Microforms
The Society's collection of microforms is housed together with several
microform readers in the Nathaniel Cohen Microform Room, located off the
reading room. Many of the microforms shelved there are series that were
edited at AAS, including, on microfiche, the AAS-Readex Microprint
Corporation's Early American Imprints 1639-1800: First Series
(Evans), and Early American Imprints 1801-1819: Second Series
(Shaw-Shoemaker). The two series taken together provide readers with
access to most of the materials (excluding newspapers and
periodicals) published in the United States before 1820, whether the
original item is held by AAS or not. Cataloging records for the Evans
and Shaw-Shoemaker series are available through RLIN and the Society's
online catalog.
Other microform collections include the geographically organized
AAS-Readex series Early American Newspapers 1704-1820, on microfilm
and
microcard; University Microfilms International's American Periodical
Series 1741-1835 (APS), on microfilm; and Readex's Early American
Periodical Index 1743-1850, on microcard. The non-Readex newspapers
at
AAS, arranged geographically and available on microfilm, include some
Canadian and West Indian titles. The Society also possesses scattered
microform titles of non-APS periodicals, arranged by title. These titles
include Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 1855-1922; Godey's
Magazine, 1830-1878; and Harper's Weekly, 1857-1876. Available
also
is Research Publications, Inc.'s collection of American
Directories, on
microfiche, which includes all the directories published in the United
States to 1880 and was based on Dorothea N. Spear's Bibliography of
American Directories Through 1860 (Worcester, 1961). Jay Mack
Holbrook's
Massachusetts Vital Records, on microfiche, includes the vital
records
of Massachusetts towns.
Microfilm copies of a number of AAS manuscript collections are also
shelved in the microform room. These include three substantial series
based on AAS collections entitled New England Women and Their Families
in
the 18th and 19th Centuries: Personal Papers, Letters, and
Diaries published by University Publications of America. Availability
on
microform is noted by a rubber stamp on the collection description forms
housed in the reading room and in the manuscripts department.
Readers for all microform formats held by AAS are available in the
microform room. Also available are reader-printers for making paper
copies from microfilm and microfiche. Researchers may retrieve for
themselves the items they need and can make their own copies for a nominal
charge.
- Susan Motyka Anderson, Assistant Curator of Manuscripts
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