Adam Matthew Publications was founded in 1990 by David Tyler and William Pidduck. The company focused on publishing microfilm collections with a back list of over 600 titles until publishing their first ‘digital’ collections in the late 1990s on CD-ROM, and releasing its first truly online resources in the early 2000s. By the mid-2000s, the company directors – now including Khal Rudin - founded Adam Matthew Digital to focus solely on the development and production of digital collections, and began trading as a separate entity from 1 January 2007. On 5 October 2012, the company was acquired by SAGE Publications.
Collections
The company publishes collections of digitized primary source materials from different historical eras. For example, Empire Online covers the histories of colonial era United States, Canada, India, Australia, South Africa, and Britain. Other collection topics include gender studies, American history and consumer culture, Victorian England, Asian history, the First World War, and others.
Collaborations
Adam Matthew have collaborated with various source archives and institutions including the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, Newberry Library and The National Archives. An explanation of their relationship with The National Archives has been recorded in a short video which covers the process of selection, preservation and digitisation of materials required to produce resources on topics such as Apartheid South Africa, Confidential Print: Middle East and The Nixon Years. In January 2016, Adam Matthew partnered with Jisc to provide all UK Higher and Further Education institutions with access to their nineteenth century collection on global immigration, Migration to New Worlds. To gain permanent access without payment, UK institutions can register with Jisc to receive access details for their entire staff and students.
TexShare
In 2013, the company entered into an agreement with the Texas State Libraries and Archives Commission to provide permanent access to two Adam Matthew digital collection via the TexShare consortium. The agreement allows the provision of access to rare and unique materials for the study of American history, to close to two thousand individual institutions across Texas, from K-12 to 4-year colleges, public libraries and community colleges.
