Readex

While you’re on site at the Library Company, enjoy free access to the Readex All-Search, or see the curated sub-collections below. If you are not on site, you will not be able to access the database without a subscription.

Established more than 80 years ago, Readex, a division of NewsBank, Inc., publishes unique, important, and carefully curated primary source collections for academic research.

Readex partners with the Library Company and many of the world’s most renowned archives, libraries, and historical societies to identify and digitize primary source documents that are compelling in the classroom and vital for researchers.

Readex Databases from the Library Company’s Collections

African Americans and Jim Crow: Repression and Protest

African Americans and Jim Crow: Repression and Protest offers more than 1,000 fully searchable printed works critical for insight into African-American culture and life from the beginning of Jim Crow to World War I and beyond.

African Americans and Reconstruction: Hope and Struggle

African Americans and Reconstruction: Hope and Struggle provides nearly 1,400 fully searchable printed works essential for understanding the African-American struggle for identity from the end of the Civil War to the beginning of Jim Crow.

African History and Culture 1540-1921

African History and Culture, 1540-1921, features over 1,300 fully cataloged and searchable books, pamphlets, almanacs, broadsides, and ephemera that exploration the history, peoples, and socio-economic development of the African continent from the 16th century to the early 20th century.

America’s Historical Imprints

America’s Historical Imprints contains 3 collections and 2 supplements of books, pamphlets, broadsides and other scarce printed material.

Black Authors 1556-1922

Black Authors, 1556-1922, encompasses over 550 works written by black authors from various regions, including the Americas, Europe, and Africa. The collection covers an extensive range of genres, including personal narratives, autobiographies, histories, novels, essays, poems, and musical compositions.

Caribbean History and Culture

Caribbean History and Culture, 1535-1920, is an extensive collection of over 1,200 cataloged and searchable items such as books, pamphlets, almanacs, broadsides, and ephemera related to the Caribbean region.

Digital Shaw-Shoemaker

Published in cooperation with the American Antiquarian Society, the Shaw-Shoemaker Series provides online access to books, pamphlets, and broadsides from the 19th century.