The Center for Research Libraries will purchase nine valuable microform sets through this year’s Purchase Proposal Program, with a list price value of $151,200. These sets will soon be available through interlibrary loan at CRL.

Many major microform sets and collections can be too costly for individual institutions, and are not readily available through interlibrary loan. Through the Purchase Proposal Program, CRL libraries nominate microform and hard copy collections for CRL purchase. This cooperative purchase program is one of the most valuable benefits of a CRL membership.

CRL members nominated and voted for the following sets in the 2011 program (a pdf version of this list is also available):

Annonces, affiches, et avis divers. Paris (1752–92)

• 11 reels; $1,350 list
• This general interest journal covered events in Paris during this time period.

China and the West: The Maritime Customs Service Archive from the Second Historical Archives of China Nanjing.

• Parts 1–7 will be purchased this year for a total of 372 reels, and with a total list cost of all parts of $74,400.

• The Maritime Customs Service was an organ of the Chinese state set up by the British to control external and internal trade, resulting in a key archive for the study of China and its relations with the Imperial West in the late Quing and Republican periods (1850–1949). The rich and detailed material here--untainted by Communist revisionist historians because over 80 percent of it is in English--is new to international scholarly attention thanks to an Anglo-Chinese cataloguing project.

The Colonial Economy in the Netherlands Indies: Part I: The Commission to Investigate the Sugar Manufactories on Java 1854-1857; Part II: The Commission for Industrial Development in the Netherlands Indies 1915-1926.

• Parts 1 and 2 will be purchased for a total of 544 fiches, and with a total list cost of all parts of $5,300.
• The set is of great interest for the History of the Netherlands and Southeast Asia/Indonesia and for Colonial Studies. (Description provided by Sebastian Hierl, Librarian for Western Europe Harvard College Library.)

Early Printed Books on Religion from Colonial Spanish America 1543/4 - c.1800

• 406 titles, 1,038 Microfiche; $12,165 list
• In colonial Spanish America, the publishing output was dominated by doctrinal and devotional works, confessionals, hymnals, and saints’ lives. The British Library collection comprises more than 400 works from this period, the majority of which are from Mexico and Peru. The edition will also appeal to those who study or collect sources in Native American languages.

Ha-Arets. Tel Aviv (1919-63)

• 188 reels; $20,000 list
• Since its establishment in 1919, ha-Arets, Israel’s oldest daily newspaper, has provided coverage of pre-1948 Palestine under Ottoman rule, the British Mandate, and later the State of Israel, the Jewish world, and the Middle East. It currently covers defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, international affairs, and general Middle Eastern affairs. Most CRL members who receive print editions do not archive it.

L'Aube. Paris (1932-June 1940, Aug 1944-Oct 1951)

• 27 reels; $3,260 list
• L'Aube was an influential newspaper and voice of the Catholic political movement in France before WWII, as well as during the reconstruction and early years of the short-lived and tumultuous 4th Republic. (Description provided by Sebastian Hierl, Librarian for Western Europe Harvard College Library)

Popular Literature Fiction and Songs in Imperial Russia.

• IDC Publishers
• 208 titles, 425 fiche; $7,900 list
• This set represents a rich source of often overlooked linguistic and cultural material. This collection adds to IDC’s series of Mass Culture and Entertainment in Russia, several modules of which CRL has recently acquired.

Records of the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas: the Roberts Commission 1943-1946 microform.

• 181 reels to fill in CRL holdings; $22,625 list
• The textual records of the Roberts Commission contain information on art-looting damage to cultural institutions and monuments during World War II and measures taken for the protection and restitution of property after the war. Although the Commission was active from 1943 to 1946, its records include some materials dating from 1940 and to 1947.

Renaissance Commonplace Books from the Sloane Collection at the British Library

• 21 reels; $4,200 list
• Although commonplace books can provide an indication of what people were reading and what interested them, it is unlikely that manuscript commonplace books will be digitized any time soon, unlike printed resources.

Total List Price: $151,200

Licensing

In response to strong interest expressed by members last year, CRL included offers for electronic resources on this year’s ballot. Member input resulted in favorable terms for those who wished to participate in Electronic Enlightenment; Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Part One Independence, Partition and the Nehru Era, 1947-1964; and Times of India Online. Six other electronic resources were surveyed for member interest. CRL will be pursuing offers and free trial access for these in the upcoming year.

For more information, please visit the Purchase Proposal Program page or contact Mary Wilke, Member Liaison and Outreach Services Director, at: mwilke@crl.edu