LibGuide for Disability History resources now live

Posted on 28 November 2023 by iholowaty

We are delighted to announce that the Bodleian Libraries’ LibGuide Disability History Resources is now live, just in time for UK Disability History Month (UKDHM).

The guide was created by Alice Shepherd, the 2022-23 History Faculty Library Graduate trainee, as part of her year-long project and was launched at a research seminar, convened at the Oxford Centre for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology (OCHSMT) on Monday 27 November 2023.

Alice Shepherd presenting the LibGuide to the audience. The slide on the screen reads: The Oxford Disability History LibGuide

Photo by Isabel Holowaty, 27 Nov 2023, Maison Française, Oxford

Who is the guide for?

It is intended for researchers and students who are studying Disability History and other information professionals supporting researchers. It is also useful for practitioners and members of the public with an interest in (or who have a disability) and wish to gain a historical perspective.

What can you find in the guide?

The LibGuide consists of a collection of research resources crowdsourced during a Hackathon by 24 volunteers in Dec 2022 who scoured the internet for relevant archives, journals and various other useful websites. Over 200 nominated resources were then assessed and organised by Alice to make them as discoverable as possible. The guide conforms with accessibility standards.

The selected resources cover a great variety of topics across different historical periods (ancient to contemporary history).

The disabilities covered are wide ranging and include, for instance, autism, birth defects, chronic pain, hearing loss /deafness, learning disabilities, mental illness, mobility disabilities, visual impairment, and more.

Resources were also selected for aspects of disability relating to education, employment, medical technologies, stigma and war. The materials themselves may be archives, audio-visual, biographies, books, journals, legislation, newspapers, theses and websites.

The guide also lists Oxford historians researching aspects of disability history.

Feedback & suggestions

The guide will continue to evolve. It is currently limited largely to English language resources focused on western history and we hope there will be opportunities to expand its scope in the future.

We very much welcome feedback and, continuing in the crowdsourcing spirit, invite suggestions for additional resources for the LibGuide which can be made via our Recommend a Resource form.

Many congratulations and thanks go to Alice for her terrific work. We believe that this guide will be an excellent resource to help with the discovery of resources for disability history. Thanks of course also go to the volunteer ‘hackers’, without whom this guide would not exist, and the History Faculty for hosting and funding the hackathon in 2022.

Isabel Holowaty, Deputy Head of Humanities Libraries & History Librarian (Research), Bodleian Libraries, Oxford University

Dr Sloan Mahone, History Faculty, Oxford University

While you are here… we have many other guides for history resources. Check them out!

Access to online Anglican missionary archive resources

Posted on 8 November 2023 by iholowaty

The landing page of USPG. It shows a black & white print of harbour scene, links to browse through volumes and documents, a link to view highlights. and a text box of insights which read: "The USPG and other missionary organisations aim to facilitate the spread of Christianity by appointing missionaries to visit and stay in various countries around the world. Whilst on a mission, representatives of the Church are expected to perform a number of tasks to promote Christianity. This may involve providing a Christian education, engaging in charitable work, and performing services."

America in records from colonial missionaries, 1635-1928

We are pleased to announce that Oxford researchers now have online access to 14 collections of the Anglican missionary archive, the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (USPG), which have been digitized by British Online Archives. Previously only available in the Weston Library, the digitised material can now be accessed throughout the University and remotely with the Oxford SSO.

The USPG is a UK-based Anglican missionary organisation, founded in 1701, which sent missionaries to many parts of the world and was involved in educational, charitable and medical work as well as evangelization. The material also throws light on social conditions, travel and daily life abroad from the view point of British missionaries and their families.

The digitized material is relevant to British, Commonwealth and global history, covering the 17th to mid-20th centuries. It has been organised into 14 collections which can be found via SOLO or Databases A-Z:

Early modern and modern source materials

The digitized material dates from 1635 to 1967 and includes letters, journals, reports, minute books, financial records, statistical returns, drawings, leaflets, questionnaires, school records, press cuttings, and printed books and magazines.

