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December 15, 2025
Spotlight on film and moving images
This is part of an occasional series highlighting some of the online resources available at the Library that will be of interest to students and staff in History, Classics and Archaeology.
While previous posts in this series have looked at groups of online primary source collections, in this post I wanted to highlight resources that give you access to film and moving images, including films, documentaries, TV programmes, public information films, archival film footage, cinema newsreels, advertising, home movies, etc.
Film provides a fascinating insight into the past through documentary, archival and amateur film footage and a deliberately constructed historical world through feature films. However, using film as ‘historical evidence’ is far from straightforward; specific skills are required to understand the complexities of the visual medium, its relationship to the society from which it emerges, the industry which created it and those who consumed it. Despite these obstacles, film is a crucial means for understanding the recent past.1
The Stories and Afterlife of Lady Grange
Stories beget stories – it’s one of my favourite things about them – and archives are built on precisely this strength. Archival collections, like those at the University of Edinburgh, do not simply store and preserve artefacts, but actually become a medium through which stories, both existing and those yet to be told, can find a voice. As these musings might already indicate, I’ve been recently reminded of the centrality of stories to archives through my time as a volunteer in the Digital Imaging Unit working on various papers related to Rachel Erskine, née Chiesley (bap.1679-1745), or, as she is more infamously known, Lady Grange.
20,000th item in the Edinburgh Research Archive
We are delighted to announce the deposit of the 20,000th item into our institutional repository the Edinburgh Research Archive (ERA). ERA is a digital repository of original research which contains documents written by academic authors based at, or affiliated with, the University of Edinburgh that have sufficient quality to be collected and preserved by the Library, but which are not controlled by commercial publishers. Holdings include full-text digital doctoral theses, masters dissertations, project reports, briefing papers and out-of-print materials.
Our milestone 20,000th item is a PhD thesis written by Susan Ahrens at the Moray House School of Education and was awarded in 2016:
2016 Homeless World Cup in Glasgow : image courtesy of the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-36819350)
This work investigates the relationship between sport, homelessness and poverty, and considers the way two social enterprises – the Homeless World Cup and Street Soccer (Scotland) – help overcome homelessness and its associated effects.
Observing the EU with the EUobserver
The Library has been given trial access to the independent online newspaper EUobserver. Launched in 2000 their aim is to support European democracy by giving people the information they need to hold the European Union (EU) establishment to account.
You can access the database via the E-resources trials page.
Access is available both on and off-campus.
Trial access ends on 7th April 2017.
EUobserver is an independent, not-for-profit news organisation established in Brussels in 2000. Their team of journalists file daily news reports from the EU capital and beyond and do in-depth investigations on topics of special interest. EUobserver is the only independent news media covering EU affairs in Brussels and all 28 member states. They are not funded by the EU institutions.
The database can be accessed for the duration of the trial period via e-resources trials.
Access is available both on and off-campus.
Trial access ends 7th April 2017.
Feedback welcome.
ProQuest Congressional on trial
*The Library currently has access to ProQuest Congressional through the ProQuest Access 350 subscription until 31st July 2024. Access via the Databases A-Z list.*
The Library currently has trial access to the full range of digital collections for ProQuest Congressional. In addition to our existing Congressional Record access this provides access to the ‘Congressional Research Digital Collection’, or CRDC a collection of research materials – CRS Reports and Committee Prints – created for Congress. It also gives access to the ‘Congressional Hearings Digital Collection’, a collection of published and unpublished hearings held by Congress.
You can access the database via the E-resources trials page.
Access is available both on and off-campus.
Trial access ends on 1st April 2017.
Listen very carefully!
I’m happy to let you know that thanks to an agreement with JISC the Library has been given extended trial access to the primary source database BBC Listener Research Department, 1937-c.1950 from British Online Archives.
You can access the database via the E-resources trials page (listed as British Online Archive – BBC Listener Research Department, 1937-c.1950).
For off-campus access you will need to use the VPN.
Trial access ends 31st December 2017.
Founded in 1936 the BBC’s pioneering Listener Research Department (LRD) examined wireless listening in Britain nationwide and at a regional level. This database reproduces the entire available collection of weekly Audience Summaries, together with the weekly then daily Listening Barometers. Also included are the Audience Reaction Reports on specific programmes and Special Reports on particular themes or issues for the period, as well as some key policy documents produced by the LRD during these years, tracing the early development of what has come to be known as market research within the BBC. Read More
Trial access: Socialism on Film
And finally…Adam Matthew have given the Library trial access to their just released resource Socialism on Film. This impressive collection of documentaries, newsreels and features reveals the world as seen by Soviet, Chinese, Vietnamese, East European, British and Latin American film makers. Documenting the communist world from the Russian Revolution until the 1980s and covering all aspects of socialist life.
You can access the database via the E-resources trials page. Access is available both on and off-campus.
Trial access ends 5th April 2017.
Trial access: Race Relations in America
The Library has been given access to another exciting new primary source database from Adam Matthew, Race Relations in America. So for a limited time only you can use this resource to explore three pivotal decades in the struggle for civil rights in America through the eyes and work of sociologists, activists, psychologists, teachers, ministers, students and housewives.
You can access the database via the E-resources trials page. Access is available both on and off-campus.
Trial access ends 5th April 2017.
**Trial access has now been extended until 23rd May 2017**
Annual Review of Cancer Biology – now available
Annual Review of Cancer Biology has now been added to DiscoverEd. This e-journal is a new start for 2017 and will review a range of subjects in cancer research that represent important and emerging areas in the field. The Annual Review of Cancer Biology will be divided into three broad themes: Cancer Cell Biology, Tumorigenesis and Cancer Progression, and Translational Cancer Science.
Further info
We subscribe to the Annual Reviews Sciences Collection – this provide access to 44 titles. A list can be viewed here.
Trial access: East India Company
I’m very pleased to let you know that the Library has been given trial access to the brand new 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 5th April 2017.
From 16th-century origins as a trading venture to the East Indies, through to its rise as the world’s most powerful company and de facto ruler of India, to its demise amid allegations of greed and corruption, the East India Company was an extraordinary force in global history for three centuries. Read More
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