Tag Archives: 20th century

New to the Library – Struggles for Freedom: Southern Africa (Aluka)

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I’m happy to let you know that following a request from a member of HCA staff the Library  now has a subscription to the digital primary resource Struggles for Freedom: Southern Africa (Aluka) from JSTOR. This extensive and fascinating resource contains 20,000 objects and 190,000 pages of documents and images documenting the liberation struggles in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

You can access Struggles for Freedom: Southern Africa (Aluka) via the Databases A-Z list and the Digital primary source and archive collections guide. You can also access it via DiscoverEd. Continue reading →

On trial: Medical Services and Warfare

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Further to a request from staff in the Medical School the Library currently has trial access to the digital primary source database Medical Services and Warfare from Adam Matthew. This resource tells the story of medical advances during warfare from the mid-nineteenth century to the outbreak of the influenza epidemic in 1918 and the discovery of penicillin in 1927.

You can access Medical Services and Warfare from the E-resources trials page.
Access is available on and off-campus.

Trial access ends 16th December 2019.

Medical Services and Warfare allows you to explore multiple perspectives on the history of injury, treatment and disease on the front line. Chart scientific advances through hospital records, medical reports and first-hand accounts, and discover the evidence of how war shaped medical practice across the centuries. Continue reading →

On trial: Translations of the Peking Gazette Online

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Thanks to a request from HCA staff the Library currently has trial access to Translations of the Peking Gazette Online from Brill. This is a comprehensive database of approximately 8,500 pages of English-language renderings of official edicts and memorials from the Qing dynasty that cover China’s long nineteenth century from the Macartney Mission in 1793 to the abdication of the last emperor in 1912.

You can access Translations of the Peking Gazette Online from the E-resources trials page.
Access is available on and off-campus.

Trial access ends 4th December 2019.

*Trial has been extended and access will now end on 14th December 2019*

The Peking Gazette was a unique publication that allows contemporary readers to explore the contours, boundaries, and geographies of modern Chinese history. Contained within its pages are the voices of Manchu emperors, Han officials, gentry leaders, and peasant spokesmen as they discussed and debated the most important political, social, and cultural movements, trends, and events of their day. As such, the Gazette helps us understand the policies and attitudes of the emperors, the ideas and perspectives of the officials, and the mentality and worldviews of several hundred million Han, Mongol, Manchu, Muslim, and Tibetan subjects of the Great Qing Empire. Continue reading →

On trial: Black Newspaper Collection

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*The Library has access to all titles from the Black Newspaper Collection until 31st July 2024 as part of ProQuest Access 350.*

Thanks to a request from staff in HCA, and to coincide with Black History Month, I’m pleased to let you know the Library currently has trial access to the full Black Newspaper Collection from ProQuest. This superb resource contains the archives of 9 individual newspaper titles (2 of which the Library already has access to) that provide cultural perspective and insight to the events that shaped the United States in the 20th Century.

You can access Black Newspaper Collection from the E-resources trials page.
On-campus access is direct. For off-campus access you will need to connect to VPN.

Trial access ends 20th November 2019.

Black Newspapers offers primary source material key to the study of American history and African-American culture, history, politics, and the arts. The 9 titles included in this resource are: Continue reading →

On trial: Chatham House Online Archive

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Thanks to a request from staff in HCA the Library currently has trial access to Chatham House Online Archive from Gale. This digital resource contains the publications and archives of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), the world-leading independent international affairs policy institute founded in 1920 following the Paris Peace Conference.

You can access Chatham House Online Archive from the E-resources trials page.
Access is available on and off-campus.

Trial access ends 11th November 2019.

With approximately half a million pages of content, Chatham House Online Archive provides a searchable research environment that enables you to explore close to ninety years of expert analysis and commentary on international policy. Subject indexing allows you to quickly retrieve and review briefing papers, special reports, pamphlets, conference papers, monographs, and other material relevant to your own teaching, learning or research. Continue reading →

New to the Library: Archives of Sexuality & Gender

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I’m really pleased to let you know that the Library now has access to the Archives of Sexuality & Gender. Spanning the 16th to the 20th century it is the largest digital collection of primary source materials relating to the history and study of sex, sexuality and gender. Documentation covering social, political, health and legal issues impacting LGBTQ communities around the world is included, as well as rare and unique books on sex and sexuality from the sciences to the humanities.

You can access Archives of Sexuality & Gender via the Databases A-Z list and the Digital primary source and archive collections guide. You can also access it via DiscoverEd. Continue reading →

New to the Library: Women’s Magazine Archive

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I’m happy to let you know that the Library now has access to the Women’s Magazine Archive, Collection I and II from ProQuest, a searchable archive of leading women’s interest magazines, dating from the 19th century through to the 21st.

You can access the Women’s Magazine Archive via the Databases A-Z list or the Newspapers, magazines and other news sources guide. You can also access the individual magazine titles via DiscoverEd.

Consumer magazines aimed at a female readership are recognised as critical primary sources through which to interpret multiple aspects of 19th and 20th-century history and culture. Archival issues, however, have previously been difficult to locate and navigate. Continue reading →

New to the Library: The New Republic Archive

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I’m pleased to let you know that through the Saunders endowment for North American history the Library has been able to purchase The New Republic Magazine Archive from EBSCOhost. This digital archive offers a searchable full-text backfile of all issues of The New Republic from 1914 onwards.

You can access The New Republic Magazine Archive  via DiscoverEd. You will also soon be able to access it via the Databases A-Z list or the Newspapers, magazines and other news sources guide. Continue reading →

New to the Library: Picture Post Historical Archive

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Did you know the Library now has access to the Picture Post Historical Archive? This database comprises the complete archive of the Picture Post from its first issue in 1938 to its last in 1957 – all digitised from originals in full colour.

You can access the Picture Post Historical Archive via the Databases A-Z list or the Newspapers, magazines and other news sources guide. Access via DiscoverEd will also soon be possible.

Picture Post was a photojournalistic magazine, often seen as the UK equivalent of Life, that was considered a groundbreaking example of photojournalism and was hugely successful from its first issue and throughout the 1940s. At its peak it is estimated its readership was 80% of the British population. In the era before television, it became the window on the world for ordinary people, bringing the major social and political issues of the day into popular consciousness. Continue reading →

Normandy landings: through our digital primary sources

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On this day, 6 June, 75 years ago the Normandy landings took place. This was part of a major combined naval, air and land assault on German-occupied France by Allied forces, codenamed Operation ‘Overlord’. The D-Day landings saw around 150,000 Allied troops land on French soil but it was just the start of a much longer operation to liberate France. In this week’s blog post I have pulled together just a small selection of our digital library resources that will help you explore the Normandy landings, the events leading up to it and the aftermath. And you can use many of these to find out more about the many other events happening around this time that contributed to the end of the Second World War.

D-Day For the Second Front, ‘Illustrated London News’, Saturday 10 June 1944, pp. 644-645. From Illustrated London News Archive.

What did the papers say?

Operation Overlord was top secret, so it wasn’t until the 6th June that news of the invasion began to filter through. Reports of the Normandy landings does appear in some late editions of newspapers from that day but it is mostly covered in issues published the next day, 7th June, or on next subsequent publication date.

Front page of the ‘Daily Express’, Wednesday 7 June 1944. From UK Press Online.

The Library subscribes to a large number of digitised newspaper archives that will allow you to see what events were being reported on at the time and how they were being reported. Read full text articles, compare how different newspapers were covering the same issues and stories and track coverage of Operation Overlord from the Normandy landings onwards. Continue reading →