New: Radical (Irish) Newspaper Archive

We are delighted to announce that Oxford researchers now have access to the Radical (Irish) Newspaper Archive, via the Irish Newspaper Archive subscription. The archive will allow researchers to study the political, social and industrial unrest of the modern Irish nation through the prism some of the country’s most revolutionary publications.

Screenshot of The Irish Worker, 5 Dec 1914, with the headline 'We serve neither King nor Kaiser'.

The Irish Worker, Sat 5 Dec 1914, front page. From Radical Newspaper Archive, accessed 4 October 2022.

The resource includes 100+ titles covering a broad sweep of polical and feminist newspapers, journals, pamphlets and bulletins with a particular interest on the revolutionary period 1913–23. Most are in English language with a few Gaelic titles.

The publications report on events such as the beginning of the First World War, the 1916 Easter Rising, the War of Independence and Civil War. This collection will also be useful to researchers of post-independent Ireland.

Many newspapers were only very short-lived but provide a fascinating insight into the revolutionary period following 1916, when radical newspapers were clamped down by the Military Authority.

Examples of nationalist, republican, feminist and socialist newspapers include:

  • An Claidheamh Soluis (1899-1918)
  • Irish Freedom (1910-1937)
  • Nationality (1915-1932)
  • Notes from Ireland (1886-1918)
  • Sinn Fein Weekly (1906-1914)
  • The Irish Citizen (1919-1920)
  • The Irish Worker (1911-1932)
  • The United Irishman (1899-1933)
  • Young Ireland (1917-1923)

Through this special collection of journals historians will also gain access to Irish army bulletins from 1922.

Using online newspapers can be challenging. Check out our LibGuide Newspapers and other online news sources from the 17th – 21st centuries for tips.

Related resources:

New: The Times Supplements (1910-1916)

Oxford researchers now have access to The Times Supplements (1910-1016). Use SSO for remote access.

The Times Supplements consist of a series of full-text searchable, geographically-based issues, originally published between 1910 and 1916, as supplements of The Times. The Supplements cover various aspects of mainly South America, Russia and then Japan. Dedicated issues to World War I and one-off special issues were also published.

Supplements are a good source in English on domestic and foreign affairs relating to countries included. Published in the years 1910-1916 the supplements include:

  • The South American Supplements (42 issues, 732 pages)
  • The Russian Supplements (26 issues, 560 pages)
  • The Japanese Supplements (6 issues, 176 pages)
  • The Spanish Supplement (36 pages) as a one-off
  • The Norwegian Supplement (24 pages) as a one-off
  • Supplements associated with World War I (4 issues, 96 pages)
  • Special Supplements (2 issues, 16 pages)
Screenshot of the cover of the Russian Supplement, Issue 9, 27 July 1914.

Cover of Russian Supplement, issue 9, 27 July 2014. Brill, 2018.

‘Each title was tailored to support The Times’ broad editorial position and ongoing Foreign Office priorities. The Japanese Supplements, for example, were aimed at reinforcing the Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902-22, in the context of growing German influence in Japan. Talented artists and contributors were engaged in filling the supplements, ranging from foreign statesmen to expatriate journalists and publicists, including those hired by the nations concerned.

These supplements would likely have continued beyond 1917, but were affected by acute paper shortages in that year and, in the case of the Russian Supplements, by the 1917 Revolution. The Times also issued some one-off special issues.’

An extensive background article by P.A. O’Connor and P. Robinson is available via https://primarysources.brillonline.com/browse/the-times-supplements.

Source: The Times Supplements, Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2018

Related links:

Trial until 7 May: Afghan Serials Collection

Logo of EastViewThe Bodleian Libraries are running a trial of The Afghan Serials Collection: Partisan Publications from the Wahdat Library.

This resource is an essential collection of partisan serials from the most comprehensive private collection of rare newspapers and journals from Afghanistan. The Afghan Serials Collection includes over 45 newspapers and journals published in, largely, Persian, Pushto, and Arabic, but also some in Urdu and English from the early 1970s to the late 1990s—a critical period for the history of Afghanistan.

Screenshot of the list of newspaper included in this resource.

