Tag Archives: Official Papers

New: Confidential Print: Latin America

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Researchers in Latin American and Caribbean History now have access to Confidential Print: Latin America, 1833-1969, a terrific database recently acquired by the Bodleian Libraries that focuses on the subject area through a British diplomatic lens.

Front page of Confidential Print: Latin America showing tabs for further information (Introduction, Documents, Chronology, Interactive World map, Essays, Help). The main space is a photo of a steam ship on a river.

Confidential Print: Latin America, 1833-1969 is part of Archives Direct, published by Adam Matthew Digital, which is a cross-searchable platform incorporating multiple products sourced from the National Archives at Kew.
Image credit: akg-images

OvERVIEW

[Information from Adam Matthew Digital/Archives Direct website]

“The series originated out of a need to preserve the most important papers generated by the Foreign and Colonial Offices. These range from single-page letters or telegrams to comprehensive dispatches, investigative reports and texts of treaties. All items marked ‘Confidential Print’ were printed and circulated immediately to leading officials in the Foreign Office, to the Cabinet and to heads of British missions abroad.

“This collection consists of the Confidential Print for Central and South America and the French- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean. Topics covered include slavery and the slave trade, immigration, relations with indigenous peoples, wars and territorial disputes, the fall of the Brazilian monarchy, British business and financial interests, industrial development, the building of the Panama Canal, and the rise to power of populist rulers such as Perón in Argentina and Vargas in Brazil. …

“The collection begins in the aftermath of independence for the former Spanish and Portuguese colonies of Latin America, addressing the politics of state-building and the Latin American nations’ establishment of their place in the fast-expanding global economy.”

Scope of the collections

Confidential Print: Latin America, 1833-1969 includes the following file classes from The National Archives, Kew in their entirety.

  • FO 420/1-294: Central and South America general, 1833-1941
  • FO 467/1-5: Brazil, 1947-1951
  • FO 486/1-10: Mexico, 1947-1956
  • FO 495/1-10: River Plate countries (Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay), 1947-1956
  • FO 497/1-10: South America general, 1947-1956
  • FO 533/1-11: Central America and Caribbean general, 1946-1957

The following selected files are also included:

  • FO 118/276, 281, 287, 305, 317, 331: South and Central America general, 1906-1913
  • FO 177/297: Chilean Revolution, 1891
  • FO 461/14-22: Americas general, 1958-1969
  • FO 508/8: South and Central America general, 1908-1909

Material types included:

  • Profiles of leading political, military, diplomatic and economic figures
  • Incoming and outgoing diplomatic dispatches
  • Correspondence
  • Statistical charts and tables
  • Descriptions of leading personalities
  • Accounts of tours
  • Minutes of meetings and conferences
  • Texts of treaties
  • Political summaries
  • Economic analyses
  • Annual reports and calendars of events, by country
  • Maps

Searching the collection

There are multiple ways of searching the full text database. A simple box on the home page that enables you to search the collection via its dedicated portal, as well as giving you the option, once you’ve clicked through to the next interface, to cross-search one or more of the other collections on the platform that the Bodleian Libraries subscribes to.

In addition, you can use the advanced search that enables you to select multiple keywords and you can also click out to search by country using an interactive world map.

There is a useful set of search tips.

Confidential Print: Latin America, 1833-1969 is available via SOLO or Databases A-Z. University members should use Single Sign On for remote access. The individual newspapers are also discoverable in SOLO.

Frank Egerton, Librarian (Bodleian Latin American Centre Library) and Subject Consultant (Latin American History and Social Sciences).

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

  • Save the date: Bodleian iSkills: Confidential Print and Foreign Office Files: Sources for 19th and 20th century studies. 7 November 2023, 2-3pm (Week 5)
  • More Foreign Office sources at Oxford.
  • Guide to resources for Latin American History (LibGuide)

Trial until 1 March: Foreign Office Files for the Middle East 1971-1981

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Colleagues in the Social Science Library (SSL) have arranged trial access to Foreign Office Files for the Middle East, 1971-1981 which is available until 1 March 2019.

This resource is an online collection of documents sourced from The National Archives, UK, which are useful for the understanding the events in the Middle East during the 1970s. It comprises formerly 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. The resource also assesses military interventions and peace negotiations carried out by regional and foreign powers like the United States and Russia.

