Alexander Street Press
Alexandria, VA
2002 to date
URL: http://www.alexanderstreetpress.com
Available via annual subscription or one-time purchase; contact publisher for price quote
Last visited March 2003
Keywords History, Canada, USA
Review DOI 10.1008/09504120310490958

Early Encounters in North America (EENA), a new offering among Alexander Street Press’s series of historical databases, focuses on the formation of relationships between peoples, cultures and the environment that occurred between 1534 and 1580. The geographic focus is primarily Canada and the USA, with limited coverage of Mexico and the Caribbean. Geographic divisions include the Southern Woodlands; the Northern Woodlands and the Mississippi; the Plains, Plateau and Great Basin; and the West; Southwest and Pacific Coast. Release 2 of this product was issued in December 2002, with 40,000 pages of data; achieving the goal of 100,000 pages is expected by Autumn 2003.

The primary sources included, selected from scholarly bibliographies and scholars’ recommendations, range from published books to speeches, letters and diaries. They emphasize American Indian statements as well as those of Europeans. Explorers, traders, soldiers, missionaries, officials, Africans, American Indians and women are among the 419 authors listed as of the time of review. Accounts of flora, fauna and physical geography sources may document species now extinct. Some sources, like the Jesuit Relations of North America, are included because they contain sources not generally available. In all, 317 encounters are currently documented.

The content areas include bibliographic details on the sources and biographical information on the authors. Geography can be searched by country or region and sometimes by state or precise location. It is possible to combine geographic searches with a plant type or an event, and to look for peoples by origin and ethnic identity. Personal events such as births, and the customs that surround them, can be searched, as can peaceful and warlike encounters between peoples. A total of 234 well-reproduced images, including maps, are currently in the database. More images will be provided as EENA develops. English is the primary language, with some sources in French and a few in Spanish.

Site navigation is straightforward, but searching the database is much more complex. Effective use requires some effort and some knowledge of the sources. Despite this, EENA’s search capabilities are a real service to scholarship on the New World encounter. The database uses the University of Chicago’s PhiloLogic search software. Material is extensively indexed in sections, such as chapters or letters, allowing researchers to pinpoint topics. A simple search can be restricted to a particular author, title or publication year. For example, a search on the word “cotton” retrieves 661 occurrences, which can be displayed line by line, sorted by source or arranged in descending frequency by year. Advanced searching allows users to create complex queries by choosing a variety of context-sensitive search fields. Searchable fields include: authors; sources; year of the document; encounters between groups, images, flora and fauna; the physical and natural environment; locations of events and personal and cultural events. In learning to use the database, users will want to refer to the extensive help screens provided.

Because of its complexity, EENA may be rather daunting for the novice searchers who receive no guidance in its use. It is, however, an excellent resource for teaching research methods, especially for smaller schools lacking extensive American history collections. It could also be used in conjunction with historical microform collections. EENA is recommended for libraries supporting serious research in history, social sciences and environmental history.

Helen Peeler Clements
Assistant Professor, Social Sciences
and Humanities, Edmon Low Library,
Oklahoma State University,
Oklahoma, USA