Classic Microform Sets

The American Women's Diaries collection offers first-hand accounts of the lives, contributions and innermost thoughts of women from the colonial period through the turn of the 20th century. Researchers gain new perspectives on a myriad of topics, including daily life and the struggle to survive, religion, childbirth and child rearing, education, social issues, war and peace and the personal strengths of women from diverse ethnic and social backgrounds. The collection is divided into three geographic segments, each supporting an important historical period.

New England Women’s Diaries
Through highly detailed autobiographic accounts, scholars can trace the lives of eight New England women over many decades. Topics addressed include: abolition, the Boxer Rebellion, the Civil War, the Constitution, the French Revolution, immigration, inventions, education, religion and daily life as relayed by women in established cities and towns.

• Editor: The American Antiquarian Society (AAS)
• Product: 8 diaries on 21 reels of 35mm silver halide microfilm
• Source: The American Antiquarian Society

Southern Women’s Diaries 
Examine life in the South before, during and after the Civil War and leading up to World War I. Religion, education, careers, reactions to slavery and the Abolitionists are all reported on by women who experience them first-hand and kept detailed diaries. Lifestyles, customs and issues of the era are easily studied through these extensive autobiographical accounts.

• Editor: Jane Begos, author and historian
• Product: 32 diaries on 34 reels of 35mm silver halide microfilm
• Sources: 12 southern universities and historical societies

Western Women's Diaries 
Sitting side by side on the wagon seat, men and women observed mutual experiences quite differently as they stared at the endless road that let to the West. This segment dramatically expands the number of diaries in the collection. Western Women’s Diaries include overland and settlement accounts of the westward movement, politics, daily life, the Civil War, relations with Native Americans and Native American accounts and religious life.

• Editor: Dr. Lillian Schissel, author and Director of American Studies, Brooklyn College, CUNY
• Product: Over 600 diaries on 35 reels of 35mm silver halide microfilm
• Sources: Universities, private libraries and historical societies throughout the United States

Finding Guides
Individual softbound Finding Guides are available for each segment. Descriptive abstracts for each diary are provided, along with a detailed cross-referenced index.

Based on the noted "American Bibliography, 1801-1819" by Ralph B. Shaw and Richard H. Shoemaker, Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker, 1801-1819 provides a comprehensive set of American imprints published in the early part of the 19th century.Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker includes many state papers and early government materials that chronicle the political and geographic growth of the developing American nation.

Researchers can study the westward expansion, the development of American arts (literature, music, painting, etc.), the progression of American political thought and much more. In addition to books, broadsides and pamphlets, the collection includes many published reports; presidential letters and messages; congressional, state and territorial resolutions and the works of many European authors reprinted for the American public. It includes 60,506 fiche.

Currently, a comprehensive, Web-based edition of Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker, 1801-1819 is available through Readex’s digitalArchive of Americana.

Landmarks of Science includes a microfiche collection (Landmarks of Science & Landmarks II Monographs) encompassing five centuries of printed scientific literature, as well as a microfilm collection (Landmarks II-Scientific Journals) featuring material back to the 17th century. It provides thousands of publications tracing the histories of science, technology, western civilization and various ideas. It is ideal for tracing the development of scientific principles. The collection also facilitates multidisciplinary studies across such curricula as history, languages, philosophy, astronomy, music and science.

Monographs 
Landmarks of Science & Landmarks II is a comprehensive library of works that spans the history of science—from the beginning of printing into the early 20th century. It includes first editions of famous scientific works, which are complemented by the scientific literature that surrounds them: later, influential editions; translations; works by the less-famous scientists; scientific textbooks; biographies of scientists and bibliographies of scientific work. The predominant languages represented are English, French, German, Latin and Italian, but works in many other languages appear. An attempt has been made to include contemporary English translations when available. There is no duplication between Landmarks of Science and its continuation, Landmarks II.

