weekly title, which began publication in 1880 in the city of Toamasina (aka Tamatave), focused on independent reporting, featuring political and literary announcements of interest to a primarily European audience. (Language: French)

The Madagascar Times (Antananarivo, Madagascar) 1882 and 1884-1885
The Madagascar Times began publishing in 1882 in Antananarivo. It aimed to provide a digest of chief events of the island, commercial reports for merchants and their firms and updates on government activities. The editor, Anthony Tacchi, was sympathetic to the native cause on the issue of “la Question Malgache,” and was accused of being a government organ. The title ceased in 1882, but was revived in 1884 and continued to publish until February 1890. (Languages: English, French and Malagasy)

L'Opinion Publique (Tamatave, Madagascar) 1891-1892
This general interest paper began publishing in 1891 in Toamasina (aka Tamatave) on a weekly basis, becoming semiweekly in 1892. (Language: French)

The Central African Times (Blantyre, Malawi) 1899-1908 & Nyasaland Times (Blantyre, Malawi) 1911-1922
The Central African Times was first published in 1895 as the Central African Planter, changing its name and expanding to a weekly publication in 1897. It was founded by local Scotsman R.S. Hynde to cater to European settlers in the country. After a brief closure in 1907, the paper resumed publishing as the Nyasaland Times in 1908. This title was the main newspaper in Nyasaland (now Malawi) during the colonial era. (Language: English)

O Africano (Maputo, Mozambique) 1908-1920
Founded by José and João Albasini in 1909, this title and championed the cause of the indigenous population. It was the official organ of the Grêmio Africano, a liberal reform group of the early 20th century. The brothers went on to publish O Brado Africano in 1918 and the paper ceased in 1920. (Languages: Portuguese, some Ronga and English)

The Beira News and East Coast Chronicle (Beira, Mozambique) 1917-1921
This semiweekly title, which began in 1917, was directed by Vitor Gomes. It featured information about East Africa’s industry and commerce, including maize markets and coal mines. (Languages: English and Portuguese)

The Beira Post (Beira, Mozambique) 1898-1917
With publication beginning in 1893-4, and restarting in 1898, The Beira Post was the first newspaper published in Mozambique. It was written in both English and Portuguese (as Correio da Beira). (Languages: English and Portuguese) 

O Brado Africano (Maputo, Mozambique) 1918-1922
A successor to O AfricanoO Brado Africano was founded by João Albasini in 1918, and published many of Mozabique’s young writers at the time. The weekly title was printed in both Portuguese and Ronga. In 1932, O Brado was briefly suspended and Clamor Africano ran in its place for a total of 12 issues. Publication of O Brado continued the following year. (Languages: Portuguese and Ronga)

Windhoeker Anzeiger (Windhoek, Namibia) 1898-1901, Deutch-Südwestafrikanische Zeitung (Swakopmund, Namibia) 1901-1914, Swakopmunder Zeitung (Swakopmund, Namibia) 1911-1912 and 1919-1922
The Windhoeker Anzeiger was founded by Georg Wasserfall in 1898, the first paper to appear in Namibia. The paper closed in 1901 when Wasserfall and his law firm moved to the coast. In October 1901, the first issue of Deutch-Südwestafrikanische Zeitung was published in Swakopmund. In 1912, the title merged with the Swakopmunder Zeitung (which began publishing in 1911 and later re-launched as a separate title in 1918). (Language: German)

Lüderitzbuchter Zeitung (Lüderitzbucht, Namibia) 1909-1922
Lüderitzbuchter Zeitung began in 1909 in Lüderitz, Namibia, and continued as a daily through 1937. It was the first newspaper printed under South African rule, and represented settler interests in the region, particularly the mining industry. (Language: German) 

The Lagos Standard (Lagos, Nigeria) 1895-1920
This weekly title was founded in 1895 by George Alfred Williams. Displaying on its masthead the motto “for God, the king, and the people,” this paper was often highly critical of the colonial government and was a strong proponent for African nationalism in the early 20th century. (Language: English)

The Lagos Weekly Record (Lagos, Nigeria) 1891-1921
The Lagos Weekly Record was begun in 1890 by John Payne Jackson and survived its early years in part to generous personal donations. It was often critical of British colonization and control of Lagos, and was one of the papers most forceful in urging racial consciousness and African nationalism. (Language: English) 

The Nigerian Pioneer (Lagos, Nigeria) 1914-1922
This pro-government weekly was founded by Nigerian lawyer Kitoye Ajasa in 1914. The paper’s opinion stands in sharp contrast to the “radicalism” of the Weekly Record and other progressive papers. (Language: English)

