Yes, The Colonies were British . . . Part 2

Early English Books Online (EEBO) provides access to photographic images of the texts of over 125,000 works printed between 1475 and 1700. Publication in the English language is not a restriction: material in a diversity of languages is included, for instance: European languages, Hebrew, classical languages, and Algonquin. Neither is place a restriction and places of publication include: the North American colonies, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and European nations.

These images are printable and may be enlarged for ease of reading. Subjects covered include English literature, history, philosophy, linguistics, and the fine arts. Among the well-known authors represented are: Malory, Bacon, More, Erasmus, Boyle, Newton, and Galileo. Also included are musical exercises by Henry Purcell and novels by Aphra Behn; prayer books, pamphlets, and proclamations; and almanacs, calendars, and many other primary sources. From the Web site: “The original, printed version of royal statutes and proclamations, military, religious, legal, Parliamentary, and other public documents are reproduced in the collection.“ Access the collection at: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/eeb.html.

To use EEBO effectively you will benefit greatly by beginning with a careful reading of the various help screens, accessible at: http://eebo.chadwyck.com/help/contents.htm. While you can try it, don’t rely on it: Subject searching is NOT an effective way to mine EBBO, keyword searching – combined with other options -- is a wiser approach. Try both or combinations. When searching by keyword, be conscious that words have variant spellings, not to mention meanings. See “How do old spellings affect my searches? at: http://eebo.chadwyck.com/help/faqs.htm#7. Searching for meaning, perhaps the Oxford English Dictionary will help, visit it at: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/oed.html. Or do you need information about authors, subjects, or printers, try the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography at: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/ODNB.html. Be sure to also review the description of the collection at: http://eebo.chadwyck.com/about/about.htm. While users may search EEBO, representative texts have been identified to assist undergraduates and other users with becoming comfortable with the collection and the periods and topics covered, see these materials at: http://eebo.chadwyck.com/info_res/featured.htm. In addition, printable handouts are available that show how the students in a few disciplines can use the resource. These also are also accessible at: http://eebo.chadwyck.com/info_res/featured.htm. Text Recreation Partnership (TCP) subscribers have a richer set of options when searching than non-partners, because they have access to coded texts. To learn about this option, visit: http://www.lib.umich.edu/tcp/eebo/. SUNY Buffalo is a partner, and a list of partners is available at: http://www.lib.umich.edu/tcp/eebo/proj_stat/ps_partners.html.

UB Honors Student Wins Contest: Each year there is a contest to reward undergraduates for distinguished use of the collection, the first prize winner (not grand prize winner) for 2005 was SUNY-Buffalo’s Meghan Fadel, a University Honors scholar, for her paper "Reason through the Unreasonable." From the Spring 2005 Access: A Newsletter from the University at Buffalo Libraries: ". . . the essay addresses the 'last words' of condemned women uttered just before their execution . . . Investigating pamphlets dealing with the lives, convictions, proclamations of innnocence, and penitence of women 'felons' in the second half of the 17th century, Fadel places these documents in the framework of a genre of execution accounts."