The January 2020 issue of The Charleston Advisor offers a full look at a long-awaited digital collection of bawdy U.S. newspapers. This new review includes detailed sections on content, user interface/searchability, pricing, and purchase/contract options. The following is from the review’s abstract:

The American Underworld: Flash Press Collection available from Readex is a treasure trove of early American metropolitan journalism, providing a rare glimpse into unique, short-lived, and often bawdy newspaper titles which found their glory days between the 1830s and 1850s. Akin to the tabloid presses of today, these publications often presented the seamier aspects of everyday urban society, often preaching against the very topics on which they reported. In the more than sixty papers available through the American Antiquarian Society, this collection represents some of the rarest of all American newspapers and contains unique research material for those in urban studies, women’s studies, criminal justice, Victorian society, and the literature of the nineteenth century.

The Charleston Advisor continues:

The visibility and clarity of each article is truly stunning, since the database allows for significant detail and zooming options….The Flash Press Collection is made up entirely of primary source material, making it ideal for courses rooted in this type of historical examination and exploration….From the standpoint of accessibility and significance to scholarship and research, the value of this rare and unique primary source content cannot be overstated.

To learn more about the value of this new digital collection, please take a minute to watch the video below.

For more information about making American Underworld: The Flash Press available at your institution, please contact Readex.