Documenting the breadth of Afghanistan’s political epochs, the Afghan Serials Collection: Partisan Publications from the Wahdat Library covers the use of the press by many groups that sought to shape Afghanistan’s social and intellectual landscape during this turbulent time. Various ideologies are represented in these publications, published by opposing factions from the Taliban to anti-Taliban groups, to anti-Soviet jihadi and mujaheddin groups to the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan.

Please send any feedback on the trial to Lydia Wright and Emma Mathieson.

The trial ends on 7 May 2022.

Trial – The Middle East Online: Iraq, 1914-1974 (GALE Archives Unbound) until 30 April 2021

The Middle East Online: Iraq, 1914-1974 (GALE Archives Unbound)

Trial until 30 April 2021 – accessible via Databases A-Z  Please send feedback to lydia.wright@bodleian.ox.ac.uk and marialuisa.langella@sant.ox.ac.uk

Map showing the distribution of Kurds in the Middle East, 1963, The National Archives

Iraq 1914-1974 offers the widest range of original source material from the Foreign Office, Colonial Office, War Office and Cabinet Papers from the Anglo-Indian landing in Basra in 1914 through the British Mandate in Iraq of 1920-32 to the rise of Saddam Hussein in 1974. Here major policy statements are set out in their fullest context, the minor documents and marginalia revealing the workings of the mandate administration, diplomacy, treaties, oil and arms dealing. Topics covered include: The Siege of Kut-al-Amara, The War in Mesapotamia and the capture of Baghdad in 1917, Introduction of the British Mandate, and the installation of King Faisal in 1921, The British administration in Baghdad, Gertrude Bell, advisor to the British administration, in both reports and memos, The Arab Uprising of 1920, Independence, and Iraq’s membership of the League of Nations in 1932, Coups d’etat in the 1930s and 1940s, The Baghdad Pact of 1955 and the military coup of 1958 leading to the establishment of a republic, The Cold War and Soviet intervention in Iraq, Kurdish unrest and the war in Kurdistan, Oil concessions and oil exploration, The Rise of Ba’athism and Saddam Hussein, The USSR-Iraq Treaty of Friendship in 1972, Iran-Iraq relations.

Great Britain’s intimate involvement with the foundation of the state of Iraq and with the early direction of its government makes the National Archives at Kew the single major source for understanding the processes which formed the modern state and its politics. It is through the documents filed here that the reader can form an accurate impression of the British administrators, their concerns, their views of Iraq and the Iraqis and their reasons for devising policies that were to have a marked effect on the course of Iraqi political history long after British influence had come to an end.

The files reproduced in this collection have been selected on the basis of the light they can throw on routine policy-making, as well as on key episodes and developments in the political history of Iraq and its relationship with Great Britain. The editorial role has been confined to the selection of subject files which together form a comprehensive and multi-faceted picture of Iraq’s political history. The files themselves are reproduced in their entirety, including all the comments, annotations and revisions made by the officials through whose hands they passed, giving the reader the opportunity to assess how British policy was made and often revised to deal with changing circumstances.

From the National Archives at Kew, UK. Selected by Dr. Charles Tripp, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, these documents cover the political and administrative history of the modern state which has emerged from the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia. This database offers conference reports, ministerial memos and diplomatic dispatches, as well as official letters of correspondence from regional leaders, press releases and arms deal reports. This collection will also appeal to those with an interest in economics, politics and peace studies.

[taken from the introduction by Professor Charles Tripp, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Temporary access until 31 May: ProQuest History Vault

[partially re-blogged from VHL blog.]

The VHL has organised temporary access to the ProQuest History Vault, to support our readers wishing to access primary resources to support their studies and research during the current COVID-19 situation.
While the majority of the sources are relevant for American history (see VHL blog post, the resource also includes the following records which are not focused on US History:

 

“The British Foreign Office Political Correspondence files on Palestine and Transjordan, 1940-1948 are essential for understanding the modern history of the Middle East, the establishment of Israel as a sovereign state, and the wider web of postwar international world politics. Early records in the collection focus on events in Palestine, Britain’s policy toward Palestine, and how the situation in Palestine affected relations with other nations. The files also survey the contours of Arab politics in the wider Middle East. Since the interests, rivalries, and designs of various Arab leaders were often played out with reference to Palestine, the documents provide insight into the complex and sometimes bloody Arab world. In the 1947-1948 period, this module explores the tensions within Anglo-American relations over the creation and recognition of Israel as a sovereign state. A large section of the material is devoted to United Nations deliberations on the Palestine question. The records also illuminate the political, philosophical, and personal fractures within and between both the Jewish and Arab communities from 1940-1948.” From ProQuest History Vault LibGuide (https://proquest.libguides.com/historyvault/israel1940).

