- Freely Available
The following databases are newly acquired or being evaluated for a future subscription.
From zines, newspapers and ephemera, to oral histories, films and photographs, 1980s Culture and Society is an eclectic and multi-faceted resource compiled from archival collections housed across the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. Capturing diverse perspectives, materials produced by grassroots organizations and under-represented groups are presented alongside government records and mainstream media to showcase the key social, cultural, and political concerns of the decade.
Documents the period of rapid colonial expansion by European powers across the African continent during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century through rare printed works, diaries and journals, correspondence, maps, photographs, and film footage.
Comprising extensive collections from The National WWII Museum, New Orleans, this digital resource shows how World War Two changed American society and the economy, how it impacted individuals and their families, and the legacy of the war in human terms.
Presents the archival records of the American Committee on Africa (ACOA) from its foundation in 1953 through to 1981 and charts the organization's involvement in African liberation struggles in the twentieth century. This rich source material documents the ACOA's work to inform the American public on African issues, expand US solidarity with liberation movements throughout Africa, and work with leaders and activists across Africa to drive political change. The collection covers a wide range of intersecting themes, from social justice, civil rights, and decolonization, to US anti-apartheid movements and Africa during the Cold War.
Explores the growth of the human rights movement during the second half of the twentieth century through the International Secretariat records of Amnesty International. The materials contains minutes, reports, correspondence, first-hand accounts, publicity materials and circulars relating to human rights violations of all kinds in all parts of the world.
Presents the surviving corpus of Topical Budget newsreels produced by the Topical Film Company between 1911 and 1931, digitized from the collections of the British Film Institute and Imperial War Museums (IWM). Provides a glimpse into the early twentieth century - from everyday interests, such as sport and fashion, to coverage of key events, such as the First World War, the Suffragette Movement, and the establishment of the Irish Free State.
Discover how the expansion of radio and television technology, and the rise of mass media empires, accelerated America's transformation into a consumer-based society, through the lens of pioneer David Sarnoff, President of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), and other industry papers.
This collection offers rare and invaluable sources for examining the lived experience of people who witnessed this pivotal era of English history. From ‘ordinary’ people through to more prominent individuals and families, these documents show how everyday working, family, religious, and administrative life was experience across England.
From feast to famine, explore primary source material documenting the story of food and drink throughout history. The materials in this collection illustrate the deep links between food and identity, politics and power, gender, race, and socio-economic status, as well as charting key issues around agriculture, nutrition and food production.
Featuring candid, unedited interviews from the private collection of author and film-maker Nasreen Munni Kabir, Hindi Cinema offers a unique insight into the film industry from the years 1950-2010 through the experiences of leading film-makers.
Bringing together unique primary sources drawn from world-class maritime archives and heritage collections Life at Sea takes a sociocultural approach, focusing on the individual experiences and personal narratives of seafarers. Through a broad range of sources, from journals and memoirs to ships' logs and court records, the lives of ordinary seamen, merchants, whalers and pirates can be explored.
Drawing from the world-class Latin Americana Collection at the Bancroft Library, Mexico in History explorers over four centuries of Mexico's history, from the beginning of Spanish colonization c.1500 up to the turbulent years of the Mexican Revolution. The documents within this extensive resource cover a wealth of research interests, including indigenous linguistic studies, records of the Mexican Inquisition, church and mission documents and sermons, administrative and land records, and a variety of manuscripts and photographic records of the Revolution.
Discover what life was like for the poorest communities in Victorian Britain, and explore the government policy, social reform movements and philanthropic efforts of charitable institutions that sought to alleviate poverty.
Royal Shakespeare Company Archives provides a comprehensive record of the performance history of the Royal Shakespeare Company and its predecessor, the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. Browse and compare almost 1,400 prompt books to uncover how productions took shape, and explore the creative process behind the company's most important presentations in extensive additional documentation including production records, costume designs, music files and photographs.
This collection of documents offers insights into the performance practice in the particular space of the reconstructed Globe Theatre. It details the way in which the theatre was constructed as a place of radical experiment. It documents over 200 performances through prompt books, wardrobe notes, programs, publicity material, annual reports, show reports, photographs and architectural plans.
Explore America's transformative age of industrialization, expanding wealth, inequality and social change. Personal collections, business records and rich visual content offer fresh perspectives on this influential period.
Bringing together unique primary sources drawn from key archival collections, The Olympic Movement presents a documentary record of the origins, expansion and growth of the Olympic Games, and the global history of sport. Through a broad range of sources including correspondence, official reports, newsletters and film footage, researchers can chart the history of sport and its relationships with culture, society, business, media and politics between the 1890s and 1990s.
Brings together documents from six of London’s principal livery companies, spanning the years 1450 to 1750. The rich and varied records document the central role that these wealthy and powerful institutions played in the commercial, financial, political and cultural activity of the city. They provide fascinating insights into life in early modern London, covering a broad variety of themes as well as reactions to key historical events such as the Reformation, the English Civil War, the Great Plague, and the Great Fire of London.
Women's Voices and Life Writing, 1600-1968 brings together diaries and oral histories for the study of the lives and experiences of less well-known women, told through their own words. Featuring content from both regional and national archives across the UK and Ireland, users can explore the life course of hundreds of individuals from a diverse range of backgrounds.
