State Papers Online: Part II

Gale, part of Cengage Learning, in conjunction with The National Archives, has  released State Papers Online Part II. This is the second of a four-part digital collection and claims to be among the most valuable and reliable resources for understanding Tudor and Stuart government and society.

This collection includes the sixteenth-century Foreign, Scotland, Borders and Ireland Papers, as well as the Registers (‘minutes’) of the Privy Council, the monarch’s closest advisors. The collection contains facsimile images of the correspondence written and received by the ruling monarchs, as well as those of their courtiers, administrators, judges and clergy. Great international themes, including marriage contracts, wars and treaties, trade and commerce and religion, can be tracked in these documents.

Caroline Kimbell, head of licensing at The National Archives, commented, 'The State Papers are The National Archives' bedrock early modern collection, and represent the authentic, original workings of government at the birth of the modern state. Cengage Learning is to be congratulated for building such an innovative online environment in which to read, search, share and collaborate in research not just on the well-known domestic records, but on this further set of more challenging foreign material.  We are proud to have facilitated the project.'

To help historians transcribe more quickly and accurately, Cengage Learning has also introduced a notepad-style tool which allows individuals to prepare their notes alongside the historical document without the need to toggle between different screens and applications.

Parts III and IV containing the Seventeenth Century State Papers Domestic, Foreign, Ireland, Registers of the Privy Council will follow in 2010 and 2011.