Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (SULAIR) has recently added the database American Broadsides and Ephemera to the Readex Archives of Americana (which currently includes the Evans Digital and Shaw-Shoemaker collections of early American literature, Early American Newspapers, and the U.S. Serial Set).
Based on the American Antiquarian Society's collection--the most extensive in existence--this digital edition offers fully searchable facsimile images of approximately 15,000 broadsides printed between 1820 and 1900 and 15,000 pieces of ephemera printed between 1760 and 1900. The diverse subjects of these broadsides and ephemera range from contemporary accounts of the Civil War, unusual occurrences, and natural disasters to government proclamations, tax bills, trade cards, menus, playbills, and stock certificates.
For researchers of nineteenth-century social and cultural history, these materials provide essential information on a wide variety of local and national organizations and societies that were established to promote industrial and mechanical arts, agriculture, science, public education, fine arts, and various reform movements.
American Broadsides and Ephemera can be searched as a single collection, or combined in a federated search with other databases in the Archive of Americana. American Broadsides and Ephemera can be found on SULAIR's Databases A-Z page or on the 19th Century/Civil War resources page at:
http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/hasrg/abhist/ushist/civilwar.html
