ANN ARBOR, Mich., October 23, 2007 - ProQuest's Colonial State Papers are now available. Through a partnership with The National Archives in the UK, ProQuest is offering digital access to Colonial State Papers. Up until now, researchers wishing to study these documents in full colour have had to visit The National Archives. This exciting new project vastly improves access to these valuable hand-written materials, offering new insight into British trade, history and overseas expansion between the 16th and 18th centuries.

"I cannot stress the importance of the papers enough," said Dr. Denver Brunsman, assistant professor, department of history at Wayne State University.  "In my case, having these materials available electronically would have saved me weeks in the British Public Record Office."

The National Archives' collection 'CO 1' (full name - Privy Council and related bodies: America and West Indies, Colonial Papers) contains thousands of papers that were presented to the Privy Council  and the Board of Trade between 1574-1757, and which relate to England's governance of, and activities in the American, Canadian and West Indian colonies. ProQuest's Colonial State Papers, from ProQuest's Chadwyck-Healy™ publishing unit, also includes the digitized Calendar of State Papers Colonial - an advanced bibliographic tool providing more than 45,000 records of bibliographic description, covering not only CO 1, but also documents from many other collections, all relating to the American colonies. Calendar of State Papers Colonial consists of bibliographic entries along with full transcriptions, extracts and abstracts, in fully keyed XML.

Users will gain insight on a wide range of subjects including:

• Early English colonization of North America
• Western Atlantic trade and commerce, from Nova Scotia to the West Indies
• Relations between settlers and Native Americans
• English rivalries with the French and Spanish
• Maritime history - fishing, exploration, and piracy
• Origins of Slavery in North America
• Correspondence of major figures of the time, including Humphrey Gilbert, Francis Walsingham, and Richard Grenville

All of the documents digitized from CO 1, including a number of contemporary hand-drawn maps, have been reproduced as full color, high quality images directly from the original documents.  Images are available for download and a special viewing tool allows users to zoom in on the page and explore the documents in detail.  Users will have a choice of searching or browsing the database and will be able to filter their view to just collection CO 1 or expand it to include all documents recorded in the Calendar of State Papers Colonial.  Users can search on document title, place of origin, dates, index terms, keywords, and catalogue references. 

For more information visit www.proquest.com.

About ProQuest
ProQuest creates specialized information resources and technologies that propel successful research, discovery, and lifelong learning. A global leader in serving libraries of all types, ProQuest offers the expertise of such respected brands as Chadwyck-Healey™, UMI®, SIRS®, and eLibrary®. With Serials Solutions®, Ulrich's™, RefWorks®, COS™, Dialog® and now Bowker® part of the ProQuest brand family, the company supports the breadth of the information community with innovative discovery solutions that power the business of books and the best in research experience.

More than a content provider or aggregator, ProQuest is an information partner, creating indispensable research solutions that connect people and information. Through innovative, user-centered discovery technology, ProQuest offers billions of pages of global content that includes historical newspapers, dissertations, and uniquely relevant resources for researchers of any age and sophistication—including content not likely to be digitized by others. Inspired by its customers and their end users, ProQuest is working toward a future that blends information accessibility with community to further enhance learning and encourage lifelong enrichment.

For more information, visit www.proquest.com or the ProQuest parent company website, www.cig.com.

About The National Archives
The National Archives is a government department and an executive agency of the Secretary of State for Justice. It brings together the Public Record Office, Historical Manuscripts Commission, the Office of Public Sector Information and Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

The National Archives is at the heart of information policy, setting standards and supporting innovation in information and records management across the UK, providing advice on opening up and encouraging the re-use of public sector information. Through our efforts in promoting best practice in information management, we look to ensure the survival of today's information for the future.

The National Archives is also the UK government's official archive, containing 900 years of history with records ranging from parchment and paper scrolls through to digital files and archived websites. The National Archives makes open records available to all, either onsite or online, continuously developing new tools to make history tangible for everyone.