A single page handwritten letter from Franklin to Lyttleton.

Letter of 3 June 1786 from Benjamin Franklin, while President of Pennsylvania, to Rev. Thomas Lyttleton concerning the lease of land for a school.
Shelfmark: USPG Bray/N.America/3/f.2/item 4
©2014 Microform Academic Publishers with permission of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel

Wide geographical reach

The geographical coverage is wide including the American colonies before independence, Canada, the Caribbean, Ghana, Tanzania, Malawi, South Africa, Mauritius, India, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.

A typed page of a 1912 report on a biblewoman by the USPG's Committee of Women's Work. Names and descriptions are filled in with handwriting.

Report on a Biblewoman in India, 1912. Shelfmark: USPG CWW 311
©2014 Microform Academic Publishers with permission of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel

Topics covered include:

the establishment of the Anglican Church in north America
the American War of Independence
slavery and its abolition
the establishment of Christian schools
indigenous communities
women missionaries
the impact of colonialism
philanthropy
the experience of wars including the two World Wars and the Sino-Japanese War

The digitized material represents a proportion of the whole USPG archive which is held on deposit in the Bodleian Library and is available for consultation in the Weston Library.

Lucy McCann, Senior Archivist, Special Collections, Bodleian Libraries

Other useful subscription resources:

Introducing MARCO, Oxford’s new discovery tool for Manuscripts and Archives

Posted on 7 November 2023 by iholowaty

We are delighted to report that a major new discovery tool for Oxford archives and manuscripts, MARCO, is now available. Oxford’s very own Professor Lyndal Roper, Regius Chair of History, launched the service in a ceremony on 26 October 2023.

Manuscripts and Archives at Oxford University (MARCO) searches descriptions of manuscripts and archives held at the Bodleian Libraries and some Oxford colleges.

It is for all users of manuscript and archive collections held at the Bodleian Libraries and Oxford colleges and is the easiest place to start your search for manuscripts and archives held in Oxford, allowing searching across all online descriptions of the collections.

The discovery tool will allow researchers to deep-dive into detail but also discover material they may not have expected to be held in Oxford.

Where there is a digital copy in Digital.Bodleian, a link will be provided.

A yellow picture of several magnifying glasses scattered around.

ELEVEN CATALOGUES = ONE SEARCH

The descriptions are drawn from eleven online catalogues, extending from Greek papyrus fragments from the 5^th century BC to 21^st century born-digital archives.

The collections include works of literature, medieval legal charters and deeds, politics, science, medicine, theology, law, music, photographic material and religious devotion, as well as many forms of documentary material produced by individuals and institutions.

The project unifies information about individuals, ensuring that whichever spelling or variation of a name you use, you will still find relevant materials:

You can also use keyword searching for find relevant materials.

What is not included?

Please note that not all manuscripts and archives are described online. Many of the catalogues are works-in-progress, and some collections are not yet described online at all. For more information, see below.

Continue to search individual catalogues

Existing users of the individual catalogues, or users who know which individual catalogue describes material they need, can still search the source catalogues directly.

About the project

The project aims to create a researcher-driven and easy to use discovery interface, MARCO, which will allow manuscript and archival materials from the Bodleian and Oxford’s colleges to be searched together. This discovery layer will enable new and existing audiences to better access the materials and will offer a fit-for-purpose environment for finding information about Oxford’s unique collections.

MARCO realizes the Bodleian Libraries’ vision of a connected, user-friendly, robust and adaptable digital environment for the University of Oxford’s manuscripts and archives.

Huge congratulations are due to the very many colleagues involved in designing and launching this project which is part of the Mellon Foundation funded FAMOUS project.

While you are here:

Access to Bodleian Libraries archives: The Bodleian Libraries’ welcome academics, students and researchers to consult special collections in person. Information on how to do so can be found on the Using Special Collections page.