Cape Town Gazette and African Advertiser (Cape Town, South Africa) 1806-1826
First published in 1800, the Cape Town Gazette and African Advertiser was South Africa’s first newspaper. It was owned by slave dealers Alexander Walker and John Robertson. With articles in English and Afrikaans, the title was changed briefly in 1803 to Kaapsche Courant, but the English title was restored in 1806. (Languages: English and Afrikaans)

The Graham’s Town Journal (Graham’s Town, South Africa) 1831-1832 and 1833-1863
The oldest newspaper in South Africa published outside of Cape Town; the Graham’s Town Journal began in 1831 and was edited by Robert Godlonton. In 1920, the paper merged with Grocott’s Mail. (Language: English)

The Friend of Sovereignty and Bloemfontein Gazette (Bloemfontein, South Africa) 1850-1854,The Friend of the Free State and Bloemfontein Gazette (Bloemfontein, South Africa) 1854-1890
Originally established in 1850 in the Orange Colony of South Africa, The Friend of Sovereignty and Bloemfontein Gazette, a bilingual weekly changed to The Friend of the Free State and Bloemfontein Gazette in 1854. In 1894 it became an English-only publication. (Languages: English, Dutch and Afrikaans)

Ilanga Lase Natal (Durban, South Africa) 1903-1922
The first Zulu newspaper, this publication was founded in 1903 by John Dube, the first African National Congress president. (Languages: Zulu, some English)

Imvo Zabantsundu (King William’s Town, South Africa) 1884-1894
Imvo Zabantsundu was founded in 1884 by John Tengo Jabavu, a well-known politician and educationalist. This highly influential newspaper was the first newspaper in South Africa owned and controlled by Africans. (Languages: Xhosa and English)

Indian Opinion (Durban, South Africa) 1903-1922
Founded by Mohandas Gandhi in 1903, Indian Opinion advocated for the rights of Indians living in South Africa. (Languages: English, Gujarati, Hindi and Tamil)

Indaba (Cape Town, South Africa) 1862-1865
Published by the Glasgow Missionary Society between 1862 and 1865, this bilingual monthly was most likely the first newspaper published in a vernacular language. (Languages: Xhosa, some English)

International (Johannesburg, South Africa) 1915-1922
Published in 1915 by the International Socialist League of South Africa, the paper was later published by the Communist Party in the 1920s for a primarily black audience. (Language: English)

Inzindaba Zabantu (Pinetown, South Africa) 1910-1922
Inzindaba Zabantu was a general interest title published by the Mariannhill Fathers at Mariannhill. It was a fortnightly publication for the first year, and then became a weekly. In 1928, it changed its name to Umafrika. (Languages: Zulu and English)

Izwi Labantu (East London, South Africa) 1901-1909
Supporting the English-speaking Progressive Party, Izwi Labantu was founded in 1897 by a large group, including Nathaniel Cyril Mhala, R. R. Mantsayi and Thomas Mqanda, and continued printing until 1909. On the writing staff was Walter B. Rubusana, who would go on to be a founding member of the South African Native National Congress (predecessor to the African National Congress) in 1912. (Languages: Xhosa, some English)

Koranta ea Becoana (Mafikeng, South Africa) 1901-1903
Established in 1901 by Silas Molema and edited by Solomon T. Plaatje, one of the pioneering African newspaper editors of his day and later the first Secretary-General of the ANC. In 1902, the Bechuana Printing Works was opened to accommodate the printing of Koranta ea Becoana. The title ceased publication in 1908. (Languages: Tswana and English)

The Natal Witness (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) 1846-50, 1850-1873, 1874-1885
Published in Pietermaritzburg beginning in 1846, The Natal Witness was distributed to a primarily white audience. Now published as The Witness, it is South Africa’s longest-running newspaper. (Languages: English, some Dutch)

Mafeking Mail and Protectorate Guardian (Mafeking, South Africa) 1899, 1899-1900, 1900-1922
Started in 1899 by George N.H. Wales, this title had only published a handful of issues when the village of Mafikeng was attacked during the Second Boer War. An underground edition, known as Mafeking Mail: Special Siege Slip, was printed with the phrase “Issued daily, shells permitting” on the cover. In 1900, the title resumed its regular publishing schedule as the Mafeking Mail and Protectorate Guardian until Botswana’s independence in 1966, when it continued as Mafeking Mail and Botswana Guardian. (Languages: English, some Afrikaans)

