Harper's Weekly never had a useful index, so until now there has been no way for students and researchers to access the illustrations, cartoons, news, literature, editorials, and ads that these volumes contain without spending hours poring over microfilm or locked-up original copies in rare book rooms of libraries. Its circulation was more than 100,000 and its readership probably exceeded half a million people. Since 1995, up to 12 indexers with advanced degrees have read every word and studied every illustration and cartoon in Harper's Weekly , and have carefully constructed user-friendly indexes that will guide you in locating information quickly and concisely. Descriptive sub-entries will help you determine the relative value of the references by giving you specific information about an entry prior to display. That will be the fourth segment of a project that will ultimately provide users with a cumulative index from 1857 through 1912.
Scholarship is always an ongoing and interactive process.
As you use the index and the images, you may find what you consider to be errors, or you may have suggestions. We welcome any corrections or commentary that you care to share with us. The HarpWeek index will be updated periodically to reflect new information. Thank you for getting acquainted with HarpWeek.