1066 and all that (by ‘that’ I mean Box of Broadcasts)

I’m sure all history lovers know today is the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings.

Probably one of the most famous battles in England’s history, this led to the end of the Anglo-Saxon era and was the beginning of the Norman conquest of England under William, the Duke of Normandy (to be William I, also known as William the Conqueror or William the Bastard). But this defining battle didn’t just have consequences for England, it’s ramifications were felt in Scotland, Wales, Ireland and beyond down the years.

If you want to read more about the battle itself, the events leading up to it and the impact the outcome of the battle had then you can find lots of books and journal articles through the Library via DiscoverEd or some of the Library databases.

However, I wanted to take the opportunity to use Box of Broadcasts (BoB) to have a look at just some of the TV programmes (and a couple of radio programmes) available that examine at the Battle of Hastings and the events surrounding it.

Please note you will be asked for your University email address the first time you log into BoB. And like any TV recording service you will often get a few minutes of the previous programme at the beginning (that can be interesting in itself).

1066 (and all that) on BoB

First up Conquest, the second episode from series one of Simon Schama’s A History of Britain. Schama takes us through the events leading up to the battle, the battle itself and its aftermath, roughly covering the period 1000 – 1087. If you don’t know much about this time in history then this is a good starting point. Continue reading

Trial access: Online Egyptological Bibliography and First World War primary sources

*The Library has subsequently subscribed to Online Egyptological Bibliography. Find out more at New to the Library: Online Egyptological Bibliography (OEB)*

The Library currently has trial access to the Online Egyptological Bibliography (OEB) from the University of Oxford and The First World War primary source database from Adam Matthew.

You can access all of these online resources via the E-resources trials page. Access is available both on and off-campus.

Access to OEB is only available until 17th October 2016.
While trial access to the First World War databases ends on 31st October 2016.

Online Egyptological Bibliography (OEB)

IF Continue reading

New to the Library: Samos archaeological reports

Further to a request from staff in HCA the Library is currently in the process of trying to purchase a copy of all available volumes of the Samos series of archaeological reports published by the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut.

SOMAS_inside_drawings

Samos is one of the most important archaeological sites of the ancient Mediterranean world and this series of reports on excavations of the site provides essential data for staff and students research. Continue reading

Some new Library resources for you

On the HCA Librarian blog I have highlighted new resources or material that have been purchased for the Library’s collections from requests from students or staff in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology.

However, new resources purchased from requests from other schools in the College of Humanities & Social Sciences and beyond may also be of interest to HCA students and staff. I generally tweet about these but I thought I’d put a quick post together just to highlight some of these resources.

In no particular order…

Historical Statistics of the United States: Millennial Edition Online

Historical_Statistics_United_States

Historical Statistics of the United States (HSUS) is a compendium of statistics about the United States and is the standard source for the quantitative facts of American history. –> Find out more

IndiaStat Continue reading

New to the Library for History, Classics & Archaeology

Thanks to recommendations from members of staff and requests via RAB from students the Library is continually adding new books to its collections both online and in print. Here are just a small number of the books that have been added to the Library’s collections in April 2016 for the School of History, Classics and Archaeology and these demonstrate the wide range of subjects being taught, studied and researched within School.

–> Find even more via DiscoverEd.

Corrupting luxury in ancient Greek literature by Robert J. Gorman and Vanessa B. Gorman (shelfmark: PA3009 Gor.)

A medieval book of beasts: the second-family bestiary. Commentary, art, text and translation by Willene B. Clark (shelfmark: Folio PA8275.B4 Cla.)

New_books2016_bookofbeasts

“The bestiary – a book of animals, both real and mythical – is one of the most interesting and appealing medieval artefacts. The “Second-family” bestiary is the most important and frequently produced version…This study addresses the work’s purpose and audience, challenging previous assumptions with direct evidence in the manuscripts themselves”

The spoils of freedom: psychoanalysis and feminism after the fall of socialism by Renata Salecl (e-book). Continue reading

Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies 2015

The Library has recently purchased access to the e-book collection Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies 2015 from the publishers DeGruyter, which gives us access to over 80 titles from 2015.

Degruyter_classical_ancient_near_eastern_studies

All of the e-books from the collection can be accessed individually via DiscoverEd.

DeGruyter is one of the leading scholarly publishers in Classical Studies and their Classical and Ancient Near Easter Studies 2015 collection of text corpora and reference works covers the history and culture of the ancient Mediterranean, Near East and Egypt in all their aspects. Continue reading