Tsala ea Becoana (Kimberly, South Africa1910-1912, Tsala ea Batho (Kimberly, South Africa) 1913-1915
Known as Tsala ea Becoana when it was founded by Solomon T. Plaatje in 1910, the name was changed to Tsala ea Batho in 1912. Marketed as an independent publication, the newspaper contains records of the early meetings of the African National Congress. (Languages: Tswana, some English, Sotho and Xhosa)

Unteteli wa Bantu (Johannesburg, South Africa) 1920-1922
Unteteli wa Bantu, or “The mouthpiece of the people,” was founded in 1920 and was edited early on by John Dube and Abner Mapanya. Solomon T. Plaatje was also a frequent contributor to this title, which was a strong supporter of the mines and staunchly opposed to segregation. (Languages: English, Southern Sotho, Xhosa and Zulu)

The Sierra Leone Weekly News (Freetown, Sierra Leone) 1884-1922
Founded in 1884 by J.C. May and E.W. Blyden, with May’s brother Cornelius serving as editor, the title was a major newspaper on the West Coast of Africa for over 60 years. (Language: English)

The Sierra Leone Times (Freetown, Sierra Leone) 1892-1904
With J.A. Fitzjohn serving as editor, and financial backing from J.H. Malamah, The Sierra Leone Times published a weekly edition from 1890 through 1912. (Language: English)

The Sierra Leone Guardian and Foreign Mails (Freetown, Sierra Leone) 1908-1918
Beginning in 1906, The Sierra Leone Guardian and Foreign Mails published a biweekly issue, and later a weekly issue, edited by chemist J.S. Labor. (Language: English)

The Uganda Herald (Kampala, Uganda) 1912-1922
The Uganda Herald began publication in 1912 and became the most widely read and influential newspaper in Uganda, representing the interests of the resident European community. A daily issue was printed until 1955. (Language: English) 

The Buluwayo Chronicle (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) 1894-1906, daily edition and 1906-1922, weekly edition
The Buluwayo Chronicle was among the earliest press publications in what is now known as Zimbabwe. Starting October 12, 1894 as a weekly, the paper graduated to a daily (except Sundays) in 1897. It was founded by John William Howard of the South Africa-based Argus Printing and Publishing Company (publishers of the Rhodesia Herald among other titles) and edited by H.S. Hodges. (Language: English)

The Rhodesia Herald (Harare, Zimbabwe) 1892-1922
W.E. Fairbridge launched The Rhodesia Herald on October 29, 1892 for the Argus group, which later ran the Rhodesian Printing and Publishing Company. Early editions of the Herald were quite critical of the government, but after possibly being threatened with deportation, Fairbridge moderated the tone of the editorial commentary, even becoming anti-African in policy in the 1900s. (Language: English)

1800-1925

World Newspaper Archive Advisory Board

Adán Benavides 
Librarian for Research Programs
Benson Latin American Collection
The University of Texas at Austin

Frank Conaway 
Social Science Bibliographer
University of Chicago Library

Chuck Eckman 
Associate University Librarian & Director of Collections
The University of California, Berkeley Library

Sharon Farb 
Associate University Librarian
University of California, Los Angeles

Dan Hazen 
Associate Librarian of Harvard College for Collection Development
Harvard University

Denise Hibay 
Interim Director for Collections Strategy
New York Public Library

John E. Ingram 
Senior Associate Dean of University Libraries
University of Florida

Glenda J Pearson 
Head, Microforms and Newspapers Collection
University of Washington

Mary Stuart 
Professor, History, Philosophy and Newspaper Library
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

 

African Newspapers Advisory Board

Ruby Bell-Gam 
African Studies Bibliographer
University of California, Los Angeles

David Easterbrook
Curator, Africana Library
Northwestern University

Marieta Harper
Area Specialist, African Section
Library of Congress

Pamela Howard-Reguindin
Field Director, Nairobi Office
Library of Congress

Peter Limb
Africana Bibliographer
Michigan State University

Laverne Page
Area Specialist, African Section
Library of Congress

Dorothy Woodson
Curator, African Collection
Yale University

“The digital edition of the Rand Daily Mail, 1902-1985, and the online collection of African Newspapers, 1800-1925, have proved to be more than useful. These two Readex databases have been simply wonderful for the historical questions that I am working on. There is, of course, a great deal of intrinsic value in any of the items that one recovers from these digital resources, but, for a historian, there is a transcending importance. It not only gives you a precise fix in terms of time and topic that you are interested in but, by so doing, also hints at where issues can be followed up in the national archives and elsewhere. Both newspaper collections are an invaluable asset for historians, anthropologists, art historians, sociologists, legal scholars and those interested in the evolution of the media and advertising. I cannot stress sufficiently how central a resource these databases are for modern scholars and post-graduate students at a time when the original newspaper collections are often either disintegrating, incomplete or inaccessible. No reputable university should be without access to the Rand Daily Mail, 1902-1985, and African Newspapers, 1800-1925.”
— Charles van Onselen, Research Professor, Faculty of Humanities, University of Pretoria