Journals
Landmarks II-Scientific Journals was created to make available the periodical literature of science, from the beginning of scientific journals in the second half of the 17th century through the 19th century. Landmarks II-Scientific Journalssupplements the thousands of monographs in Landmarks. Samuel Scudder’s “Catalogue of Scientific Serials, 1663-1875” serves as a bibliographic base. In the mid-1600s, the scientific journal came into being and has ever since been an alternative and supplement to the monographic publication of scientific work. Often, any given library's holdings of a journal lack pages or even volumes. Readex uses numerous sources as necessary to provide the most complete copy possible.

• Landmarks of Science: 3,858 monographs on 26,592  silver halide microfiche
• Landmarks II – Monographs: 4,861 monographs on 62,067 silver halide microfiche
• Landmarks II - Scientific Journals: 119 journals on 906 reels of silver halide microfilm

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports (1975-1996) consist of translated broadcasts, news agency transmissions, newspapers, periodicals and government statements from nations around the globe. These media sources were monitored in their languages of origin, translated into English and issued by an agency of the U.S. Government.FBIS Daily Reports from Readex represent a unique resource for the study of foreign affairs, business, law, sociology, political science and more, as they cover all regions of the world. Within the FBIS Daily Reports, countries were assigned to one of eight reporting regions that were known at various times as:

• Asia & Pacific
• Central Eurasia
• China
• East Asia
• East Europe ( Eastern Europe)
• Latin America
• Middle East & Africa
• Near East & South Asia
• South Asia
• Soviet Union
• Sub-Saharan Africa
• West Europe ( Western Europe)

From 1992 to 1994, the Central Eurasia Report complemented the Central Eurasia Daily Report with additional coverage of social, political and economic issues during that crucial period of change in the former Soviet Union.

The FBIS Daily Reports 
The FBIS Daily Reports are available from Readex on microfiche. Reports can be selected by region and/or by year to help fill gaps in an existing collection. The Central Eurasia Reports (1992-1996) are also available on microfiche. Also, a digital edition of FBIS Daily Reports is now available from Readex.

Index to the FBIS Daily Reports (1975-1996) 
The Index to the FBIS Daily Reports, now available online, is the key to effective use of the FBIS Daily Reports. The index includes coverage of China (beginning in 1975), the Soviet Union (beginning in 1977) and the other regions beginning in 1978 or 1979. The index was continued through final publication of the FBIS Daily Reports on paper, with actual dates varying by region during 1996. Indexing for all areas is merged together—along with indexing for the Central Eurasia Report—giving researchers convenient access to diverse information. For example, one can discover how an event is being reported, not only in the country where it occurred, but also in every other country that found reason to report on the situation.

From the well known to the obscure, Three Centuries of English and American Plays represents a comprehensive resource for the study of drama and social history. Included is every important play published in the English language in England from the year 1516 through 1800. American plays date from 1714 through 1830. This collection brings together a wealth of material from libraries scattered all over the world.

Begun under the endorsement and sponsorship of the Theatre Library Association (TLA), the collection was initiated by Allardyce Nicoll, Chairman of the Drama Department, Yale University and George Freedley, President of TLA.

Content was drawn from the following bibliographies: "Nicoll's History of English Drama 1660-1900," "W.W. Greg's Bibliography of the English Printed Drama to the Restoration," "Wood and McManaway's Checklist of English Plays, 1641-1700" and "Hill's American Plays, 1714-1830."

The collection is comprehensive, including early editions and versions important for their textual variations. Several famous editions of Shakespeare's works are part of the collection, including those compiled by Malone and Rowe. The microfiche collection contains 895 early Larpent plays not originally issued on microprint.

Important institutional contributors include: Yale University, Columbia University, New York Public Library and the Huntington Library.

Editors: Henry W. Wells, Columbia University and G. William Bergquist, the New York Public Library

Product: 5,148 plays on 6,890 silver halide microfiche

Cataloging: Available on RLIN and OCLC

Available as a collection or by period:

1516-1641 Elizabethan, Shakespearean and Jacobean

1642-1700 Restoration

1701-1750 Early Eighteenth Century

1751-1800 Late Eighteenth Century

1737-1800 Larpent Collection Manuscripts

1714-1830 American Plays