Commercial interests are also scrutinised, with in-depth analyses of Middle East nations’ economic stability and reviews of international arm sales policies. The activities of oil-producing nations such as Saudi Arabia are closely monitored, with particular reference to the Gulf States and members of OPEC.

Utilising the significant collection of diplomatic correspondence, minutes, reports, political summaries and personality profiles, users can explore a decade characterised by conflict.

The online archive will be of particular interest to researchers in International Relations, Politics, Global Governance and Diplomacy, Public Policy, International Development, Economics, Area Studies, History and more.

Please send any feedback about this trial to jo.gardner@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

While you are here…

… the following related source databases and guides are already available to Oxford researchers:

Trials until 13 February: ‘Public petitions 1813-1918’ and ‘House of Lords Papers 1800-1910’

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Colleagues in Official Papers, Bodleian Law Library, have organised two trials which may be of interest to historians and are now available via the UK Parliamentary Papers (UKPP) database in SOLO. Please send feedback to Hannah Chandler by 13 February when the trials end.

Trial 1: Public petitions, 1833-1918

Trial 2: new content added to the existing House of Lords material ‘House of Lords papers 1800-1910’. Please note we have access to House of Lords papers from 1900 to the present via Public Information Online.

To search in either of these trials, use the Advanced Search in UKPP.

Learn about UKPP and sign up for the Bodleian iSkills UK Parliamentary and Government materials – an introduction, Wed 23. Jan. @ 10-11.30am.

Public petitions, 1833-1918

“Public Petitions to Parliament, 1833-1918 is an online module of Parliamentary Papers covering the records of the Select Committee on Public Petitions, 1833-1918. It includes individually rekeyed metadata records for every one of the >900,000 petitions accepted by Parliament and includes the full text of each petition that the Committee transcribed. Integrated fully with U.K. Parliamentary Papers, this collection shows how “the people” during the 19th C influenced Parliament on political, ecclesiastical, colonial, taxation, and many other topics relevant to the study of Britain and the British Empire within a range of different disciplines within the historical and social studies.

Petitioning was by far the most popular form of political participation, but it has long been overlooked by historians and social scientists preoccupied with elections and election rituals, campaigns to extend the right to vote, and the rise of national political parties.  Utility of public petitions can be used to study the groundswell of public pressure for the expansion of the voting franchise and also to see  the views and priorities of both the populace and Parliament. How Parliament addresses the petition, or doesn’t address it, is a stark indicator of political and social priorities.

Containing petitions on ecclesiastical issues, crime and criminals, colonies, taxation, education, and on every other issue of interest to the populace of Britain, this project appeals to all social, cultural, and religious scholars of Britain. From religious scholars interested on Methodism and the Church of England, scientists concerned with pollution and pollution controls during the Industrial Revolution, and sociologists concerned with how these issues were influenced by and influenced the People, the popular constitutionalism inherent in this collection (as opposed to the “top down” approach to looking at history), is at the cutting edge of historical research today and has wide appeal across campus.” From ProQuest LibGuide UK Parliamentary Papers (https://proquest.libguides.com/parliamentary/petitions, accessed 21/1/2019).

As petitions are public responses to laws and contribute to the debate and formulation thereof, they add fantastic context to parliamentary proceedings. For instance, the current great flurry of petitions relating to Brexit are testament to the strength of feeling experienced amongst the British population in the country. Having access to historic petitions in the same database as historic parliamentary papers and debates (Hansard) will make it easier for historians to understand the national debate. You will also learn of individuals who were politically active locally and, for a brief period in the petition, also nationally. To find out more about individuals, you could search the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography ODNB Oxford subscribers only) or, if they are not important enough to get into the ODNB, try the British Biographical Archive which is in World Biographical Information System WBIS (Oxford subscribers only).

You can search for historic public petitions in a variety of ways, including keyword searching and limiting, by the use of filters, to particular characteristics of the petitioner (e.g. names signatories, lobbying organizations, MP sponsoring petition, etc.):

Searching for “children” in Petition titles. From ProQuest UK Parliamentary Papers, Public Petitions 1830-1918.

Please note that in the vast majority of cases you will only see a summary report of petitions compiled by the Select Committee on Public Petitions. Only 400 petitions in UKPP have the full-text of the original petition, added as an appendix to the Select Committee’s reports. If you wish, you are able to limit your search to find only the full-text appendices.

Searching for Petitions to repeal the Corn Laws with Appendix Full-Text. From ProQuest UK Parliamentary Papers, Public Petitions 1830-1918.

