Local and Regional History Online

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PREPUBLICATION ANNOUNCEMENT 

A history of American life in images and texts

The study of one’s family history is the study of self-identity. People long to understand where they come from, and the forces that have shaped their family over the generations. Too often genealogical research results are limited to a collection of sterile facts and figures. To truly understand the environments of one’s forebears, it is not enough to know just the when and where—one must be able to see and feel the people and places that played such an important role in a family’s history. 

To address this need, Alexander Street Press and Arcadia Publishing, the nation’s leading publisher of local and regional history books, have partnered to develop Local and Regional History Online. This new database enables individuals to experience history on a personal level, an achievement previously impossible in traditional history books that often only focus on the accomplishments of a select few celebrities and politicians. In this database are the stories of your town, your city, and your street. They are the stories of immigrants, laborers, and debutantes; of local architecture and corner drugstores; of racism and tolerance; of mothers and daughters and fathers and sons; of homecomings and funerals. They are the real stories of American life.

This unique online collection is cultivated from Arcadia Publishing’s award-winning series of local history books, and includes over 1 million historical images and texts, celebrating the places and faces that give America its spirit and life. Through vintage images Local and Regional History Online allows your patrons to get a curbside look and street level understanding of a town’s bygone times. Encompassing thousands of towns and cultural groups in all fifty states, users will find the database addictive. Reconnecting people with their past. Inducing memories. Sparking conversations of yesterday, and ultimately helping people find their place in history.

Alexander Street is painstakingly indexing over 1 million images and accompanying texts to present the user with unlimited search and retrieval possibilities. With Alexander Street’s powerful Semantic Indexing™, users easily can conduct searches such as:

• Show me pictures and descriptions of African-American schools in Dekalb County, Georgia. In the rest of Georgia. In the Southeast. In the country as a whole.

• Show me pictures of coal miners in Kentucky and Virginia from 1900-1950.

• Give me photographs and depictions of the Irish-American community in Youngstown, Ohio. In all of the Midwest. Compared to the Italian-American communities in these areas.

• Show me examples of neo-colonial architecture in the Northeast and Southwest.

• Give me images and texts describing Georgetown in Washington, DC from 1960-1980.

• Show me pictures and descriptions of college football games in Nebraska in the 1950s.

Local and Regional History Online will be available in early 2009, through an annual subscription, or a one-time purchase of perpetual rights. Libraries can choose to purchase access to the entire collection, or to regional subsets of the collection. Contact sales@alexanderstreet.com or your sales representative for more information.

Arcadia Publishing

Established in 1993, Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States. Their mission is to make history accessible and meaningful and to celebrate and preserve the heritage of America’s people and places. Arcadia is working diligently with its author base to secure electronic rights to content in advance of the 2009 launch date.