  We present an analysis of the apsidal motion and light curve parameters of 54
never-before-studied galactic Algol-type binaries. This is the first analysis
of such a large sample of eccentric eclipsing binaries in our Galaxy, and has
enabled us to identify several systems that are worthy of further study.
Bringing together data from various databases and surveys, supplemented with
new observations, we have been able to trace the long-term evolution of the
eccentric orbit over durations extending back up to several decades. Our
present study explores a rather different sample of stars to those presented in
the previously published catalogue of eccentric eclipsing binaries, sampling to
fainter magnitudes, covering later spectral types, sensitive to different
orbital periods with more than 50% of our systems having periods longer than
six days. The typical apsidal motion in the sample is rather slow (mostly of
order of centuries long), although in some cases this is less than 50 yr. All
of the systems, except one, have eccentricities less than 0.5, with an average
value of 0.23. Several of the stars also show evidence for additional period
variability. In particular we can identify three systems in the sample, HD
44093, V611 Pup, and HD 313631, which likely represent relativistic apsidal
rotators.