Merchants, Manufacturers, and other Inhabitants of the township of Gomersal, in the county of York; Corn Laws – For Repeal; Petition no 96. January 27, 1840. Parliament: 1837-41. Second Report of the Select Committee. From ProQuest UK Parliamentary Papers, Public Petitions 1830-1918.

Find out more:

New: The American Revolution from a British Perspective, 1763-1783 – Congressional Hearings 1824-1979

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Our colleagues in the Vere Harmsworth Library have arranged permanent access to the online The American Revolution from a British Perspective, 1763-1783. 

They write:

“We are delighted to announce that thanks to generous donations, the Bodleian Libraries now have access to the following new eresources for American history:

The American Revolution from a British Perspective, 1763-1783

A collection of pamphlets published in Britain between 1763 and 1783 relating to American affairs and providing a British perspective on the American Revolution.

Congressional Hearings, 1824-1979 (ProQuest Congressional)

Includes the full text of published committee hearings from the US Congress from 1824-1979. Published hearings are the official record of committee hearings proceedings held to enable committees to gather opinions and information to help Members make decisions regarding proposed legislation or to help them fulfill their oversight and investigation responsibilities. Official hearings publications may include: written and oral statements of witnesses, transcripts of question-and-answer sessions, reports and other materials submitted for the record, and correspondence and other materials submitted by interested parties.”

The collections may be accessed via SOLO or our new Databases A-Z listing; University members can use single sign-on for remote access.”

Trial until 30 March: Cold War Eastern Europe, Module 1: 1953-1960

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Colleagues in the Social Science Library have arranged trial access to Cold War Eastern Europe, Module 1: 1953-1960. The trial ends 30 March 2018. It can be accessed via SOLO or OxLIP+. Please note that documents cannot be downloaded during the trial. Documents from other modules are not accessible either.

This resource provides access to over 6,800 primary source files sourced entirely from the political departments of the U.K. Foreign Office responsible for dealing with and reporting on the Soviet Union and the socialist states of Eastern Europe during the Cold War. The files provide a uniquely comprehensive, English-language history of post-Stalinist Eastern Europe.

The sources are all in English.

Module I covers the years 1953 to 1960, and consists of files selected from The National Archives series FO 371 (Foreign Office: Political Departments: General Correspondence from 1906-1966) which contains the files of the Foreign Office’s Northern, Southern, Central, and Western Departments pertaining to each of the socialist states of Eastern Europe. Every file relevant to the region from 1953 to 1960 – a total of nearly 7,000 files – is included in this resource, with the exception of any files retained by the government.

In addition, the full run of FO 371 Russia Committee files dating back to 1946 – totalling 41 files –  have been included. These complete the set of FO 371 Russia Committee meeting minutes and reports dating up to 1957, and provide context to Britain’s Soviet policy in the early Cold War.

Key events featured in the files of Module I include:

  • The East German Uprising of 1953
  • Founding of the Warsaw Pact
  • The Poznań Uprising in Poland
  • The Hungarian Revolution
  • Khrushchev’s “Secret Speech”
  • The onset of the Sino-Soviet Split
  • The U2 spy-plane incident

The Foreign Office, along with their embassies and consulates throughout the region, were interested in every aspect of the political, economic, cultural, social, and dissident life behind the Iron Curtain. They consequently reported on a hugely diverse range of issues, from state leadership to protest movements; agricultural output to international trade agreements; scientific progress to minority populations; religion to sporting events; and state-run media to popular culture. They also provided reports, and in some cases eye-witness accounts, on key milestones of the Cold War, such as the Hungarian Revolution and Khrushchev’s ‘Secret Speech’.

With coverage of every country in Eastern Europe, the resource enables comparative study of trends across the region, or in-depth analysis of individual countries. The countries featured in this resource are:

  • Albania
  • Bulgaria
  • Czechoslovakia
  • East Germany and Berlin
  • Hungary
  • Poland
  • Romania
  • Soviet Union
  • Yugoslavia

‘Northern (N): Soviet Union (Ns). Reviews of Developments in the Soviet Union since Stalin’s Death: Elections to Supreme Soviet; Comments on Election Speeches; Reports on Political Events and Meetings of the Supreme Soviet; Quarterly Reports on Soviet Policy’, in FO371: Foreign Office: Political Departments: General Correspondence from 1906-1966 (Foreign Office). [Cold War Eastern Europe, accessed 15 Feb 2018.]

