Accessible Archives Releases Parts I and II of the South Carolina Gazette

Malvern, PA (December 5, 2007) - Accessible Archives, Inc., a publisher of electronic full-text searchable historical databases, has announced the online availability of the South Carolina Gazette, 1732-1775.  This new release features full XML and image availability.

Charles Town (renamed Charleston in 1783) was the social, political and economic center of South Carolina throughout the colonial and antebellum periods, and served as the state capital until 1790.  The South Carolina Gazette, South Carolinas first successful newspaper, was begun in 1732 under Thomas Whitemarsh in Charles Town, and soon became an important source of local, regional, national and international news.  Whitemarsh died in the fall of 1733 and publication was suspended for several months.  The paper was reestablished in 1734 and saw a number of publishers until the release of its final issue in December, 1775.

The collection contains a wealth of information on Colonial/Early American history and genealogy, and provides an accurate depiction of life in South Carolina and America during the years prior to independence.  Part I (1732-1741) currently is available; Part II (1742-1751) is expected to be mounted by year-end. Multiple sections will be released each year until completion.

Introducing the collection Rob Nagy, Accessible Archives Sr. VP of Sales and Marketing, said, We anticipated the release of the initial portions of the South Carolina Gazette for some time, but wanted to wait until the enhancements to our revamped website were in place.  These have allowed us to initiate XML tagging for the entire
collection, along with a full complement of images.  Were very excited at the direction in which these system improvements are taking us.