 

Nazi Looted Arts and Assets: Records on the Post WWII restitution process

“This module focuses on the diplomatic, legal and political maneuvering during and after World War II regarding German art looting in Europe, recovery of cultural objects dispersed during World War II, efforts by the U.S. and other Allied Powers to prevent the secreting of Axis assets, claims from victims for financial or property restitution from the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), other claims cases, and meeting minutes and background materials regarding the Tripartite Commission for the Restitution of Monetary Gold. On the topic of looted art, the documents primarily relate to negotiations and litigation for return of items to legitimate owners. Many missing art treasures surfaced in the U.S., usually when individuals attempted to sell items. Notable cases included paintings by Albrecht Durer, rare postage stamps, gold medals, and historic coins.” From ProQuest History Vault LibGuide (https://proquest.libguides.com/historyvault/israel1940).

More help can be found via the ProQuest History Vault LibGuide. 

Access can be found via SOLO. Use SSO for remote access. These resources will be available for Bodleian readers until 31 May 2020. 
 

New: Presidential Recordings Digital Addition

[re-blogged from Bethan Davies’ VHL Blog post of 13. Dec 2019.]

I am pleased to announce that the Vere Harmsworth Library, in partnership with the Social Science Library, have purchased online access to the Presidential Recordings Digital Edition for the University.

The Presidential Recordings Programme (PRP), was established by The Miller Center in 1998. Its aim was to make the previously secret taped conversations of six consecutive American Presidents (FDR to Richard Nixon) available for researchers. Covering historical events such as the Civil Rights Movement, the Kennedy Assassination, Vietnam and Watergate, the tapes offer “a unique and irreplaceable source for the study of U.S. history and American government.”

Previously, Oxford researchers could only access the curated transcripts hosted on the Miller Centre’s website. Now, through the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford researchers can access the Presidential Recordings Digital Edition (PRDE), the online portal for annotated transcripts of the White House tapes from the Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon era. This includes a searchable database that allows full text searches for specific phrases and terms. It also includes options to filter search results based on dates, participants and topics. The PRDE is continually being updated with new transcripts and recordings, as they become available.

Similar Resources:

If you would like any advice on using our databases or resources, please contact the Vere Harmsworth Librarian, Bethan Davies bethan.davies@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

Trial until 27 Nov: Paris Peace Conference and Beyond, 1919-1939

Oxford historians are now invited to trial Paris Peace Conference and Beyond, 1919-1939 (British Online Archives) which is available via SOLO and Databases A-Z.

The Paris Peace Conference was a meeting of Allied diplomats that took place in the aftermath of the First World War. Its purpose was to impose peace terms on the vanquished Central Powers and establish a new international order.

This online resource draws on material chiefly from The National Archives: FO 373 (Foreign Office: Peace Conference; Handbooks): FO 608 (Foreign Office: Peace Conference; British Delegation, Correspondence and Papers); FO 893 (Foreign Office: Ambassadors to the Peace Conference, 1919; Minutes of Proceedings); CAB 29/139 (Cabinet Office: International Conferences; Minutes and Papers; Lausanne Conference, 1932).

These Foreign Office records for the first time offer an emphatic and comprehensive coverage of the various peace treaties signed at the end of the First World War. The Treaties of Versailles, Saint-Germain, Sèvres, Trianon, Neuilly and Lausanne are all covered in great depth. They collectively saw to the redrawing of boundaries, the stripping back of German military might and the effective end of the Ottoman Empire.

These records are supplemented by the personal papers of Robert Cecil and Arthur Balfour – held at the British Library – both of whom played prominent roles during the course of the Conference.

