Morgan State University Expands Research Capabilities for Faculty and Students with New Access to Proprietary Readex Database

Morgan Becomes First HBCU in Mid-Atlantic Region to Utilize Expansive Digital Inventory of Early American Newspapers, Furthering Exploration of African American History

BALTIMORE—Morgan State University’s faculty and student researchers now have access to the Readex Early American Newspapers, Series 1, a carefully curated, primary source collection of historic documents that can be used for academic research in multiple areas of focus. Available via the University’s Earl S. Richardson Library website, this online asset provides faculty and students with digital access to more than 730 early American newspapers from 23 states and the District of Columbia dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries. The informative and resource rich database also offers contributions from renowned archives, historical societies and state libraries of higher education institutions such as the private collections of Brown and Harvard universities.

Morgan will be the first Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the Mid-Atlantic region to utilize Readex. It joins exclusive company as only two other Maryland universities, both of which Carnegie-classified high research (R1) institutions, and only two other HBCUs nationwide have access to the database. Underwritten by a Faculty Innovation Grant prepared by Felicia Y. Thomas, Ph.D., assistant professor of History within the James H. Gilliam, Jr. College of Liberal Arts at Morgan State, a lifetime subscription was negotiated by the University’s library staff ensuring access to Readex for future generations of Morgan students and researchers.

“Morgan State University is very fortunate to have scholars who are doing the important work of excavating pertinent missing pieces of Americana—namely a holistic understanding of Black life in the northern colonies, the colossal contributions free and enslaved Black people made to the nation in its nascent years through the Civil War, and the role of early American newspapers in the pro-slavery and abolition discourses,” said Patricia Dockery, Ph.D., associate vice president of Academic Affairs at Morgan State. “The University’s acquisition of Readex Early American Newspapers will enhance instruction using historical documents and further inspire students to conduct archival research.”

The database grants access to 340,000 issues of American newspapers that offer perspectives of the nation’s early periods. Users are able to search topics that include, U.S. History, American studies, British and European studies, business histories, environmental studies, ethnic studies, immigration studies, war and conflict, STEM history, and women’s studies.

“The breadth of the Readex catalog provides a greater context of pre-industrial life in America through the nuanced reporting of what conventional wisdom often ascribes as a simpler time, we can now see—and read—that these bygone eras were ripe with socio-economic and cultural complexities that in many respects persist in modern day America,” said Dr. Thomas. “ Access to this online resource gives Morgan students and faculty access to hundreds of historical newspapers, which constitute an important archive for those studying slavery, race, gender, politics, society and culture from the colonial through Civil War eras.” 

To access Readex at Morgan State University:

1. Visit the Earl S. Richardson Library website
2. Click the orange button, "Databases." You will get our A-Z Databases Listing
3. Click on the letter "E"
4. Click on "Early American Newspapers, Series 1' to get to Readex's America's Historical Newspapers database.

About Morgan

Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified high research (R2) institution offering more than 140 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland’s Preeminent Public Urban Research University, and the only university to have its entire campus designated as a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information about Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu.

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Media Contacts:

Dell Jackson and Cheryl Stewart, for University PR
443-885-3022