‘British Library Newspapers’

Stewart Gillies - 16 May 2007 - speaking at the BerksFHS Computer Branch, Woodley

Stewart started his talk with a brief description of the development of newspapers from the 17th century to the present day. The first English language paper was produced in 1620 in Amsterdam and it was two years later that the first paper was licensed for production in England. This was under the censorship of the Star Chamber and so contained no domestic news, only reports from Europe.

During the Civil War from about 1640 the censorship broke down, but was renewed after the Restoration when press controls and licensing were introduced. The papers, such as the London Gazette which first appeared in 1665 (published initially in Oxford) tended to report official publications. In 1698 the controls were not renewed and other forms of paper began to appear. In 1702 the Daily Courant was started, the first regular daily newspaper. These were expensive to produce and became more so with the introduction of stamp duty in 1712, followed by the advertising tax. This meant that the papers were only for the wealthy and in the 19th century Acts were passed aiming to curb Radical newspapers by duty on cheap publications and restrictions on publishers.

Local papers, such as the Reading Mercury which started in 1723, contained extracts from London papers but with local advertising. By the end of the century several London papers had started, but the Daily Universal Register (1785), renamed the Times in 1788 became the most noted. This carried advertising on its front page until 1960. It has now been indexed and digitised and is available online.

Newspapers expanded from the middle of the 19th century; stamp duty was abolished in 1855 and the use of wood pulp paper lead to better quality and lower costs. The expansion of the rail network increased the distribution leading to the introduction of the first Penny Papers.

Another new form of publication, aimed at a different readership, was developed with the start of the Illustrated London News in 1842. This was issued weekly, containing foreign news and domestic events, but illustrated with engravings. This was relatively expensive and several competitors appeared. A cheaper alternative, the Penny Illustrated Paper, appeared between 1861 and 1913 and this has been digitised and is available, Free, online from the Collect Britain site of the British Library. Other, often lurid, publications such as the Illustrated Police News contained reports from the courts with wood cuts.

As London papers became more widely distributed the local papers had to compete by including local news. Records of birth marriages and deaths can be found although as these were paid insertions the coverage was limited. Trade and professional papers, such as the Grocer or Bookseller appeared and these also contained advertisements and obituaries.

A project to identify and catalogue 19th century newspapers and periodicals is the Waterloo Directory. This Canadian project is available by subscription online; it may become available at Colindale.

Newspapers continued expanding in the 20th century, the Daily Mail started as a broadsheet in 1896 with short articles aimed at the commuter. In 1903 the Daily Mirror introduced the new tabloid format and made use of photographs. The Mirror now has a subscription archive. Paper shortages 1914-1918 meant that some publications became weekly and others were closed and a similar thing happened in 1939-1945. Papers recovered after the wars, but since 1950 have lost influence and declined in size due to the influence of TV and alternative sources of information. The loss of advertising has also affected national papers but against that is the growth, since the 1970s of the free press, which is funded by advertisements.

More information on the development of the British Newspapers can be found at
http://www.bl.uk/collections/britnews.html

Colindale

The British Library Newspapers collections at Colindale consist of nearly 700k volumes/parcels and over 370k reels of microfilm. There are 2,600 UK and Irish titles acquired since 1869 under the legal deposition scheme. It also includes the main London daily and Sunday papers since 1801; pre 1801 copies are held by the main Library. There is a fairly comprehensive cover of regional papers from 1840 with some earlier editions.

There are extensive collections of Commonwealth newspapers from the late 18th century onwards and a selection from other countries back to 1631. The collection is strong in papers from West & East European countries and also the USA. Asiatic papers are only collected in the English language version. Trade papers are also held along with magazines received under the legal deposit scheme. Some of these have been transferred to the main BL Humanities Collections at St Pancras.

A few printed indexes of newspapers are available; the Times from 1785 and the Guardian from 1842. A list of publications can be found at http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/newspapers.html

Many recent newspapers are available online in the reading room.

A major project, which will hopefully be complete later this year, is the digitisation of complete runs of some British national, regional and locally important newspapers, dates 1800-1900 http://www.bl.uk/collections/britishnewspapers1800to1900.html. Unfortunately this will not be available online, but is intended for use in universities and libraries (NB the library at Reading University is open to the public).

Colindale is open 10.00-17.00 Monday to Saturday. Readers must provide proof of identity document bearing their signature or a British Library photographic pass. Advance reservations of up to 4 items may be made 48 hours in advance by email or by phone 020 7412 7353. A request at the Reading Room will take approximately 30-60 minutes to deliver. Latest time for ordering is 14.15.

Only pencils may be used in the reading room and cameras are not allowed. This may change some time in the future.

There is no café on the site but there is a lounge with a dispensing machine.

updated 1 Sep 2007