Explore how the Allied Powers scrambled to create a diplomatic epilogue to ‘the war to end all wars’. This resource will interest those researching: The First World War, The Second World War, Inter-War International Governance, International Relations, Peace-making, Colonialism, 20th Century, War, Diplomacy, and Politics.

Please send feedback to isabel.holowaty@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

Useful subject searches in SOLO: Paris Peace Conference (1919-1920) or World War, 1914-1918 — Reparations.

While you are here…

… did you know that the Bodleian has The Papers of Richard Meinerzhagen (1878-1967)? He was on Balfour’s staff at the Paris Peace Conference.

New in Oxford: East India Company – Women in The National Archives – Foreign Office Files for the Middle East, 1971-1981

I am pleased to announce that Bodleian Libraries has been able to make a number of eresources purchases some of which will be of interest to historians.

The Bodleian Libraries have committed substantial external funding to a one-off set of purchases of electronic research resources deemed to be important to researchers in the University. This follows a project to identify desiderata across all subjects and to list suggestions from readers. The list includes items which cannot easily be covered by recurrent budgets.

East India Company

This resource offers access to digitised primary source documents from the India Office Records, held at the British Library, a key archive for the history of South Asia from 1599 to 1947 and the most important collection for the history of the East India Company itself. The resource contains digitised royal charters, correspondence, trading diaries, minutes of council meetings and reports of expeditions, among other document types, this resource charts the history of British trade and rule in the Indian subcontinent and beyond from 1599 to 1947.

Also of interest: 

Women in The National Archives

This resource provides access to an online finding aid for women’s studies resources in The National Archives (TNA), Kew, covering 1559-1995. It also gives access to early 20th century original documents on the Suffrage Question in Britain, the Empire and Colonial Territories.The finding aid enables researchers to quickly locate details of documents relating to women held in The National Archives (TNA). It is still far more detailed and extensive than anything available elsewhere on the web and has the benefit of ranging across all of the classes held at TNA. The original documents will be valuable for those teaching courses on: The Campaign for Women’s Suffrage in Britain, 1903-1928 and The granting of women’s suffrage in Colonial territories, 1930-1962.

It’s a useful resource for those researching women’s history generally but particularly the history of abortion, clothing, conditions of service, divorce, domestic work, education and training, employment, equal opportunities and pay, health, marriage, maternity and child welfare, nursing and midwifery, prostitution, single parents, teaching and teacher training, trade unions, widows, women’s organisations, women’s suffrage and women’s rights and status.

Highlights of the collections include: The campaign for women’s suffrage in Britain and the British Empire; Biographical information on individual suffragettes; The ‘Cat and Mouse’ campaign; Police surveillance; Prison conditions; Parliamentary debates and committee reports.

Also of interest:

Foreign Office Files for the Middle East, 1971-1981

This is an online collection of documents sourced from The National Archives, UK. It comprises formally classified British government documents, including correspondence, annual reports, dispatches, maps, minutes of ministerial meetings and printed leaflets. The documents relate to a number of topics including the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Oil Crisis, the Lebanese Civil War and the Camp David Accords, the Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War.

Also of interest:

Chinese eresources trials until 25 August 2019

I’m pleased to report that the HD Chung Chinese Studies Librarian has organised trials of three Chinese eresources. Access is available on-campus and off-campus with VPN.

The resources being trialled are:

雕龙中日古籍全文资料库 Diaolong Database of Chinese & Japanese Pre-Modern Books: Provides full-text access to almost 30,000 pre-modern Chinese and Japanese titles covering history, politics, economy, religion, philosophy, literature, ethnography and geography. It includes collected works such as 方志丛书 (China local gazetteer series), 四库全书  (Classified collection of complete works), Japanese Pre-Modern Books and Qing Dynasty archives. http://hunteq.com/ancientc/ancientkm

中国近代报刊 (Chinese Modern Newspapers): Database provides access to pre-1949 Chinese newspapers published on mainland China and Taiwan, including Shen bao, Zhong yang ri bao, Taiwan min bao and Taiwan ri bao. http://www.dhcdb.com.tw/SP/

大公报 = Ta Kung Pao (1902 -1949): one of the major Chinese newspaper titles which is considered to be an authoritative source for the study of Chinese modern history, politics and society. http://tk.dhcdb.com.tw/tknewsc/tknewskm

The trials end on 25 August 2019. If you have any feedback or questions, please email the HD Chung Chinese Studies Librarian.