Archives in Colleges: For information about consulting items held at Oxford colleges, please contact the colleges directly. For help and advice using special collections held at Oxford colleges, see Oxford College Archives and Oxford college library guides.

Guides and Finding Aids. For an overview of the special collections held at the Bodleian Libraries, see the Special Collections section of Bodleian Libraries website. This includes:

Subject Guides, which provide an overview of all the Libraries’ special collections, not just those catalogued online, with links to further information.
Detailed finding aids, which give specific information working with individual collections.

Please contact Bodleian Special Collections if you need any further information.

New: Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive, part II: Slave Trade in the Atlantic World

Posted on 19 September 2023 by iholowaty

We are delighted to announce that Oxford researchers now have access to Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive, part II: Slave Trade in the Atlantic World.

This collection provides access to a wide range of materials to help understand the inception of slavery in Africa and its rise as perpetuated on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, with particular focus on the United Kingdom, France, and the United States.

It covers a wide spectrum of subjects related to the history of slavery: legal issues; economics; the Caribbean; children and women under slavery; modes of resistance; and much more, from 1490 to 1896.

Snippet from an 1851 court report, reading "Note. The following report is published at the request of numerous persons who are of opinion that all which is known of the operation of the Fugitive Slave Bill should be spread before the public. To the legal profession it will be of interest, as developing new points in the construction and application of a Statute, destined to be of great political importance now and in future history. They will be able to judge of the construction upon the Statute, and of the law of evidence, as laid down and applied by the Commissioner, and contended for by the representative of the Government. Not the profession alone but the public can judge of the temper and manner as to parties and witnesses in which the prosecution was pressed and the judicial duties performed."

Report of the proceedings at the examination of Charles G. Davis, Esq., on a charge of aiding and abetting in the rescue of a fugitive slave, held in Boston, in February, 1851 / Davis, Charles G. United States. Circuit Court (Massachusetts). Boston : White & Potter, printers, 1851
© Cengage

Sources

Sources include monographs and individual papers, account ledge books, diaries, names of slave ships, lists of captains and crews, details of slave ship seizures as well as description of slave conditions, company records, newspapers, and a variety of government documents.

The resource is also useful for finding European travellers and missionaries accounts (often the only records available to document the evidence of slavery in Africa) and European business records (particularly valuable for piecing together the many wars and commercial disputes among the African powers on the Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia area.

Geographical coverage

This resource is particularly relevant in its significant coverage of France, Haiti, Jamaica, Denmark, Portugal, Brazil, Senegal, and many other countries and regions.

Source institutions

The sources come from a variety of institutions including The National Archives (esp. Colonial Office records), Company of Royal Adventurers of England Training with Africa, British Library manuscripts, US Customs Service Records, and more. Material used in this collection include:

U.S. Customs Service Records: Port of New Orleans, Louisiana Inward Slave Manifests, 1807-1860
U.S. Customs Service Records: Port of New Orleans, Louisiana Outward Slave Manifests, 1812-1860
Exploration and Colonization of Africa
Selected Records of the Danish West Indies, 1672-1917: Essential Records Concerning Slavery and Emancipation
Appellate Case File No. 2161, United States v. The Amistad, 40 U.S. 518
Records of the U.S. District and Circuit Courts for the District of Connecticut: Documents Relating to the Various Cases Involving the Spanish Schooner Amistad
Records of the Spanish Governors of Puerto Rico, Registro Central de Esclavos, 1872 (Slave Schedules)
Company of Royal Adventurers of England Trading with Africa and Successors: Records
Heartman Manuscript Collection at Xavier University Library, New Orleans: Manuscripts on Slavery
Africa Squadron, 1843-1861; Letters Received by the Secretary of the Navy from Commanding Officers of Squadrons
The Yale University Collection of Latin American Manuscripts, Part V: The Caribbean
Oliver Pollock Papers, 1767-1788
Vernon-Wager Papers, 1654-1773
Jamaica Manuscripts Collection, 1774-1950
British Library Collections
Aaron Thomas papers, 1798-1799

Sensitive content

Please note that you may encounter harmful and/or offensive material during your research. It is important to approach sensitive topics with cultural awareness and respect for the lived experiences of marginalized groups and individuals.

