On trial: Colonial State Papers

*The Library now has access to Colonial State Papers until 31st July 2024 as part of ProQuest Access 350.*

Further to a request from an academic in HCA I’m pleased to let you know that the Library currently has trial access to Colonial State Papers from ProQuest. From British trade and history, to overseas expansion between the 16th and 18th centuries, Colonial State Papers provide a fascinating insight into the past.

You can access the database via the E-resources trials page. Access is available both on and off-campus.

Trial access ends 19th December 2018.

Through collaboration with The National Archives, Colonial State Papers offers you access to over 7,000 hand-written documents and more than 40,000 bibliographic records and is an incredibly useful resource for anyone looking at Colonial History. In addition to Britain’s colonial relations with the Americas and other European rivals for power, the Colonial State Papers also include coverage of the Caribbean and Atlantic world.

Colonial State Papers features two primary collections:

  • Collection from the National Archives (CO 1)
    This collection represents thousands of papers that were presented to the Privy Council and the Board of Trade between 1574-1757, that relate to the governance of, and activities in, the American, Canadian and West Indian colonies of England.
  • Calendar of State Papers Colonial
    This collection has an advanced bibliographic search tool providing over 40,000 records of bibliographic description for documents from many collections, including those of CO 1. The Calendar of State Papers Colonial consists of bibliographic entries along with transcriptions, extracts and abstracts, in fully keyed XML.

The database can be accessed for the duration of the trial period via e-resources trials.
Access available until 19th December 2018.
Feedback welcome.

Access is only available to current students and staff at University of Edinburgh.

Caroline Stirling – Academic Support Librarian for History, Classics and Archaeology