SCMP archives

Submitted by JohnA on Thu, 10/11/2018 - 14:52

Has anyone tried to access the SCMP archive recently?

There used to be a link at the bottom of their website to the archive where you could do a basic search then buy a daily subscription to get full access. It was very handy as the word search was extremely good and accurate.

The link now only seems to apply to archives of the last three years. I am looking for issues in the early 1950s.

I have emailed them a couple of times to no avail. Not even an acknowledgement.

Thanks

JohnA

Yes, I do think something's changed. Two weeks ago i was searching the archive and freely retrieving items from last century, but the same search is only taking me back to 2009. Somewhat defeats the purpose of an archive...

The archives are now buried in the Proquest databases. Many Universities subscribe to it.

I have to go in person to the Stanford Lane Medical library on the Stanford campus in California to get free access.

Many thanks Annelise. That was my first stop, but couldn't find anything. I have just gone back to have a look. SCMP is not in the Proquest Historical Newspapers database yet, but I did find two links in their Asian Newspapers database. However, the sorry part is that it only goes back to 1 Jan 1993 while the online version is from 22 Aug 2017.

I will chase my State Library to see when the older issues will become available.

And thanks David for putting this request out again.

John

 

Yes, that seems to be the case. My library only subscribes to the International Newsstream. I have asked them to subscribe to the Historical Newspapers Collection. Fingers crossed. Many thanks again Annelise

John.

 

I did ask a contact at the SCMP and he advised that it is only accesible through Proquest. In the UK, this means Universities of Manchester and Sussex. I believe he is looking into alternatives. Frustrating because i did buy a month's subscription a year ago and that was pretty easy to use. If I have any news I will post here. 

Thank you Annelise for the link to the the SCMP Historical Archive. Good to know  HKPL is catching up with on-line access to more databases. The link however is only available through a HKPL ID or HK Govt ID. I have neither.

Not to worry. Much to my surprise, at my request my library has subscribed to the SCMP Proquest Historical Newspaper  Archive. It is only on a trial basis so I am madly logging in as often as possible to ensure it becomes permanent.

I am up to date with what I need for now, but you never know when something else crops up which I would like to check up on. Like typhoons. My ship was in the vicinity when the Changsha was swept aground at Yokkaichi in 1959. Luckily no-one was injured.  In 1962  my ship was caught up in one on its way to Japan, just like the tragedy now with the livestock carrier that has just gone down with only one survivor. I am sure our passengers will remember that 1962 experience for the rest of their lives. I do.

Thanks for letting me know about the HKPL link Annelise.

Take care.  John

 

Someone on Gwulo very kindly posted a link to the Proquest newspaper archives recently and I thanked them, but now can't find the link again. I can get in myself but can't find out the access code. It was posted on Gwulo but I've searched and searched with no luck! It was through a Midwest USA University