The files also bear annotations relating to the administration and registry of the files which, in themselves, are hugely interesting.

You can search and browse the collections, which use tagging by country, theme, document type, language, etc. If you have a FO reference you can use it to locate specific known documents.

Please send any feedback to angelina.gibson@bodleian.ox.ac.uk by 30 March 2018.

New: Cambridge Archive Editions: China Political Reports 1911-1960, 1961-1970

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Thanks to colleagues in the China Centre Library, Oxford researchers now have access to the Cambridge Archive Editions: China Political Reports 1911-1960, 1961-1970. It can be accessed via SOLO or Databases A-Z.

This resource draws together the periodic political and intelligence reports sent by British officials based in China back to the British Foreign Office. The set includes:

  • Annual Reports
  • Personality Reports
  • Occasional Despatches
  • Peking Fortnightly Summaries
  • Peking Observations
  • Shanghai Summaries
  • Occasional Reviews

The reports have been published as an electronic version of the originally 14 printed volumes rather than a database. Therefore the reports are filed chronologically.

At the beginning of each volume there is a detailed contents listing which is helpful to identify the documents included in each particular volume.

Please note that full-text searching is not yet possible!

The first collection, 1911-1960, covers the “history of the rise of Communism in China and its effects over more than half a century. Although the period covers the First and Second World Wars the impact of these world events is almost matched for the Chinese by their internal struggles. After the declaration of the People’s Republic of China, Chinese diplomacy took a more international turn but by then the international arena had become paralysed by the effects of the cold war and the prevailing beliefs of the Great Powers were anti-Communist in nature thereby continuing the isolation of China.” (Eastview, accessed 23/1/18)

The second collection, 1960-71, covers the “recovery from the ‘Great Leap Forward’ and the main thrust of the ‘Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution’ which two events alone would sustain research for years to come but also within this period are the huge foreign relations disputes that grew out of the complications of the cold war.” (Eastview, accessed 23/1/18)

Also of interest:

EPPI and BOPCRIS*: What happened next?

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[Re-blogged from https://officialpapersuk.wordpress.com/2016/06/13/eppi-and-bopcris-what-happened-next/]

“The Hartley Library at the University of Southampton has an extensive collection of printed British official publications, known as the Ford Collection.  The collection is named after the late Professor Percy Ford and his wife Dr Grace Ford who brought the initial collection, which we continue to build, to the University of Southampton in the 1950s.  The Fords compiled ‘breviates’ or ‘select lists’ of official publications, in seven volumes covering the years 1833 – 1983.   Their work was the impetus behind our later activities when technology and external funding enabled us to work collaboratively with other libraries  in order to provide a selection of full-text digitised British official publications, free for all to use.  Sadly, storage and delivery of such an immense amount of data is not without costs and we had to abandon our web services, EPPI and BOPCRIS, but we have worked to find ways to continue free access to the documents.

We are now moving the materials to Internet Archive.  We have established two subsets,  ‘British Parliamentary Publications’  and ‘British non-Parliamentary Publications’ .  These hold previously digitised EPPI and BOPCRIS papers, with some additional non-Parliamentary publications which have been scanned by the in-house Hartley Library Digitisation Unit (LDU).  In total, there are about 16,000 documents, including the full EPPI collection which comprises 13,700 documents.  Other highlights include some very hard-to-find older departmental publications, e.g. a 1991 consultation on aircraft noise, https://archive.org/details/op1278555-1001 .  Our current hope is to continue adding more non-Parliamentary materials from our collection, as we are aware that this is the area of least on-line provision.

We chose Internet Archive for many reasons, but here are just two.  For researchers, it is now a well-known source and is free for all to use.  For libraries wishing to share their open access digital collections, it offers a free and sustainable delivery mechanism.

An article with more detail has been submitted to Refer, the journal of the Information Services Group of CILIP.  If you have any questions or comments, please contact the University of Southampton Library Digitisation Unit by e-mail, digitise@soton.ac.uk 

* EPPI: Enhanced Parliamentary Papers on Ireland, 1801–1922  and BOPCRIS: British Official Publications Collaborative Reader Information Service

EPPI can also be accessed at: http://www.dippam.ac.uk/eppi

Joy Caisley
Law and Politics Librarian, Hartley Library, University of Southampton”

Bookmarked on HFL Diigo:

The ‘British Parliamentary Publications’  and ‘British non-Parliamentary Publications’ collections in the Internet Archive are now bookmarked on HFL Diigo.