On trial: Translations of the Peking Gazette Online

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: Chatham House Online Archive

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

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: The New Republic Archive

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: Slavery: supporters and abolitionists, 1675-1865

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: Stuart and Cumberland Papers

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

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

On trial: The Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives 1960 – 1974

*The Library has access to The Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives 1960-1974 until 31st July 2024 as part of ProQuest Access 350.*

Thanks to a request from a HCA student I’m happy to let you know the Library currently has trial access to The Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives 1960 – 1974 from Alexander Street Press. The Sixties documents the key events, trends, and movements in 1960s America through digitised archive and primary source material.

You can access The Sixties from the E-resources trials page.
Access is available on and off-campus.

Trial access ends 30th June 2019. Continue reading

New books in the Library for History, Classics and Archaeology

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

*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