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Online collection covers British government from 1801-2005
In one of the most significant acquisitions of recent years, the Library now provides the Northwestern community with online access to the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, 1801-2005. This collection is widely considered the most detailed primary source on the government of Great Britain, and its relationship with its colonies and the outside world.
Given its size and depth (the 20th century alone includes more than 5.2 million pages of documents), the advantages of the new electronic format over older, microform versions, are enormous. Users can search and browse the full contents of the collection by subject, session, chair/author, paper title, or year. The database’s high-quality scans of the original printed papers allow users to see all accompanying illustrations, statistics, and maps. Hyperlinking within the documents helps easily locate related documents.
As the working documents of government, the parliamentary papers encompass all areas of Britain’s social, political, economic, and foreign policy, revealing how issues were explored and legislation was formed. Many contributors to the papers were from outside the official world, but provided evidence or supplied memoranda to committees and commissions. In the 19th-century collection, for example, these contributors include Matthew Arnold, John Stuart Mill, Michael Faraday, Charles Babbage, and Edwin Chadwick.
Topics covered by the 20th-century collection range from the two World Wars and the Russian Revolution, the creation of the BBC, the formation of the British Commonwealth, and the abolition of the death penalty in Britain, to the dismantling of apartheid, the impact of the September 11 attacks, and new anti-terror laws.
Questions or comments about using the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers should be directed to bibliographer Harriet Lightman, h-lightman@northwestern.edu or x1-2920.