“I am currently teaching a third-year class on the history of the black press in South Africa. I have structured the course around a practical research assignment, which is a really great way to teach a course for aspirant historians. I can only do this because of the Readex database, African Newspapers, 1800-1922.”
 — Prof. Natasha Erlank, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Historical Studies, Head of Department and Associate Professor, University of Johannesburg

“I am astonished at the quantity of available material in the Readex digital collections. I am studying South African leader Sol Plaatje’s involvement as a politician and journalist in pre-apartheid resistance movements. The Readex African Newspapers collection, which includes the newspapers he edited, has been critical to my research."
— Raquel G. A. Gomes, Doctoral Candidate, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil

  • Online access to more than 300 newspapers published between 1805 and 1922
  • From Argentina to Venezuela—titles from more than 20 countries in the region
  • Created in partnership with the Center for Research Libraries and its contributing members
latin american newspapers
Latin American Newspapers

Latin American Newspapers, Series 2, 1822-1922, is an expansion of the original collection (CH, Oct’09, 47-0599), continuing Readex’s partnership with the Center for Research Libraries….Geographic coverage in Series 2 spans the whole region, from Mexico to the Southern Cone….The majority of the content is in Spanish with some significant material in Portuguese….The images and PDFs are high quality, especially considering the original source material….This database can be acquired as a stand-alone collection but is best seen as an expansion of the earlier series. Libraries that own or are considering purchasing Series 1 should give it strong consideration. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Libraries with the earlier series; lower-division undergraduates through researchers/faculty.”
— L. Gardinier, University of Iowa in Choice (January 2015)

"Latin American Newspapers Series 1, 1805-1922 and Series 2, 1822-1922, contains the full text of nearly 250 newspapers from Mexico and nations of the Caribbean, Central America, and South America scanned from the holdings of libraries such as the University of Texas at Austin, the New York Public Library, and other CRL members. This collection will prove to be another significant contribution by Readex to historical studies of the Americas.

 "These publications are invaluable records of daily life in Latin America as well important documents tracing the nations’ struggle following independence from Spain along with their many debates and conflicts with the US and European powers throughout the nineteenth century and early twentieth. The collection has newspapers in Spanish, Portuguese, and French, and a number of English-language newspapers from Latin America as well. The titles include many publications that are among the first daily newspapers to appear in their respective countries and reflect the social and political currents of era. Some newspapers such as El Universal of Mexico City still hold a prominent place in Latin American journalism.

 "Advertisements, obituaries, and brief notices appear along with the full-length articles, providing a glimpse into the historical context of the times. Researchers can find first-hand reports and commentaries on key events such as rise and fall of the Mexican Empire, the Mexican Revolution, the Spanish-American War in Cuba (there, for example, are many articles in Spanish and English on Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders of interest to US historians), the Brazilian settlement of the Amazon, and many others. Few North American libraries have access to these rare titles, but now both CRL members and non-CRL member institutions can benefit from this unique collection."
— David D. Oberhelman, Professor, Humanities-Social Sciences Division, Edmon Low Library, Oklahoma State University in Reference Reviews (2013, Volume 27, Number 1)

“Readex joined with the Center for Research Libraries (CRL), an international consortium of university, college, and independent research libraries famed for the extent and quality of its newspaper collection, to produce World Newspaper Archive (1800–1922) of which Latin American Newspapers is the first segment to be released. Additional modules in World Newspaper Archive will include newspapers from Africa, Eastern Europe, and South Asia. The Readex projects have made judicious selections because they have been well counseled by the professional staff of CRL and their ongoing Advisory Committees comprised of leading research librarians and scholars in the field. The continuous nature of the advisory project is the key here. The two historical collections from Readex represent decades of collecting and a very deliberate plan to preserve, share, and expand holdings on Latino and Latin American Studies.

