Nineteenth-century sources are gradually migrating to the Web and BISON http://ublib.buffalo.edu, the Libraries' Web site, provides the perfect conduit to the past. For example, HarpWeek http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/lml/e-resources/harpweek.html, a digitized version of Harper's Weekly, recently has been added. Harper's Weekly (1857-1916) was one of America's most influential periodicals during the second half of the 19th century. It was copiously illustrated with the work of Mathew Brady, Winslow Homer and Thomas Nast, and it published serialized novels by Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins and Edward Bulwer-Lytton, as well as the poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and John Greenleaf Whittier. At its height, it commanded a circulation estimated at over 100,000 and a readership that may have exceeded 500,000. Through editorials, reporting and prose, it provided its readers of the Civil War period with remarkable images and explorations of life at home and on the battlefield. Every page has been superbly scanned, expertly indexed and every word has been keyed in. Once located, material may be viewed either in facsimile or as typed text.

For more than a century, the essential index to 19th century Anglo-American periodicals has been William Frederick Poole's Index to Periodical Literature (1802-1907). Poole's Plus http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/pooles.html is the Web version of this venerable index plus much more. The British Index to Periodicals (1890-1902) complements it, as does the Cleveland Public Library's Cumulative Index to a Selected List of Periodicals (1896-1899). Also included are indexes such as The New York Times Index (1863-1905), the New York Daily Tribune Index (1876-1906) and Index to Harper's Magazine (1850-1892). Indexing of The New York Times is carried beyond that provided by Poole's Plus with the Historical Index to The New York Times, 1851-1922 http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/lml/e-resources/nythist.html. Among indexes planned for future inclusion in Poole's Plus are Nineteenth Century Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature (1890-1899), Index Medicus (1879-1927), and General Index to Engineering Periodicals (1888-1893).

Full-text 19th-century periodicals are also accessible through The Making of America (MOA) Web sites: Cornell University's MOA site http://moa.cit.cornell.edu/moa/ offers 22 titles and the University of Michigan's MOA site http://www.hti.umich.edu/m/moajrnl/ offers 11 titles. Full-text books with 19th-century imprints abound on the On-Line Books Page, a Web site with an extraordinary collection of non-copyrighted titles maintained by the University of Pennsylvania library http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/. Our own netLibrary http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/netlibrary.html collection, available to all SUNY students and staff, also includes numerous 19th-century books. Just click on the "public e-books" link on the main netLibrary homepage.

For more information on these Web resources and many more primary and secondary sources related to the 19th century, contact Charles D'Aniello lclcharl@acsu.buffalo.edu or call 645-2814 ext. 424.