CRL’s Shared Purchase Program is a cooperative effort to acquire costly major microform collections and printed sets. Any CRL library can contribute funds toward the purchase of any item on the Shared Purchase Program ballots in this voluntary program. Balloting information (the login page url along with the institution-specific username and password) has been sent to all CRL library contacts for this program. Ballots must be submitted by Wednesday, April 6. (Due to the request of several members, the original deadline of March 30 has been extended a week.)

For more information on the Shared Purchase Program, or if you or your institution have not received the balloting information and you believe you should have, please contact Mary Wilke,  CRL Member Liaison and Outreach Services Director, or visit http://www.crl.edu/shared-purchase-program.

This year the following five collections are listed on the Shared Purchase ballots (please note that background information may have been taken from vendor descriptions or from
information supplied by the nominator):

1. Gubernatorial Reports of Russian Imperial Governors 1855-64

IDC Publishers
1,176 microfiches
Subjects: Slavic/ East European/Eurasian Studies Economics Statistics
Notes: 1855–64
Background: The 19th-century reports of the provincial governors of the Russian Empire dispatched annually to the Ministry of the Interior and ultimately to the Tsar himself are a primary source for research on Russian history. From 1804 until the revolution of 1917 these reports documented economic changes, political events, and popular disturbances as well as the actions of provincial administrations. They preserve an unparalleled, first-hand contemporary account of life and politics in Tsarist Russia.
Nominator’s Comments: High research interest.

2. Lyttelton Times. Christchurch, New Zealand

Bludeau Partners International LLC
60 reels
Subjects: New Zealand history and culture
Notes: 1890–01 and 1907–08
Background: The Lyttelton Times (LT) was one of the principal newspapers of the Canterbury region for 80 years. It was published from 1851 until 1929, when it became the Christchurch Times until publication ceased in 1935 (from Wikipedia).
Nominator’s Comments: CRL holds LT from 1902 to 1906 and has a very limited representation of other New Zealand mainstream papers. The LT was the oldest newspaper of the Canterbury provincial district, which was settled in the early 1850s. The title was requested by a member of our History faculty. Filming of 1890–1906 has been completed with reels soon available. A gap from July to December of 1902 will be filled as filming for 1907–20 is completed.
CRL Comments: CRL presently holds from 1902 to 1906 of this title.

3. Sources on Social Welfare Freie Wohlfahrtspflege

Harald Fischer Verlag
17 reels
Subjects: Social Welfare, Germany
Notes: 1848–World War II
Background: The German social state was to a large extent formed by the field of independent welfare work. Philanthropical and Christian initiatives and organizations spearheaded social work in the 19th century. During the Weimar Republic, the influence of the non-statutory and in particular, religious welfare agencies, was so great that lawmakers had to consider them when drafting new state welfare laws. In the dual system of welfare, which in this form is unique in Europe, the independent welfare work carries main responsibilities. The journals edited in this series from the Protestant Inner Mission, the Catholic Charity Society, the Jewish, and the nonconfessional independent welfare work reflect this key position. The first five titles come from the holdings of the Library of the Social Service Agencies of the Protestant Church in Berlin; the holdings of additional libraries will be taken into account in the future. The series contains central and, up to now, little-regarded sources of German social history from before the 1848 Revolution up to the Second World War.
Nominator’s Comments: The set is widely held in Germany and German-speaking countries but unavailable in North America. The history of the welfare state has long been a topic of high interest in Germany and Europe in general. The topic is highly relevant to the discussion about the history of health care in the U.S. and the history of the religious left on both sides of the Atlantic. The set is interdisciplinary in nature. (Descriptions provided by Sebastian Hierl, Librarian for Western Europe, Harvard College Library.)

4. Xin Wen Bao Microfilm

National Library of China
526 reels
Subjects: Politics, History, China
Notes: 2/17/1893–5/27/1949
Background: Further Description: CRL has hard copy holdings of Feb. 25 and 28, 1925, and July 28, 1927.
Nominator’s Comments: Reasons for Consideration:

• Value: an important primary source published in Shanghai for researching Chinese Modern History. Originally owned jointly by foreigners and local Chinese, it was once the most widely distributed newspaper in China.
• Pertinence: The newspaper covers the late Qing and the entire Minguo Republican eras, during which many influential revolutions took place, including the Boxer Rebellion, an anti-colonialist and anti-Christian movement by Yi-He-Tuan Xinhai, 1911 Revolution, the death of Manchu, Imperial Dynasty and the birth of the first republican government, May-Fourth Movement, nationwide protests against the Chinese government’s weak response to the Treaty of Versailles, Sino-Japanese War, and the growing Communist Movement, eventually the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. Many Chinese historians’ research focuses on this timeframe.
• Completeness: The proposed purchase will make the current CRL holdings of the newspaper archive complete.

5. Zhongguo jin dai Zhong yi yao qi kan hui bian
Shanghai Zhong yi yao da xue bian ji
Shanghai ci shu chu ban she 2010-06-01.

CIBTC China Intl Book Trading Corp.
200 paper volumes
Subjects: Chinese traditional medicine
Notes: 19th and early 20th century
Background: This series in five parts contains a total of 200 volumes of reprints of modern (19th- and early 20th-century) periodicals on Chinese traditional medicine.
Nominator’s Comments: Demand exists for this field from historians of science and practitioners. We have recently seen quite a few students in this area, certainly an emerging field of Chinese history.