“The Readex interface is the same for Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808–1980, and Latin American Newspapers. It is sufficiently distinct and data-rich that it requires a few minutes of study before using it....The five tabs include dates and eras; article type; languages; places of publication; and newspaper titles. Each of these tabs allows further narrowing and sorting. The tabs are also valuable as browsing devices. Clicking on the titles tab and selecting an individual title calls up clearly marked calendars showing the dates of coverage and facilitating browsing of actual issues. Similarly, a search brings up individual results that display a snippet of the actual article image. Images are easy to enlarge or reduce; navigation around the article is intuitive and articles can be easily saved in PDF and/or sent by e-mail.”
— Holly Ackerman, Librarian for Latin America and Iberia, Perkins Library, Duke University in The Charleston Advisor (January 2010)

"Latin American Newspapers, an ongoing joint project from the Center for Research Libraries and Readex, a division of NewsBank, is a database that aims to digitize 35 Latin American newspapers from the 19th and 20th centuries. ...The database has a broad scope, currently ranging from Mexico to the Southern Cone, and including major newspapers such as El Mercurio (Chile) and La Razón (Argentina). It has the bonus of including English-language titles--the Mexican Herald, the West Coast Leader (Peru), and the Daily Chronicle (Guyana)--as well as Spanish and Portuguese titles. ...Cross-searchable with America's Historical Newspapers and containing English sources, it will be particularly useful for undergraduates seeking primary sources for this time period. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-level undergraduates."
—A. Hicks, University  of Colorado, Boulder in Choice (October  2009)

1805-1922

“In the detailed account of the outbreak of plague in Santos, or the larger story of the changing epidemiological environment and its consequences in Brazil, there are new digital history tools at our disposal, including Latin American Newspapers, 1805-1922. In the last decade historians have witnessed a revolution in digitizing and OCR technology. This has allowed millions of pages of old newspapers to be digitized, converted to machine readable text, placed within database programs and made accessible on the Internet. As a result, the proverbial needle in the haystack can be now found by typing ‘needle’ into a search bar.”
— Ian Olivo Read, author of The Hierarchies of Slavery in Santos, Brazil, 1822-1889 (Stanford University Press, 2012)

"Latin American Newspapers, 1805-1922 and the U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1994 are two databases of great importance for Latin American studies. Together they provide more than 30 newspapers and 400,000 government documents that provide Latin American researchers with access to critical historical information without requiring travel to the United States or neighboring countries. These high-quality Readex collections offer new opportunities to explore, understand and reveal our own history; both are of huge value to historical researchers in many different fields of the humanities and social sciences." — Prof. Kátia Couto, Department of History, Universidade Federal do Amazonas-UFAM

WNA

Adán Benavides
Librarian for Research Programs
Benson Latin American Collection
The University of Texas at Austin

Frank Conaway
Social Science Bibliographer
University of Chicago Library

Chuck Eckman
Associate University Librarian & Director of Collections
The University of California, Berkeley Library

Sharon Farb
Associate University Librarian
University of California, Los Angeles

Dan Hazen
Associate Librarian of Harvard College for Collection Development
Harvard University

Denise Hibay
Interim Director for Collections Strategy
New York Public Library

John E. Ingram
Senior Associate Dean of University Libraries
University of Florida

Glenda J Pearson
Head, Microforms and Newspapers Collection
University of Washington

Mary Stuart
Professor, History, Philosophy and Newspaper Library
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

 “In the detailed account of the outbreak of plague in Santos, or the larger story of the changing epidemiological environment and its consequences in Brazil, there are new digital history tools at our disposal, including Latin American Newspapers, 1805-1922. In the last decade historians have witnessed a revolution in digitizing and OCR technology. This has allowed millions of pages of old newspapers to be digitized, converted to machine readable text, placed within database programs and made accessible on the Internet. As a result, the proverbial needle in the haystack can be now found by typing ‘needle’ into a search bar.”
— Ian Olivo Read, author of The Hierarchies of Slavery in Santos, Brazil, 1822-1889 (Stanford University Press, 2012)

Latin American Newspapers, 1805-1922 and the U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1994 are two databases of great importance for Latin American studies. Together they provide more than 30 newspapers and 400,000 government documents that provide Latin American researchers with access to critical historical information without requiring travel to the United States or neighboring countries. These high-quality Readex collections offer new opportunities to explore, understand and reveal our own history; both are of huge value to historical researchers in many different fields of the humanities and social sciences.”
— Prof. Kátia Couto, Department of History, Universidade Federal do Amazonas-UFAM

"I am astonished at the quantity of available material in the Readex digital collections. I am studying South African leader Sol Plaatje's involvement as a politician and journalist in pre-apartheid resistance movements. The Readex African Newspapers collection, which includes the newspapers he edited, has been critical to my research."
— Raquel G. A. Gomes, Doctoral Candidate, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil

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