British papers now searchable online
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| www.insidehistory.com.au
Magpie (left)
and Duck (right), both from the late 1790s, by Aylmer Bourke Lambert
SLNSW’s landmark purchase A collection of 210-year-old artwork has returned to Australia. The crate of historical watercolours and drawings was unveiled in December by NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell at the State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW). The dossiers were purchased in the UK for A$7.1 million, with the financial support of TAL, its parent company Dai-ichi Life, the NSW Government and the State Library Foundation. The TAL & Dai-ichi Life Collection consists of 741 exquisite natural history artworks created by botanist Aylmer Bourke Lambert in the 1790s, and until this acquisition, had spent the past two centuries in private hands in England. “It is one of only two surviving comprehensive natural history collections of such substance from this period — the other major collection resides in London’s Natural History Museum,” said Mr O’Farrell. Highlights from the collection are on display at SLNSW until mid-February 2012. A free exhibition and regional tour is being planned for 2013. MORE www.slnsw.gov.au
Images Courtesy ABC, British Library, State Library of New South Wales
Up to 4 million pages of newspapers from across Britain and Ireland are now searchable online. The British Newspaper Archive (BNA), a joint project between the British Library and online publisher brightsolid, features more than 200 newspaper titles, and almost 700,000 articles relating to Australia. Dating mainly from the 1800s, but which includes runs back to the early 1700s, these are the stories of our ancestors as they experienced incredible social change. The BNA is free to search; to download full articles, users have a range of payment options starting from around A$10 (NZ$14), including access for 48 hours or 30 days, and a 12-month subscription. So, how does the BNA differ from Gale’s database of 19th-century British newspapers? The project will be wider in scope, and will eventually include newspapers up to 1949, says the BNA’s Grant Miller. “The plan is to add up to 8,000 new pages a day, with a target of reaching 40 million pages by 2021, so it’s very much a continuing project. And we believe people will be very impressed by the accuracy of the scans,” says Miller. MORE britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk