ALEXANDRIA, VA and CHARLESTON, SC, June 23, 2009—Electronic publisher Alexander Street Press and local history book publisher Arcadia Publishing today announced the release of Local and Regional History Online: A History of American Life in Images and Texts. The collection includes hundreds of thousands of images and corresponding texts from every region and state in the U.S. and from many areas of Canada. It will grow to contain more than one million cross-searchable images, including photographs, postcards, maps, and other primary materials.

Says Alexander Street history editor Greg Urquhart, “Arcadia is the largest and most respected local history publisher in the U.S. and the best imaginable partner for this project. Every Arcadia book captures a piece of American history through primary documents and images. With Alexander Street’s Semantic Indexing™, the collection becomes a massive and powerful primary-source research tool, a tapestry of the places and people that constitute this country’s social history.”

Urquhart noted that the collection will serve many disciplines, showing the personal stories and photos of immigrants, laborers, and newsmakers; documenting the local architecture of homes and businesses; showing images of racism and tolerance; and delivering history as observed in real time. Said Urquhart, “Researchers can identify images related to a specific region or event; compare architectural trends across regions and time periods; trace waves of immigration over time; or find images that give them a sense of labor conditions in New York’s garment district in the 1900s, or that help them understand living conditions in a Japanese internment camp during WW2, for example.”

Arcadia Publishing’s CEO Richard Joseph pointed out that the collection will be equally valuable for public library patrons. “Whether you’re a genealogy buff, a local historian, or a student exploring your home town’s history or the migration of family members around the country, this collection will give you a curbside look at bygone days and a street-level understanding of the lives of prior generations. Search across regions and decades for others who share your family name; trace changes to your home town’s Main Street from the late 1800s to the early 1900s; explore the history of a favorite building or public park; and find images of the places your grandmother remembers from her childhood. The collection is both addictive and fascinating. It presents history in the most meaningful sense.”

Local and Regional History Online can be browsed online for free at http://lrho.alexanderstreet.com.The collection is available to libraries via subscription or outright purchase of perpetual rights. Libraries can purchase the entire collection or select specific regional subsets. Individuals who are interested in accessing the collection should contact their university or public library for more information or to request trial access.

© Copyright 2009 Alexander Street Press. All rights reserved.                        Last Updated: 26-Jun-2009