Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800

Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800 has been hailed as one of the most important collections ever produced. Based on the renowned ‘American Bibliography’ by Charles Evans and enhanced by Roger Bristol's ‘Supplement to Evans' American Bibliography’, the collection was first published by Readex in cooperation with the American Antiquarian Society.

For decades, the collection has served as a foundation set for research involving early American history, literature, philosophy, religion, and more. It is the definitive resource for information about every aspect of life in 17th- and 18th-century America, from agriculture and auctions through foreign affairs, diplomacy, literature, music, religion, the Revolutionary War, temperance and just about any other topic imaginable. Upon completion, Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800 will consist of more than 37,000 works and 2,400,000 images.

‘The Bay Psalm Book’, which is included in Early American Imprints Series I was printed in 1640 and was the first
book printed in the Colonies.

 

Early American Imprints, Series II Shaw-Shoemaker, 1801-1819

Early American Imprints, Series II Shaw-Shoemaker, 1801-1819 provides full-text access to more than 36,000 American books, pamphlets and broadsides published in the first nineteen years of the nineteenth century. The continuation of Readex's Early American Imprints: Series I, this rich primary source database, based on the authoritative bibliography by Ralph R. Shaw and Richard H. Shoemaker and now supplemented by more than 1,000 new items, allows students and scholars to explore the development of the American nation as never before. Designed for researchers of varying skill levels, the intuitive interface of this long-awaited digital edition offers
both simple and advanced searching as well as in-depth browsing within sixteen carefully indexed subject categories.

Browsing, Searching and Displaying Documents:

For its digital collections, Readex has created a common interface designed for researchers with a variety of skills and needs. Some researchers know their precise destination, others may have only broad ideas in mind. Combining browse and search functions provides simplicity, flexibility and power.

Browsing:

The “Browse” option presents the researcher with a series of choices appropriate to the collection such as author, genre, subject and more.

At any point within “Browse” it is possible to initiate a search to narrow the results obtained.

Searching:

“Simple Search” allows searching of complete citation records, specific citation fields or text in a series of searches. “Advanced Search” allows concurrent searches of multiple citation fields and text, as well as a specified date range. Boolean operators and connectors may be used with both search levels.

Full Citation:

A bibliographic citation is provided with every item, complete with links to related images. A table of contents is integrated into the citation view for ease of navigation. Links to other imprints or documents by the same author, about the same subject, within the same publication category, etc., are provided.

Displaying Document Images:

Page Images are available for viewing printing and downloading. Pages may be obtained in PDF bundles for viewing, printing and storing. For ease of navigation, a table of contents appears adjacent to both the citation and page image.

Early American Imprints is available on designated computers in the library.

In the computer lab, click on the Electronic Resources link from the library’s home page (www.wts.edu/library). WTS students, faculty, and staff may also search EAI from home; please ask for passwords at the reference or circulation desk or email the library.

 

Montgomery Library
Westminster Theological Seminary
(215) 572–3821
library@wts.edu
Please keep in mind that all documents downloaded from EAI I and II may not be shared
outside of the Westminster Theological Seminary community.

Early American Imprints is Copyright © 2005 NewsBank, inc. All rights reserved. Acquisition of Early American Imprints I and II by Westminster Theological Seminary, has been made possible in. part by a generous donation from The Providence Forum.