New eresources: historical newspapers, Middle East, historical exploration, slavery

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.

We are therefore delighted to announce access to five major eresources which will be of interest to historians, as well as others researchers in Humanities, and researchers interested in politics, international relations, Middle Eastern studies, British Empire and de-colonisation, history of exploration, historical geography and climate change.

Use SSO for remote access.

Sunday Times Historical Archive, 1822-2016

Despite the similarity of names, The Sunday Times was an entirely separate paper from The Times until 1st January 1967, when both papers came under the common ownership of Times Newspapers Ltd. To this day, The Sunday Times remains editorially independent from The Times with its own remit and perspective on the news.

British Library Newspapers, Part V (1732-1950)

Providing access to more regional and local British newspapers, Part V completes the BL Newspapers collection (library edition). Please note that there are some newspapers in the British Newspaper Archive (public edition) which were never included in the library edition.

With a concentration of titles from the northern part of the United Kingdom, Part V deepens the database’s northern regional content, doubling coverage in Scotland, tripling coverage in the Midlands, and adding a significant number of northern titles to the British Library Newspapers series. Part V includes newspapers from the Scottish localities of Fife, Elgin, Inverness, Paisley, and John O’Groats, as well as towns just below the border, such as Morpeth, Alnwick, and more. Researchers will also benefit from access to important titles such as the Coventry Herald, which features some of the earliest published writing of Mary Ann Evans (better known as George Eliot).

Middle East Online: Arab-Israeli Relations, 1917-1970

This resource offers the widest range of original source material from the British Foreign Office, Colonial Office, War Office and Cabinet Papers from the 1917 Balfour Declaration through to the Black September war of 1970-1. Here major policy statements are set out in their fullest context, the minor documents and marginalia revealing the workings of colonial administration and, following the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, British diplomacy towards Israel and the Arab states.

Royal Geographical Society – Wiley Digital Archives – (1478-1953, History of Geography, Colonization and Climate Science in the British Empire)

The Royal Geographical Society (RGS) covers history of geography
exploration, colonization and de-colonization, anthropology, law, climate science, gender studies, cartography, and environmental history throughout the British Empire from ~1478 to 1953. The archive contains manuscripts, correspondence, reports, conference papers, proceedings, maps, charts, atlases, photographs, surveys, data and ephemera, all presented as fully searchable digital images that can be analyzed, downloaded, manipulated, and compared with content from other societies and universities in the Wiley Digital Archives program.

Slavery, abolition and social justice

Covering the period 1490 to 2007, this resource brings together primary source documents from archives and libraries across the Atlantic world. It allows students and researchers to explore and compare unique material relating to the complex subjects of slavery, abolition and social justice.

In addition to the primary source documents there is a wealth of useful secondary sources for research and teaching; including an interactive map, scholarly essays, tutorials, a visual sources gallery, chronology and bibliography.

New: Jamaican Material in the Slebech Papers (British Online Archives)

Oxford researchers and students in the history of the West Indies and slavery will be delighted to know that you now have access to the Jamaican Material in the Slebech Papers. Access is via SOLO or Databases A-Z.

Jamaican material in the Slebech papers - imageThis resource from British Online Archives comprises a careful selection of documents Jamaican material in the Slebech papers - crestfrom the extensive Slebech Estate archives now held in the National Library of Wales. They relate chiefly to the interests of Nathaniel Phillips (1756?-1832) in the West Indies. The collection represents a major resource for research into the social and economic history of West Indies, slavery, plantations and trade.

The papers include business records (accounts, receipts and cash books, inventories, valuations, as well as other business records in the form of instructions on tasks to be performed by agents and slaves, bills of lading, etc.) as well as correspondence, legal documents, and other materials such as a number of diaries, as well as documents relating to the defence of Jamaica.

To learn more about the Nathaniel Phillips, his papers, their history and provenance, check out the guide to the collection by Professor Kenneth Morgan, Brunel University.

Access is via SOLO or Databases A-Z.

Other useful online resources:

Trial until 5 February: Black Authors 1556-1922

The Vere Harmsworth Library has organised trial access to Readex’s Black Authors: Imprints from the Library Company of Philadelphia (1556-1922).

This collection offers more than 550 fully catalogued and searchable works by black authors from the Americas, Europe and Africa, expertly compiled by the curators of Afro-Americana Imprints collection, the largest existing collection of its kind. Found within are wide-ranging genres, including personal narratives, autobiographies, histories, expedition reports, military reports, novels, essays, poems and musical compositions.

Major subject areas addressed in Black Authors include Literature, Ethnic History, Colonialism, Gender Studies, Slavery, Diaspora Studies and related fields. As a whole, this collection reveals how the creative efforts of black authors evolved over three centuries. The earliest published works of authors of African descent are largely travel narratives and historical works treating the exploration of the African continent and the collision between European powers with the peoples of Africa.

Access is available via OxLIP+ until 5th February 2016 (use single sign-on for remote access). Please send comments or feedback to jane.rawson@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

[re-blogged from the VHL blog.]

New: Records relating to the slave trade at the Liverpool Record Office

I am pleased to report that Oxford users now access to the online Records relating to the slave trade at the Liverpool Record Office (British Online Archives: British Records on the Atlantic World, 1700-1900) via SOLO and Databases A-Z.

Records relating to the slave trade at the Liverpool Record Office - pamphlet

This full-text database provides access to one of the best collections in British archives of private merchants’ papers relating to the transatlantic slave trade.

Liverpool was the leading slave trading port in the world in the eighteenth century when these documents were compiled.

 

The material includes

  • correspondence with ship captains and Caribbean agents about the acquisition of Africans and their sale; statistics on the Liverpool slave trade
  • sales accounts of the lots of Africans disembarked in the Americas, often with the names of purchasers and prices; information on dealings with diverse African groups along the coast of West Africa; and details of payments for slave sales.
  • account books of ships’ voyages with material on the outfitting of vessels and the cargoes of goods exported to Africa.
  • Records of the wealthy merchant and banker, Thomas Leyland (c.1752-1827), who was three times Mayor of Liverpool.
  • Letters by the slave trade captain, John Newton (1725-1807), who later became a clergyman, the composer of the hymn ‘Amazing Grace’, and a prominent abolitionist.

Other useful resources

Enjoy! If you have any problems, please contact library staff.

New: Records relating to the Slave Trade at the Liverpool Record Office

I am pleased to report that Oxford readers now have access to Records relating to the Slave Trade at the Liverpool Record Office via OxLIP+ and also shortly via SOLO.

Part 1 of the British Online Archives series British records on the Atlantic World, 1700-1900, this full-text database provides access to one of the best collections in British archives of private merchants’ papers relating to the transatlantic slave trade.

Case & Southworth papers: Journals: From Kingston, Jamaica, for the period 1756-1761.

Case & Southworth papers: Journals: From Kingston, Jamaica, for the period 1756-1761.

Liverpool was the leading slave trading port in the world in the eighteenth century when these documents were compiled. The material includes correspondence with ship captains and Caribbean agents about the acquisition of Africans and their sale; statistics on the Liverpool slave trade; sales accounts of the lots of Africans disembarked in the Americas, often with the names of purchasers and prices; information on dealings with diverse African groups along the coast of West Africa; and details of payments for slave sales. The account books of ships’ voyages include material on the outfitting of vessels and the cargoes of goods exported to Africa. Among the items included in this collection are records of the wealthy merchant and banker, Thomas Leyland, who was three times Mayor of Liverpool, and letters by the slave trade captain, John Newton, who later became a clergyman, the composer of the hymn ‘Amazing Grace’, and a prominent abolitionist.

Related resources: