Category Archives: Library

On trial: British and Irish Women’s Letters and Diaries

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*The Library has access to British and Irish Women’s Letters and Diaries, 1500-1900 until 31st July 2024 as part of ProQuest Access 350.*

Thanks to a request from a 4th year dissertation student in HCA the Library now has trial access to Alexander Street’s digital collection British and Irish Women’s Letters and Diaries, 1500-1900. Spanning more than 400 years it brings together the personal writings of women from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

You can access the database via the E-resources trials page.
Access is available on-campus. For off-campus access you must be connected to the VPN.

Trial access ends 16th November 2018.

Extending back to the 1500s, the collection lets you view history in the context
of women’s thoughts—their struggles, achievements, passions, pursuits, and desires. The collection shows the various shapes and formats of the diary as it evolved, including the travel diary, offering detailed accounts of journeys and descriptions of places; the daily personal diary, in which women reflected more broadly on aspects of their lives; letter diaries, wherein a daily dated letter to a recipient served simultaneously as a diary entry; and other forms. Continue reading →

New to the Library: Literary Print Culture

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I’m pleased to let you know that the Library now has access to Literary Print Culture: The Stationers’ Company Archive, 1554-2007 from Adam Matthew. Sourced from the archive of The Worshipful Company of Stationers & Newspaper Makers, located at Stationers’ Hall in the City of London, this resource allows access to a vast and unique collection of primary source documents.

You can access Literary Print Culture: The Stationers’ Company Archive via the Databases A-Z list and Primary Source database list. You can also access it through DiscoverEd. Continue reading →

On trial: Women’s Magazine Archive

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*The Library has now purchased access to the ‘Women’s Magazine Archive, collection I and II’. See New to the Library: Women’s Magazine Archive.*

Thanks to request from a student in HCA the Library currently has trial access to ProQuest’s Women’s Magazine Archive, collection I and II. This unique database comprises archival runs of leading women’s consumer magazines of the twentieth century.

You can access the database via the E-resources trials page.
Access is available on-campus. For off-campus access you must be connected to the VPN.

Trial access ends 14th November 2018. Continue reading →

Battle of Cable Street: through our newspaper archives

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On this day, 4th October, in 1936 large crowds of people gathered in London’s East End, an area of the city that had a large Jewish population, in an attempt to stop a march through the area by the British Union of Fascists (BUF). The protests turned into a riot with anti-fascist demonstrators clashing with Police, large numbers of demonstrators were arrested and even larger numbers of them (and Police) were injured. But they did manage to prevent the march from taking place.

In this week’s blog post I’m using some of the Library’s digital newspaper databases to find primary source material about the Battle of Cable Street (as the demonstrations became known).

Screenshot from Illustrated London News, October 10, 1936, p. 635. From The Illustrated London News Historical Archive.

Continue reading →

New to Library: Greek Tragedy and Latin Poetry

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I’m happy to let you know that the Library now has access to two further modules from Oxford Scholarly Editions Online (OSEO). This gives us online access to a further 101 texts covering Greek Tragedy and Latin Poetry, including works by Euripides, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Ovid, Virgil and Horace.

You can access the individual texts by searching DiscoverEd. Or you can access OSEO via the Databases A-Z list, Classics databases list or Classics subject guide. Continue reading →

“Ye are many—they are few”: Exploring the Peterloo massacre through our library resources

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Next year on this day, 16th August, it will be the 200th anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre. The ironic name given to events at St Peter’s Fields in Manchester on 16th August 1819 when the cavalry charged into a peaceful crowd of 50,000-80,000 people who were attending a mass demonstration for political reform. Between 10-20 people were killed and 100s were injured. In this week’s blog post I have pulled together just a small selection of Library resources, digital and physical, that will help you explore Peterloo, the events leading up to it and the aftermath.

The Massacre of Peterloo. George Cruikshank [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The 19th century was a period of huge economic, social, political and idealogical changes. Post the Napoleonic Wars, which ended just four years before Peterloo (“Peterloo” a play on Waterloo), demands for political reform were growing. Industrial cities such as Manchester had no representation in Parliament,only relatively small numbers of wealthy male citizens were eligible to vote and working and economic conditions were incredibly poor. Campaigns for parliamentary reform became more strident and found growing levels of support, political radicalism in the UK was on the rise. Continue reading →

New to the Library: Service Newspapers of World War Two

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I’m really pleased to let you know that following a successful trial the Library now has access to Service Newspapers of World War Two from Adam Matthew Digital, a brand new digitised primary source collection just released this year. This resource gives you unique insight into the story of war as told by the newspapers and magazines that brought information, entertainment and camaraderie to the forces.

You can access Service Newspapers of World War Two via the Databases A-Z list and Newspapers & Magazines database list. You can also access it through DiscoverEd.

Service Newspapers of World War Two contains an extensive range of both rare and well-known wartime publications for soldiers serving in major theatres around the world. Publications are included from many key nations involved in the conflict, such as the US, Canada, New Zealand, India, and the countries of Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Both Allied and Axis publications are presented, offering a broad view of the war and the experiences of those on its front lines. Continue reading →

New to the Library: Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome

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I’m happy to let you know that the Library now has access to the Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome from Oxford Reference Online. This encyclopedia offers a comprehensive overview of the major cultures of the classical Mediterranean world—Greek, Hellenistic, and Roman—from the Bronze Age to the fifth century CE.

You can access the Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome via DiscoverEd.

The encyclopedia brings the work of the best classical scholars, archaeologists, and historians together in an easy-to-use format. With over 1000 articles written by leading scholars in the field, it seeks to convey the significance of the people, places, and historical events of classical antiquity, together with its intellectual and material culture. Broad overviews of literature, history, archaeology, art, philosophy, science, and religion are complimented by articles on authors and their works, literary genres and periods, historical figures and events, archaeologists and archaeological sites, artists and artistic themes and materials, philosophers and philosophical schools, scientists and scientific areas, gods, heroes, and myths. Continue reading →

New to the Library: Illustrated London News Historical Archive

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I’m delighted to let you know that the Library now has access to The Illustrated London News Historical Archive, 1842-2003 from Gale Cengage. Illustrated London News was the world’s first pictorial weekly newspaper and this archive gives access to the full run of this iconic illustrated newspaper.

You can access The Illustrated London News Historical Archive via the Databases A-Z list and the Newspapers & Magazine databases list.

The first issue of Illustrated London News was published on Saturday 14 May 1842 and as the world’s first fully illustrated weekly newspaper, it marked a revolution in journalism and news reporting.

Screenshot from front page of Illustrated London News, May 14, 1842; pg. [1]; Issue 1.

Continue reading →

New to the Library: Foreign Office Files for China, 1919-1937

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I’m really pleased to let you know that the Library has recently purchased access to the Foreign Office Files for China, 1919-1937 from Adam Matthew Digital. This means we now have access to the full Foreign Office Files for China database covering the years 1919 to 1980. This fantastic resource provides access to the digitised archive of British Foreign Office files dealing with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

You can access Foreign Office Files for China, 1919-1980 via the Databases A-Z list, Primary source database list, the History Subject Guide or DiscoverEd. Continue reading →