WashU Libraries have ended the 2026 academic year by acquiring new electronic resources and databases for students, faculty, and scholars across the Danforth campus.

Collections

Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO), Part III provides access to the digitized eighteenth-century section of the works catalogued in the English Short-title Catalogue (ESTC). ECCO includes materials in the fields of history, literature, religion, law, fine arts, science and more.  It is a fully text-searchable corpus of books, pamphlets, maps, full-color covers, and broadsides in all subjects printed between 1701 and 1800. Part III adds 1.7M pages of rare eighteenth-century content spanning Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Australia.

Foreign Office Files for the Middle East (1971-1981) comprises British Foreign and Commonwealth Office files and selected files from the Prime Minister’s Office and Defense Intelligence. The collection addresses the policies, economies, political relationships, and significant events of every major Middle East power. It includes coverage of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Oil Crisis (1971-1974), the Lebanese Civil War and the Camp David Accords (1975-1978), and the Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War (1979-1981). The libraries also subscribe to Foreign Office Files for China (1919-1980) and India, Pakistan and Afghanistan (1947-1980).

ProQuest Digital Collections and Government Information: ProQuest Digital Collections offer primary source and multimedia materials, including many rare and exclusive resources in Anthropology, Black Studies , Entertainment & Popular Culture, Global Studies and International Relations, History, Literature, Performing Arts, Visual Arts & Design, and Women’s and Gender Studies . 

ProQuest Government Information collections contain an archive of U.S. documents, statistical reports from countries and international organizations worldwide, with discovery tools to aid in research. Collections include the U.S. Congressional, Statistical Insight, Trends & Policy, Legislative Insight, Regulatory Insight, Supreme Court Insight, and Indian Claims Insight collections.

Databases

American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Compass: The ASTM Compass database offers a collection of industry-leading standards and technical engineering information. Coverage includes a broad range of engineering disciplines, including aerospace, biomedical, chemical, civil, environmental, geological, health and safety, industrial, materials science, mechanical, nuclear, petroleum, soil science, and solar engineering. Users have access to both active and historical standards.

The Chinese Art Treasure Database is a primary source collection of royal art archives in the Qing Dynasty. It provides support in the study of history, art history, arts, and Chinese studies. Click the red “Log in” button to access the database.

Records from the Qing imperial art collections are organized into eight core series: 

• Zaobanchu Archives: Records from the Imperial Household Department workshop
• Archives of Ceramics: Official court records detailing Qing Dynasty porcelain
• Archives of Display: Documentation covering imperial interior arrangements and exhibits
• Emperor’s Poems Collection: Comprehensive literary and poetic works by Qing emperors
• Midian Zhulin: Historical catalogs of Buddhist and court paintings
• Shiqu Baoji: Celebrated annotated catalogs of imperial calligraphy and painting collections
• Secret Archives of Jing Ming Yuan: Specialized records detailing displays in the Jing Ming Yuan
• Summer Palace Archives: Inventory and display records for the Summer Palace

The urbanNext platform provides access to e-books, essays, photographic atlases, data, architectural projects, podcasts and lecture videos on timely topics in the field of architecture. Example topics include ecological concerns and sustainability, investigations into new types of urbanism like walkable cities, affordable and collective housing, and changing work environments.