Adam Matthews Digital Subscription Resources

Adam Matthew Digital is a subscription database that handles specialized collections. The target audience would be those folks interested in research, education and librarianship.


The collections are divided into 20 areas of focus that include:

• America, Asia and the Pacific
  
• India, Raj and Empire
• Defining Gender, 1450 - 1910
• Travel Writing, Spectacle and World History
  
• China, Trade, Politics and Culture 1893-1980

What is available is primary sources from diarists/journalists (in this case people who had direct experience with a situation and wrote letters to friends or recorded the event for their personal memory book) and documentation from business sources, drawings and photographs and similar material.

The collection draws upon the experience of teachers, professors and library collections. There are essays available to provide an introduction. This is a fee based service but there are free samples that you can use to evaluate the usefulness of the collections.

I was able to find an sample article on "Research Strategies on Women, Popular Culture and Family Life in American 1800-1920" by Amy Blair, Assistant Professor, Marquette University.
It was a review of the publication of that time that reflected the cultural values of what a woman should aspire in terms of her home, domestic affairs and fashion.

If you are interested in evaluation the site there is a four week trial period that is available to librarians or school faculty. There is none available to students. However I would suggest that students keep an eye out for some of the free sample information that is located on the site. A few of the freebies that I found was very informative.