Related resources:

Slavery, Exploitation and Trade in the West Indies, 1759-1832 (subscription resource)
Slavery, abolition and social justice (subscription resource)
Black Abolitionist Papers (1830-1865) (subscription resource)
Liberated Africans of the Havana Slave Trade Commission
Confidential Print: North America 1824-1961 (subscription resource)
More websites on slavery
Books on slavery
Archive of the Anti-Slavery Society (Bodleian Libraries)

New eresources: more South Asian newspapers databases

Posted on 24 August 2023 by iholowaty

[posting on behalf of Emma Mathieson, Subject Librarian for South Asian studies]

We are very pleased to let historians know that Oxford now has access to two new South Asian newspaper databases.

The first is Readex’s South Asian newspapers : historical newspapers from South Asia.

This gives access to 10 publications, including Amrita Bazar Patrika, the Ceylon Observer, and the Madras Mail. The database provides scans of original pages and the contents can be searched by keyword or browsed by date. Unfortunately, keyword searching does not seem to be possible for the titles in South Asian languages. These are Amrita Bazar Patrika, Bankura Darpan and Kayasare Hinda and although full-text search is not available, browsing by date of publication is straightforward and readers can easily scroll through individual issues. I am following up the question of keyword searching for these particular titles with the supplier.

The dates of coverage are not the same for each title. The earliest issue available is the 30^th November 1864 issue of the Ceylon Observer’s predecessor, the Colombo Overland Observer. The latest date covered is 31^st December 1922, for which copies of four separate titles are available. Readers can see a full listing with dates. As with all these databases, some gaps are inevitable.

The other database is the near identically-named South Asian newspapers (to distinguish them on SOLO and Databases A-Z look out for the subtitle/lack of a subtitle).

The landing page of South Asian Newspapers (by Centre for Research Libraries) showing a search box and three photos, including a black & white photo of Ghandi and Nehru in discussion.

This is a new open access resource, hosted by East View in collaboration with the Center for Research Libraries, and it is part of East View’s Global Press Archive database. This collection complements nicely the Readex database, comprising a further dozen titles, including the Ceylon Daily News, the Malabar Herald and the Pakistan Observer. There are also three titles in South Asian languages, the Dainika Basumati (Bengali), Dnyanaprakasa (Marathi) and Samaja (Nepali).

The coverage of titles in this collection is wide-ranging and generally later than the titles in the Readex database. There are a couple of titles from the 19^th century, but the majority are 20^th century, and in fact most are post-1945. You can see a full list by going to the home page and selecting the “title navigation” link.

While you are here…

more newspaper resources for South Asia (LibGuide)
more eresources for South and Inner Asia studies

New: Central Asia, Persia and Afghanistan, 1834-1922: From Silk Road to Soviet Rule

Posted on 18 August 2023 by iholowaty

Oxford reseachers now have access to Central Asia, Persia and Afghanistan, 1834-1922: From Silk Road to Soviet Rule (Archives Unbound).

‘This collection of documents sheds a remarkable light on British and Anglo-Indian foreign policy and intelligence across the Persianate world – Russian Central Asia, Qajar Persia and Afghanistan. It contains a wealth of diplomatic correspondence and memoranda – much of it intercepted from Britain’s rivals and neighbours in the region – which include much ethnographic, religious and cultural material alongside the purely political. It will be an essential resource for scholars and students alike.’ Dr Alexander Morrison, University of Oxford.

Landing page for the resource. Image shows a colour print of an Oriental market scene.

Central Asia Persia and Afghanistan 1834-1922: From Silk Road to Soviet Rule © Adam Matthew Digital 2023

From Adam Matthew Digital:

“This collection of Foreign Office files explores the history of Persia (Iran), Central Asia and Afghanistan from the decline of the Silk Road in the first half of the nineteenth century to the establishment of Soviet rule over parts of the region in the early 1920s. It encompasses the era of “The Great Game” – a political and diplomatic confrontation between the Russian and British Empires for influence, territory and trade across a vast region, from the Black Sea in the west to the Pamir Mountains in the east.”

