Tag Archives: Manuscripts

On trial: East India Company digital archive

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Thanks to a request from a student in HCA I’m pleased to let you know that the Library currently has trial access to the primary source database East India Company from Adam Matthew. This unique digital resource allows students and researchers to access a vast and remarkable collection of primary source documents from the India Office Records held by the British Library, the single most important archive for the study of the East India Company.

You can access the database via the E-resources trials page. Access is available both on and off-campus.

Trial access ends 16th November 2018.

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 →

“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: 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 →

On trial: The Age of Exploration

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Thanks to a request from staff in HCA the Library currently has trial access to a brand new digital primary source collection from Adam Matthew Digital, Age of Exploration. This database allows you to discover through archive material the changing shape of exploration through five centuries, from c.1420-1920.

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

Trial access ends 18th June 2018.
 Continue reading →

On trial: Cold War Eastern Europe, 1953-1960

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Thanks to a request from staff in HCA the Library currently has trial access to the digital primary source collection Cold War Eastern Europe, Module 1: 1953-1960, a unique and comprehensive, English-language history of post-Stalinist Eastern Europe. If you’re interested in East European and Soviet history, 20th century international relations, Cold War history or the history and culture of individual states within Eastern Europe then this database could be for you.

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

Trial access ends 25th May 2018.

Cold War Eastern Europe provides full-text searchable access to over six thousand primary source files from the political departments of the UK Foreign Office, source entirely from The National Archives series FO 371. Files cover every aspect of political, economic, cultural, social and dissident life behind the ‘Iron Curtain’. Continue reading →

On trial: Migration to New Worlds II: The Modern Era

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The Library currently has trial access to Migration to New Worlds II: The Modern Era from Adam Matthew Digital. The Modern Era presents thousands of sources focusing on the growth of colonisation companies during the nineteenth century, the activities of American immigration and welfare societies, and the plight of refugees and displaced persons throughout the twentieth century.

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

Trial access ends 14th May 2018. Continue reading →

On trial: The Stuart and Cumberland Papers

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*The Library has now purchased access to The Stuart and Cumberland Papers. See New to the Library: The Stuart and Cumberland Papers*

I’m pleased to let you know that Gale Cengage are giving us trial access to their brand new digitised archive from State Papers Online, the Stuart and Cumberland Papers. This archive contains two remarkable collections from the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle, which have been digitised for the first time and are available online in their entirety.

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

Trial access ends 10th May 2018.

The Stuart Papers represent the correspondence and personal documents of the exiled members of the Stuart dynasty after 1688. These papers were acquired by George IV when Prince Regent, following the death of Henry Bennedict Stuart, Cardinal York, and were originally kept in the Prince’s Library at Carlton House. The collection tells the story of the lives of James II and his heirs with the majority of papers concerning the period 1713 to 1770, and provide an insight into Jacobite attempts to regain the throne. The later papers in the collection concern Cardinal York’s relations with the Vatican until his death in 1807. Continue reading →

On trial: Sabin Americana, 1500-1926

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Thanks to a request from staff in HCA I’m pleased to let you know that the Library currently has trial access to Sabin Americana, 1500-1926 from Gale Cengage. This is an expansive and comprehensive collection of works written or published in the United States, as well as items printed elsewhere, that document the history of the Americas over more than 400 years. The database is based on Joseph Sabin’s famed bibliography Bibliotheca Americana.

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

Trial access ends 10th April 2018.

[Screenshot from] Galv~ao, António. The discoveries of the world from their first originall vnto the yeere of our Lord 1555. Londini, 1601. 107pp. Sabin Americana. Gale, Cengage Learning. 14 March 2018

Continue reading →

Explore black history through Archives Unbound

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In this week’s blog post I wanted to highlight a number of primary source databases that you have access to at the University that allow you to discover more about black history.

I’m concentrating on collections available to you through Archives Unbound, which presents topically-focused digital collections of historical documents. There are currently 265 collections in Archives Unbound covering a broad range of topics from the Middle Ages forward-from Witchcraft to World War II to 20th century political history.

You can access Archives Unbound via the Databases A-Z list or Primary Sources database list.

As Archives Unbound covers such a vast range of subjects and collections, searching through the whole database will provide material perhaps from some surprising areas (so it’s very worthwhile doing this), however, I’m going to focus on some of the individual collections. You can access the individual collections by clicking on “Browse Collections”, where you can either browse through an alphabetical list or choose to browse by “Categories” instead.

So here is just a small selection of collections that will allow you to take your research into black history further.

Fannie Lou Hamer: Papers of a Civil Rights Activist, Political Activist, and Woman

Fannie Lou Hamer (née Townsend) was born in Mississippi in 1917. The youngest of 20 children she would go on to become an American voting rights activist and a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. Hamer was instrumental in organising Mississippi Freedom Summer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She was actively involved in starting the Delta Ministry, and she was one of the founders of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party later to become the Vice-Chair. Continue reading →