Tag Archives: Britain

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: London Low Life

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Thanks to a request from a HCA student the Library currently has trial access to the digital primary source database London Low Life from Adam Matthew. This wonderful digital collection brings to life the teeming streets of Victorian London, inviting you to explore the gin palaces, brothels and East End slums of the nineteenth century’s greatest city.

You can access London Low Life from the E-resources trials page.
Access is available on and off-campus.

Trial access ends 16th December 2019.

From salacious ‘swell’s guides’ to scandalous broadsides and subversive posters, the material sold and exchanged on London’s bustling thoroughfares offers an unparalleled insight into the dark underworld of the nineteenth century city. Children’s chapbooks, street cries, slang dictionaries and ballads were all part of a vibrant culture of street literature. 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 →

On trial: Bloomsbury Medieval Studies

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I’m happy to let you know that we currently have trial access to Bloomsbury Medieval Studies, a new interdisciplinary digital resource with a global perspective which opens up the medieval world for students and staff.

You can access Bloomsbury Medieval Studies from the E-resources trials page.
Access is available on and off-campus.

*Trial has been extended and access will now end on 24th November 2019*

Bloomsbury Medieval Studies brings together high-quality secondary content with visual primary sources, a brand new reference work and material culture images into one cross-searchable platform. Continue reading →

New to the Library: Slavery: supporters and abolitionists, 1675-1865

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I’m happy to let you know that the Library now has access to Slavery: supporters and abolitionists, 1675-1865 from British Online Archives. This database contains a wide range of documents concerning the African slave trade during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The papers focus primarily on Jamaica and the West Indies but also cover the experience of other nations and regions.

You can access Slavery: supporters and abolitionists, 1675-1865 via the Databases A-Z list and the Digital primary source and archive collections guide.You can also access it via DiscoverEd.

Through a combination of statistics, correspondence, pamphlets, and memoirs, Slavery: supporters and abolitionists offer insights into the commercial and colonial dimensions of slavery and the views of its advocates and opponents. 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 →

New to the Library: Stuart and Cumberland Papers

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I’m really happy to let you know that the Library has recently been able to purchase the extensive Stuart and Cumberland Papers from the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle, digitised for the first time by Gale. This fascinating digital primary source database has been much requested by both students and staff in HCA, as well as ECA and LLC, and I hope it proves to be a useful and well-used resource for teaching, learning and research.

You can access the Stuart and Cumberland Papers via the Databases A-Z list or the Digital primary source and archive collections guide. Access via DiscoverEd will also soon be possible.

This primary source database contains two remarkable collections, The Stuart Papers and The Cumberland Papers, available online in their entirety. 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 →

New books in the Library for History, Classics and Archaeology

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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 (very) small number of the books that have been added to the Library’s collections in semester two, 2018/19 for the School of History, Classics and Archaeology and these demonstrate the wide range of subjects being taught, studied and researched within School.

–> Find these and more via DiscoverEd.

Akrotiri: the archaeological site and the museum of prehistoric Thera: a brief guide by Christos G. Doumas (shelfmark: DF221.T38 Dou.)

Roman death: the dying and the dead in ancient Rome by Valerie M. Hope (shelfmark: HQ1073.5.R66 Hop. Also available as e-book).

Black revolutionary: William Patterson and the globalization of the African American freedom struggle by Gerald Horne (shelfmark: E185.97.P32 Hor.)

From Augustus to Nero: an intermediate Latin reader edited by Garrett G. Fagan and Paul Murgatroyd (shelfmark: PA2095 Fro.)

Information, communication, and space technology by Mohammad Razani (e-book).

Public sculpture of Edinburgh (vol. 1 and 2) by Ray McKenzie ; with research by Dianne King and Tracy Smith (shelfmark: NB481.E4 Mack.) Continue reading →

On trial: Medieval and Early Modern Studies

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*The Library has now purchased access to this resource. See New to the Library: Medieval and Early Modern Studies.*

Thanks to a request from staff in HCA the Library currently has trial access to the Adam Matthew Digital research resource Medieval and Early Modern Studies. This offers you access to a huge range of primary sources covering social, cultural, political, scientific and religious perspectives, from the 15th to early 18th centuries.

You can access Medieval and Early Modern Studies from the E-resources trials page.
Access is available on and off-campus.

Trial access ends 17th June 2019.

The breadth of resources provided within this collection is extensive, from sources concerning the Black Death to Restoration of the English monarchy and the Glorious Revolution. Continue reading →