Originally published in print form in over 40 volumes from 1858 to 1994, The Calendar of State Papers, Colonial is rightly well-known as an essential source for the colonial history of North America and the West Indies. Now available for the first time in an electronic format, this CD-ROM transforms the utility of over 40,000 transcripts and extended abstracts for study and research, and makes possible hitherto difficult and impractical analyses.


The Calendar includes the West Indies 1574-1738, and the East Indies, China, Japan and Persia (Iran) 1513-1634. It is a catalogue of state papers comprising extended abstracts or transcripts in modernised spelling of the most important range of British historical material during this time in these territories, which are essential to all historians working on Britain and its colonies.


The material includes a wide range of subject areas such as correspondence to and from colonial governors, orders and grants from central government to local administration, and information from the localities. The material is also important as since it includes correspondence from the colonial governors as well as information about the slave trade and piracy, it comprises one of the most substantial sources of North American history before the Revolution.