Included in the resource “are 188 volumes from FO 65 and all 11 volumes of FO 106, comprising original correspondence, drafts and enclosures which detail ‘Proceedings in Central Asia’ from 1858 to 1905; 30 volumes of general correspondence relating to Central Asia from FO 371, dated 1920-1922; and 118 Confidential Print files for Central Asia from the FO 539 series, covering 1820-1971. Maps previously included in these volumes and extracted to form part of the MFQ, MPK and MPKK series are also made available here.”

“The collection begins with materials relating to Britain and Russia’s relations with regional powers in the 1830s, and continues with volumes which can be used to explore the Anglo-Afghan Wars, conflicts between Russia and its neighbours to the south, the construction of strategic infrastructure, border disputes and confrontations including the Panjdeh Crisis, and continued competition between Britain and Russia for influence and territory into the early twentieth century, ending with documents which describe fears of Communist subversion in British India and growing Soviet influence over the governments of Afghanistan and Persia.”

Snippet from Affairs of Persia and Afghanistan Correspondence Part I page 3: Correspondence relating to the affairs of Persia and Affghanistan [sic]. No 1: Mr McNeilk to Viscount Palmerston (received April 28 1837). Described of transmitting a copy of a letter from the Indian government and discusses British intentions towards Afghanistan and Persia.

Affairs of Persia and Afghanistan Correspondence Part I page 3. 1837-1838, FO 539/1, in Central Asia, Persia and Afghanistan, 1834-1922: From Silk Road to Soviet Rule © Images including crown copyright images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London,

The Foreign Office files contain:

Correspondence
Telegrams
Intelligence Reports and Agents’ Diaries
Newspaper clippings, and translations of Russian-language articles
Maps and plans
Government reports and memoranda
Copies of treaties and agreements
Photographs, sketches, and landscapes.

The documents are mostly in English though some French items are included. You can search and browse in various ways. Some documents are digitised manuscripts.

While you are here, you might also be interested in:

Confidential Prints resources: From the 1820s papers of significance began to be distributed to officials in the Foreign Office, Cabinet and other departments as Confidential Print. The practice grew until the 1850s when nearly every important dispatch or telegram was routinely printed.
Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, 1947-1980
Documents on British Policy Overseas – includes declassified FO documents covering 1898-1990.
U.K. Parliamentary Papers (ProQuest) – contains report, papers, legislation and debates relating to foreign affairs.
The National Archives’ Research guides for collections relating to British foreign affairs

New: US Department of State documents relating to Middle and Near Eastern affairs

Posted on 17 August 2023 by iholowaty

Thanks to our colleagues, Oxford researchers now have access to 5 new databases providing accesss to important source materials for Middle and Near Eastern history in the 19th and 20th centuries. The sources are all drawn from the US Department of State so obviously present an interpretation of affairs from a US perspective. On the other, and by virtue of being in English language, this source material is easily accessible to those without the requisite linguistic skills.

These resources are useful to those researching:

the history of many Middle and Near Eastern countries, incl. internal and foreign affairs, economic and social history with US commentary.
Arab foreign policy and diplomatic relations
Arab-Israeli relations, Palestine conflict
the history of US diplomatic and foreign policy, foreign relations and the organisation and management of the diplomatic service.
the support by the Department of State given to US citizens living or travelling in the Middle and Near East.
the foreign policy of other Western powers
Western colonisation and de-colonisation of the Middle and Near East
Military history, Suez Canal Crisis 1956, etc.
Christian-Muslim relations and conflict
Biographical details of Middle and Near Eastern politicians, officials, political or religious activities.

The countries include Aden, Egpt, Iraq, Libya and Persian Gulf States and Yemen.

