Readex, a publisher of online historical collections, has announced that it will begin publishing Early American Newspapers, Series II, 1758-1900, and Series III, 1829-1922 in March 2006. These series offer searchable digital facsimiles of more than 350 18th-, 19th- and 20th-century newspapers, totaling nearly three million pages. These and all Archive of Americana collections are published in cooperation with the American Antiquarian Society (AAS).

The historical newspapers in Series II and Series III are diverse chronologically and geographically. The titles in Series II focus on the period between 1820 and 1860, when the number of American newspapers rose dramatically, transformed by an increasing emphasis on local society, industry, scientific and technological advances, crime, investigative journalism, and stories of human interest. The titles in Series III focus on the period between 1861 and 1900, reflecting the growth of newspapers in number and in size following the formation of the Associated Press, during and after the Civil War, and throughout the period of westward expansion. Both series offer newspapers from all 50 present states.

Series II, 1758-1900 and Series III, 1829-1922 offer titles listed in Clarence S. Brigham's "History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820" and other authoritative bibliographies. Based primarily on the holdings of the American Antiquarian Society, which houses a collection of American newspapers through 1876, Series II and Series III also include titles from the collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Library of Congress. Bibliographic control for Series II and III's post-1820 titles comes from Winifred Gregory's "American Newspapers 1821-1936: A Union List of Files Available in the United States and Canada."

(www.readex.com)