http://www.bl.uk/collections/burney.html
ProQuest is considering digitizing this collection of early English
newspapers (17th, 18th, 19th century, mostly) for access online. I have
no ancestors from England that I know about at this point, so I am not
able to speak intelligently to them about this collection. If there's
anyone out there who would be interested in giving them some feedback,
please email me and let me know and I will give you the email address of
the person to contact there. I'm looking for people who are interested
in writing an intelligent, well thought-out reply about the value of
this newspaper collection to genealogists and the benefits of having it
available online. If you only want to write one line (such as "yeah,
add it" or "wow that would be great to have online"), I'd rather not
take up this person's time, which is why I'm asking for replies to me first.
Thanks, everyone.
And, BTW, for those of you who helped me with input regarding the
Baltimore Sun, it sounds like the project is moving tentatively
forward. Who knows how long it will be before it's actually available
online at ProQuest, but at least it's a step. It sounds like one of the
biggest stumbling blocks is the cost. ProQuest seems to ask
genealogical societies and libraries who will benefit from the
collection being online to put up part of the money. So, if you'd like
to find out how to contribute monetarily to this endeavor, you should
probably contact one of the Baltimore or MD historical or genealogical
societies.
Christine