The records from the US Department typically include correspondence, field reports, intelligence reports, agents’ diaries, memos, dispatches, minutes, maps, and newspaper excerpts. They provide much insight and a huge amount of detail on people, events and places. They help to understand the development of foreign policy and read of frank and the confidential exchanges of views and thoughts between US officials.

Cover page from the American Consulate in Port Said, dated 7 Jan 1955, noting the enclosure of the dispatch of a compendium of biographic information on leading personalities in the Suez Canal Zone and the Sinai Peninsula.

Central File: Decimal File 774.521, Internal Political And National Defense Affairs., National Defense Affairs. Army, Navy And Air. (General)., Intelligence Activities. Subversive Activities., Biographical Data. (** Nationality Of Individual). January 7, 1955 – November 13, 1957. MS, Egypt: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1853-1962: Records of the Department of State Relating to Internal Affairs of Egypt (Decimal Files 774, 874, and 974), 1955-1959. National Archives (United States). Archives Unbound (accessed August 17, 2023). https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/SC5111706452/GDSC?u=oxford&sid=bookmark-GDSC&xid=a51625b1&pg=2.

In many instances, the documents include verbatim records of meetings and discussions, or transcripts from local or regional media. Digitised documents have captured handwritten or typed annotations and official stamps.

Typed list of Arab names with brief biographical details. 'Abed, Muhammed: wa'ez [sic] of the Canal. Prominent religious figure. Effective speaker of the old school. Tall, well set up. About 55. Used at most public gatherings in Port Said.

Central File: Decimal File 774.521, Internal Political And National Defense Affairs., National Defense Affairs. Army, Navy And Air. (General)., Intelligence Activities. Subversive Activities., Biographical Data. (** Nationality Of Individual). January 7, 1955 – November 13, 1957, p2. MS, Egypt: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1853-1962: Records of the Department of State Relating to Internal Affairs of Egypt (Decimal Files 774, 874, and 974), 1955-1959. National Archives (United States). Archives Unbound (accessed August 17, 2023). https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/SC5111706452/GDSC?u=oxford&sid=bookmark-GDSC&xid=a51625b1&pg=2.

1. Aden: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1880-1906 (Archives Unbound)

Aden’s strategic location long made it a strategic asset. The British captured Aden in 1839, and it served as a key port on the route from the Mediterranean to India via the Suez Canal. The documents in this collection are sourced from the Central Files of the General Records of the Department of State. The records are under the jurisdiction of the Legislative and Diplomatic Branch of the Civil Archives, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.

2. Egypt: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1853-1962 (Archives Unbound)

This archive covers Egypt from the years before the opening of the Suez Canal through the era of British domination, Egyptian nationalism, and independence. The documents are sourced from the Central Files of the General Records of the Department of State. The records are under the jurisdiction of the Legislative and Diplomatic Branch of the Civil Archives, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.

3. Iraq: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1888-1944 (Archives Unbound)

Iraq, from Ottoman rule through British colonial occupation and independence, is treated here from the perspective of the United States. The documents are sourced from the Central Files of the General Records of the Department of State. The records are under the jurisdiction of the Legislative and Diplomatic Branch of the Civil Archives, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.

4. Libya: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1796-1885 (Archives Unbound)

This archive documents the American consulate in Tripoli. Included here are correspondences of Secretary of State James Madison during the Tripolitan War, 1801-1805, between the United States and the piratical North African Barbary States. Handwritten correspondences from Secretary of State William H. Seward in the Lincoln Administration, relating to the opening of the port of New Orleans in 1862, and exchanges from Secretary of State James G. Blaine, in the Garfield Administration, make this a rich resource in U.S. diplomatic history. The collection is sourced from the Central Files of the General Records of the Department of State. The records are under the jurisdiction of the Legislative and Diplomatic Branch of the Civil Archives, National Archives and Records Administration,

5. Persian Gulf States and Yemen, The, 1950-1959 (Archives Unbound)

This Archives Unbound collection of U.S. State Department Central Classified Files relating to the internal affairs of the Persian Gulf states and Yemen, contains a wide range of materials from U.S. diplomats.

