Nineteenth-Century Journalism Online—The Market Versus Academia?

Abstract

In a climate of fear about funding for libraries and the arts, the preservation of many periodicals and newspapers is under threat. Digitisation is therefore justifiable as a conservation directive however what of those volumes that are not chosen? Are we creating an alternative version of Victorian culture through so selective a gaze? Indeed, who is choosing these titles? There is a question of access, both of what material is available to digitise and also what it is perceived 'the audience' want. However, a further question is raised-who are 'the audience'? What are these archives going to be used for? This article will examine the different forms of nineteenth-century periodical and newspaper archives that are available, how they are organised and who their perceived audience is, before going on to consider the pedagogical utility of such sites. How can we enhance students' understanding of nineteenth-century culture by using these archives in our lecture theatres? And if we do, what are the implications for research in the future?

Of global reach yet of situated contexts: an examination of the implicit and explicit selection criteria that shape digital archives of historical newspapers

“…The collection was released online in 2007 but has since undergone several iterations with different commercial providers. A detailed history of the BL's newspaper digitisation programmes is well documented in Fyfe (2016) and Horrocks (2014). Since 2011, it has been in a partnership with the genealogy service FindMyPast to create and manage the online British Newspaper Archive (findmypast.co.uk, n.d).…”

“…These trends suggest that some providers will move beyond their current offerings and facilitate greater interaction and new forms of exploration, like cross-collection search and semantic web capability (see also Horrocks 2014;Moss et al 2018). By the same token, if paying subscribers expect an archive that is easy to use, with a simple interface, then it is not surprising that user interaction will remain limited to this form of interaction.…”

Ethical Dilemmas in Collection Development of Open Access Electronic Resources

“…20 Clare Horrocks, a scholar of 19th-century print newspapers and contributor to the Punch Historical Archive, states collaboration between publishers, scholars, librarians, and students is essential to the creation of newspaper archives. 21 She describes in her article several newspaper projects both open and subscription based that were more successful when scholars informed the creation of the digital collection for research and classroom use. In describing their intentions for this primary source database, Reveal Digital states that the content of this database will help people "understand today's version of populism, American nationalism, and the Alt-right."…”