Collage of mastheads included in the Southeast Asian Newspapers digital collection, courtesy of East View Information Services
The Center for Research Libraries and East View Information Services have launched Southeast Asian Newspapers, the fifth open access collection of titles digitized under the Global Press Archive CRL Alliance. Southeast Asian Newspapers follows Imperial Russian Newspapers, Independent and Revolutionary Mexican Newspapers, Late Qing and Republican-Era Chinese Newspapers, and Middle Eastern and North African Newspapers, the Alliance’s first five open access collections. Southeast Asian Newspapers adds to the growing body of open access material available in the Global Press Archive, by virtue of support from Center for Research Libraries members and other participating institutions.
The Southeast Asian Newspapers collection encompasses over 265,000 digitized pages from 65 publications, including: Gia định báo (the first Vietnamese newspaper, published in Saigon from 1865–1910), Nagara vatta (the first Cambodian-language newspaper), and Bramartani (a weekly newspaper from Surakarka, Indonesia), among others.
Southeast Asian Newspapers is part of the Global Press Archive CRL Alliance, a multiyear flagship collaboration between the Center for Research Libraries and East View Information Services to deliver nine collections of up to 4.5 million pages of content, with 3 million pages available open access. In addition to five open access collections, three in-copyright collections are currently available under the auspices of the Alliance: El Caribe Digital Archive, East African Newspapers, and Middle Eastern and North African Newspapers.
Fundraising for Phase 2 of the Global Press Archive CRL Alliance is currently underway and continues this successful commercial-academic partnership. Phase 2 highlights the same focus on open-access and contemporary content, supporting research in previously bounded areas and increasing diverse perspectives while making rare, vernacular newspaper content broadly accessible.
A two-year commitment, Phase 2 plans to deliver up to 3 million pages of content, including 2 million pages as open access content and 1 million pages of in-copyright content available to CRL members and Alliance supporters. For more information, details of the proposed Phase 2 offer, and cost models suggested by CRL, see Global Press Archive Phase 2 in eDesiderata (or email gpa@crl.edu with questions).