These documents highlight the structure and activities of the Persian Gulf States’ and Yemen’s political system, government, judiciary, laws, military, customs, economy, finance, agriculture, natural resources, industry, communications, and media. Because of the broad scope of these records, they both supplement and complement the coverage offered by the State Department’s Foreign Relations of the United States series.

While you are here, you may also be interested in:

Do you want to know which other resources are useful for your study? Check out our LibGuides:

Useful Oxford Libraries and subject specialists:

Bodleian Libraries’ subject librarians
Nizami Ganja Library, Bodleian Libraries
Middle Eastern Centre Library, St Antony’s College
Vere Harmsworth Library, Rothermere American Institute

New: Napoleon – Letters and Papers: Sources of a Family

Posted on 10 August 2023 by iholowaty

Calling all Napoleon researchers and 19th century French historians! You will be pleased to know that a major resource Napoleon – Letters and Papers: Sources of a Family is available as an Open Access resource.

This database, published by de Gruyter, provides access to the Bonaparte family’s autographs and correspondence. It is a valuable source for the study of French and European history, science, and intellectual attitudes from the late 18^th century to the early 20^th century.

The project will at first publish the correspondence of Prince Louis Napoléon Bonaparte (who would later become Emperor Napoleon III) until 1838, thereby covering the period that the Bonaparte-de Beauharnais family spent in exile at Lake Constance. A 2023 database update will contain his correspondence until 1873. The database will, for the first time, compile his surviving autographs into a collection that will make it possible to reinterpret the emperor’s personality and biography.

Future plans include adding digitised letter and papers of:

Hortense de Beauharnais (launch planned for 2024)
Eugène de Beauharnais-von Leuchtenberg (launch planned for 2025)
Joséphine de Beauharnais (launch planned for 2026)

(Information has been taken from Overview.)

Image of the transcribed letter on the left with the manuscript letter on the right. The snippet reads: "Londres le 30 Juin 1831 Mon cher Général, Je vous remercie bien de votre aimable lettre. J’ai été enchanté d’apprendre que la Duchesse de Frioul avait uni son sort au vôtre, et comme j’ai une tendre vénération et un véritable attachement pour elle, et que j’éprouve pour vous une sincère amitié, je ne sais qui je dois féliciter davantage ; ou le Général Fabvier d’avoir épousé la Duchesse de Frioul, ou la Duchesse de Frioul d’avoir épousé le Général Fabvier. "

“Londres le 30 Juin 1831 […]” In Napoleon – Letters and Papers edited by Christina Egli and Dominik Gügel. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2023. https://www.degruyter.com/database/NAPO/entry/nt_18300630_a/html

You can search full-text or browse the resource in various ways, including by place and person. Most of the letters will be in French. The correspondence stretches across Europe, esp. Germany, Switzerland, Italy and England.

The letters are transcribed and can be viewed side-by-side with the digitised manuscript letter.

Biographical annotations helpfully identify people mentioned, even if they used an alias.

While you are here, you might also be interrested in:

Napoleonica: les archives
Archives relating to the Napoleon family, Bodleian Library
Political Prints from the Curzon Collection, Bodleian Library
Gallica: la bibliotheque numerique
Archives Biographiques Françaises (WBIS) (Oxford subscription)
The Grand Tour (Oxford subscription)

New: China and the Modern World: Imperial China and the West, Part I: 1815–1881

Posted on 8 August 2023 by iholowaty

Landing page of the resource with a searhc box and a thumbnail image of a historical map of China. Oxford researchers now have access to China and the Modern World: Imperial China and the West, Part I: 1815-1881.

This database is an essential primary source archive for researching the internal politics of China and Britain, their relationship, and the relationships between other Western powers keen to benefit from the growing trading ports of the Far East. The sources are all in English.

