I’m happy to let you know that following a successful trial and positive feedback the Library has now purchased access to Nineteenth Century Collections Online: British Politics and Society from Gale Cengage.

You can access Nineteenth Century Collections Online: British Politics and Society via the Databases A-Z.

British Politics and Society brings together primary source documentation that enables a greater understanding and analysis of the development of urban centers and of the major restructuring of society that took place during the Industrial Revolution.

The materials in the collection allow for an in-depth examination and analysis of the growing calls for political reform that were met with state resistance and marked a crisis of legitimacy for both the government and the reform movements themselves.

British Politics and Society is composed of a number of individual collections, drawn together from a variety of sources. Collections include:

• Civil Disturbance, Chartism and Riots in Nineteenth-Century England
• Discontent and Authority, 1820-1840
• Home Office Papers and Records, 1783-1894
• People’s History: Working Class Autobiographies
• Public Order, Discontent, and Protest in Nineteenth Century England, 1820-1850
• Rare Radical and Labour Periodicals of Great Britain
• Radicalism, Anti-Radicalism and Reform in England, 1769-1861, Original Papers and Minute Books
• Selected Papers of the Prime Ministers of Great Britain

The collections can be easily searched, with both simple and advanced search options available. The menu on the left-hand side of your search results allows you to limit your results by content type, publication year and subject. There are also options allowing you to analyse your results in different ways including by term clusters.

Nineteenth Century Collections Online: British Politics and Society is a major new resource for the Library and provides a fascinating look at this period of great change.

You can access the database via the Databases A-Z list or in the Databases by Subject pages (History, Politics, etc.)

Access is only available to current students and staff at the University of Edinburgh.

Caroline Stirling – Academic Support Librarian for School of Social and Political Science