While you are here, check out…

New resource for 20th century historians: Political Extremism and Radicalism in the Twentieth Century

The Bodleian Libraries have committed substantial external funding to a one-off set of purchases of electronic research resources deemed to be important to researchers in the University. This follows a project to identify desiderata across all subjects and to list suggestions from readers. The list includes items costing up to £125,000 which cannot easily be covered by recurrent budgets. The first tranche of purchases includes a number of important primary sources from Gale Cengage, including Political Extremism and Radicalism in the Twentieth Century, together with their new Gale Digital Scholar Lab, which will allow digital research methods to be applied across all the primary sources published by them and acquired by the Bodleian Libraries.

Political Extremism & Radicalism in the Twentieth Century

This resource provides access to “a compilation of rare and unique archival collections covering a wide range of fringe political movements. It has been sourced from distinguished libraries and archives across the world but also premiers some previously hidden treasure troves.

With an extensive scope of content focused on political extremism and radical thought, this archive is one of the first digital archives covering such a broad assortment of both far-right and left political groups. It offers a diverse mixture of materials, including periodicals, campaign propaganda, government records, oral histories, and various ephemera, which allow researchers to explore unorthodox social and political movements in new and innovative ways and to understand what impact they have had on today’s society.

The collections cover a period of just over a century (1900s to 2010s) when the world saw the formation of several civil rights movements for the rights of minorities, women’s rights, and gay rights. It also encompasses the rise and fall of a number of peripheral groups deemed ‘extreme’ or ‘radical’ by contemporaries, such as anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic, anti-war, communist or socialist, creationist, environmentalist, hate, holocaust denial, new left, survivalist, white supremacist, and white nationalist. Global in scope, although the archive presents materials largely from the US and Britain, it also showcases important factions from Europe and Australia, such as the Norwegian Nazi Party and the Australian National Socialist Party. By spanning multiple geographic regions, the resource shows both the cultural impact of radical groups at a national level as well as the international networking and cross-border exchanges of extreme political movements.

Following are some highlights from the archive:

The Hall-Hoag Collection of Dissenting and Extremist Printed Propaganda from the John Hay Library at Brown University, features extremist literature ranging from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s – the most heated days of the civil rights movement. Publications in this collection represent a cross-section of extremist opinion towards integration and civil rights activism, but it also contains materials on American anti-Semitism, Christian Identity theology, neo-Nazi groups, and white supremacy movements.

The American Radicalism Collection from Michigan State University is a collection of ephemera on radical political groups across a range of extremist and radical movements, including those involved in religion, race, gender, the environment, and equal rights. The materials represent a large variety of viewpoints, from the far-right to the far-left, on political, social, cultural, sexual, and economic issues in the United States from 1970 to the present.

The Searchlight Archive, held at the University of Northampton in the UK, consists of documents from Searchlight Associates, an information service founded in 1962 that aimed to investigate racist and fascist groups in Britain and abroad and publicise their activities by publishing exposes in their Searchlight magazine. The collections consist of various ephemera accumulated as part of their investigations as well as the complete run of Searchlight magazine (1965-present). Most distinctively, the archive also includes the Searchlight Oral Histories Collection, which consists of interviews (available to researchers as both audio files and transcripts) with anti-fascist activists active from 1940s-1990s.

The National Archives at Kew in the UK, is the source archive for digitised secret service and home office documents relating to inter- and post-war British fascist and communist movements. This includes the Security Service: Personal (PF Series) Files series containing selected files from the First and Second World War periods and the inter-war years on suspected spies, renegades, communist sympathisers, right-wing extremists, and other groups in which the British Security Service took an interest, including pacifist and anti-conscription groups. It also contains Home Office papers pertaining to the detention of Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists, during the Second World War as well as a number of other suspected Nazi sympathisers who were members of far-right groups, such as the Imperial Fascist League, the Nordic League, and the Right Club.”