Digitized in two parts from the FO 17 series of British Foreign Office Files (The National Archives, UK) Part 1 of Imperial China and the West provides General Correspondence relating to China from 1815–1881. The FO 17 series provides a vast and significant resource for researching every aspect of Anglo-Chinese relations during the nineteenth century, ranging from diplomacy and war, to trade, piracy, riots and rebellions within China, international law, treaty ports and informal empire, transnational emigration, and translation and cross-cultural communication.

Start of a letter from Sir Henry Pottinger, written 5 Jan 1844, on the subject of British opium. The letter mentions that a report is enclised,.

From Sir Henry Pottinger. MSS: FO 17/78 5.Jan 1844. China and the Modern World, Gale/ Cengage

This archive is comprised of material digitized from collections held by The National Archives (Kew):

These hand-written documents have been opened up to scholars with the use of Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) technology. The manuscripts are fully searchable and you can see the transcript together with the original manuscript.

While you are here, you might also be interested in…

Documents on British Policy Overseas (Oxford subscription)
Cambridge Archive Editions Online (esp. China Political Reports, 1911-1960 and China Political Reports, 1961-1970, which draw together the periodic political reports sent by British officials based in China back to the British Foreign Office) (Oxford subscription)
Foreign Office Files for China, 1919-1980 (Oxford subscription)
Chinese Newspapers Collection (1832-1953) (Oxford subscription)
Late Qing Dynasty Periodical Full-text Database (1833-1911) & Supplement (Oxford subscription)
Modern Chinese Books (1840-1949) (Oxford subscription)
Chinese Studies (LibGuide)

New: Travel Writing, Spectacle and World History

Posted on 4 August 2023 by iholowaty

We are delighted to announce that Oxford researchers now have access to Travel Writing, Spectacle and World History.

It is a fascinating collection of wide-ranging materials drawing on the collections of the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library (Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University), the pre-eminent library for the study of American women. Its collections include the papers of Susan B. Anthony, Julia Child, Shirley Graham Du Bois, Amelia Earhart, Betty Friedan, Pauli Murray, Adrienne Rich and other notable women.

This resource brings together hundreds of accounts by women of their travels across the globe from the early nineteenth century to the late twentieth century. Students and researchers will find sources covering a variety of topics, including architecture, art, the British Empire, climate, customs, exploration, family life, housing, industry, language, monuments, mountains, natural history, politics and diplomacy, race, religion, science, shopping and war.

Sources

A wide variety of forms of travel writing are included, ranging from unique manuscripts, diaries and correspondence to drawings, guidebooks and photographs. The resource also includes a gallery with hundreds of items of visual material, including postcards, sketches photographs and even passports.

Image of 2 pages of Edna McKinnon's American passport, showing her deatils such as name, date of birt, etc and showing a passport photo.

Time period covered

A broad time period is covered. The earliest document is a letter from Lucretia Goddard to her cousin describing the wedding of Mehetable May Dawes to Samuel Goddard on 30 September 1818, after which the Goddards went to England for nine years, living initially in Liverpool and then in Manchester. The latest documents are Ida Pruitt’s notes and correspondence from the early 1970s concerning her visits to China.

What will you discover?

The sources can also be used to examine the variety of motivations for travel, including tourism, work, exploration, missionary activities and pilgrimages: accounts range from the first trip of a young student abroad to the spiritual journey of a retired woman seeking enlightenment.

Voyages by rail, road, sea and air are all covered, as are walking, cycling and even a journey by stagecoach. Some items are relatively brief, such as a record of a car journey when cars were relatively new, which records the places that were passed through, the weather and the road conditions. Others are daily journals which describe long tours of Europe, in which all the details of the trip are meticulously recorded. Then there are scrapbooks containing fantastic visual material such as photographs, postcards, cuttings and sketches and other ephemera.

Geographical coverage

Places visited include the USA and Canada; China, Japan and the Philippines; Europe (very well documented); Russia; Africa; and Australia.

The above text is largely based on Nature & Scope in Travel Writing, Spectacle and World History, Adam Matthew Digtital.

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