Eighteenth-Century Studies: Online Resources: 2. Early Periodical Literature

Periodicals Archive Online is the new name for PCI Full Text. It contains over 600 journals going back to the beginning of publication of periodicals in the late 17th century in the humanities and social sciences, from the microfilm vault of the ProQuest Information and Learning firm, formerly University Microfilms. The search engine is Periodicals Index Online. There is not a print counterpart for this index, nor was the body of online texts created from a particular microform set.

Eighteenth-Century Journals contains rare English journals printed between c1685 and 1815, illuminating all aspects of eighteenth-century social, political and literary life. Many are ephemeral, lasting only for a handful of issues, others run for several years. Topics covered are extremely wide-ranging and include: colonial life; provincial and rural affairs; the French and American revolutions; reviews of literature and fashion throughout Europe; political debates; and London coffee house gossip and discussion.

The nineteenth century was the great age of the periodical. Fiction, non-fiction, book reviews, commentary on world events and more are all to be found in the periodicals of the day.

British Periodicals consists of two separate collections, British Periodicals Collection I and British Periodicals Collection II. Dates of coverage span 1681-1930s.

British Periodicals Collection I consists of more than 160 journals that comprise the UMI microfilm collection Early British Periodicals, the equivalent of 5,238 printed volumes containing approximately 3.1 million pages. Disciplines covered include literature, philosophy, history, science, the fine arts and the social sciences.

British Periodicals Collection II consists of more than 300 journals from the UMI microfilm collections English Literary Periodicals and British Periodicals in the Creative Arts together with additional titles, amounting to almost 3 million pages. Disciplines covered include literature, music, art, drama, archaeology and architecture.

British Periodicals Collection III extends the scope of the program by focusing on leading publications from the first half of the twentieth century. The titles are from the prestigious stable of illustrated periodicals known as the “Great Eight” in British periodical publishing history. They are considered to be among the foremost popular periodicals of the period and were highly influential in their mix of news/politics, miscellany, art, photography, literature and comedy/satire, while launching the careers of many leading artists/illustrators of the age.

British Periodicals Collection IV continues this expansion, offering an eclectic mix of major popular titles from the twentieth century, reflecting the age’s attitudes interests and events across culture, politics and society. Key themes covered in these publications include socialism and the labour movement, international affairs/conflict, leisure/rural life, the arts, travel/empire and childhood/youth.

You may search them all here or in the Libraries' electronic resources through the portal C19: The Nineteenth Century Index or through the Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals Online, also in the Libraries electronic resources.

"This database contains periodicals published between 1740 and 1940, including special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines and many other historically-significant periodicals."

American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Colonial Era through the Civil War and Reconstruction, providing digital access to a comprehensive collection of American periodicals published between 1684 and 1912.