The Burney Collection has been purchased by JISC Collections and is available free of charge in perpetuity to UK Higher and Further Education institutions and Research Councils.
Institutions now have free online access to nearly 1 million pages from 1,270 parliamentary papers, pamphlets, proclamations, newsbooks, and newspapers published in England, Ireland and Scotland between 1600-1800.
The newspapers and news pamphlets, gathered by the Reverend Charles Burney (1757-1817) represent the largest single collection of 17th and 18th century English news media available from the British Library. The collection includes more than 1000 pamphlets, proclamations, newsbooks and newspapers from the period, including the first successful London daily and first illustrated newspaper. The collection covers more than 200 years of accounts from newspapers from England, Ireland, Scotland and a selection of papers from British colonies in the Americas and Asia. Students and researchers can conduct full-text searches of nearly 1 million pages - some 1,270 titles. The archive helps researchers chart the development of the newspaper beginning with irregularly published transcriptions of Parliamentary debates and proclamations to coffee house newsbooks.
A sample list of newspapers available through the Burney Collection includes:
- British Journal
- British Chronicle
- Evening Post
- General Advertiser
- Hoey's Dublin Mercury
- London Chronicle
- London Morning Penny Post
- Original Weekly Journal
- Whitehall Evening Post
Subject areas
Anthropology, cultural studies, economics, history, journalism, media studies, medicine, politics, science, sociology and technology.
Academic level
This resource is suitable for learning, teaching, and research at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.
Date range
1600-1800
Updates
There are no planned updates for the resource covered by this licence. This collection represents Burney's complete collection of 17th and 18th century newspapers.
Testimonials, Case Studies or User Reviews
"Having spoken to some members of academic staff in the School of English and American Studies, it is becoming increasingly evident that the database is proving to be a very useful reaserch tool. It has the capacity to provide access to a myriad of articles and ephemera which would have previously been very labour-intensive and difficult to find."
Rose Goodier, University of Manchester
Download a case study the advantages of using digitised newspapers
- by Ginevra House, Engagement Officer, British Library.
Additional content
No additional content to be added.
Publisher's selection policy
Based on Charles Burney's 18th Century bibliography.
Comparable resources
18th Century Parliamentary Papers.
Complementary resources
By subscribing to 19th Century House of Commons Parliamentary Papers and The Burney Collection, over 300 years of newspaper history can be accessed and discovered.
By subscribing to 19th Century UK Periodicals Online, Series 1, 19th Century British Library Newspapers and The Burney Collection, users can accesss over 300 years of newspaper history and the birth of modern magazine publishing.
Access and content are free in perpetuity.
Full text linking
This is possible.
Federated searching
This will be in place for 2009.
MARC records
MARC records are available for this resource.
Metadata standards
Metadata would be similar standard to the 19th Century British Library Newspapers and Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO).
Search options
Basic, Advanced, Publication Search, Browse Publication by Location. More information can be found at: www.gale.com/digitalcollections.
Post-search options
Bookmarks to save searches, print, email and download feature (html or pdf). Full text only so no citations to export.
Usage statistics
Counter Compliant Usgage Statistics: See following link for details: http://support.gale.com/gale/article.html?article=1675.
Authentication
Authentication is available by a number of methods as for other gale databases. See the full list at: http://support.gale.com/gale/article.html?article=1161.
Personalisation of the Online Resource
Login screen can be personalised ie logo. Other features not available.
Accessibility
Details on the Accessibility policy can be found at: http://support.gale.com/gale/article.html?article=1168