Trial (until 4 April 2026) – Notable Individuals of British Communism, 1886–1997

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Bodleian Libraries users have trial access to Notable Individuals of British Communism, 1886–1997 from British Online Archives until 4 April 2026.

This collection is drawn from the personal papers of a multitude of Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) activists throughout the twentieth century. This includes those at the heart of party (such as full-time “national organisers”), “full-time” CPGB activists such as Mariam Ramelson and Jack Dunman, and peripheral figures who supported the communist cause (such as Labour MP Dennis Nowell Pritt).

The works of trade unionists are featured extensively, and the papers of Peter Kerrigan and Arthur Horner shed light on the activities and campaigns of the Amalgamated Engineering Union and the Welsh Miners Federation, respectively.

The collection houses material from regions ranging from colonial Africa to war-torn Northeast Asia. The collection also hosts material related to militant activism, with biographical material concerning British volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, as well as accounts of those who fought against fascism in the Second World War.

The collection is accompanied by three contextual essays written by Kevin Morgan.

Please send feedback to: Isabel Holowaty.

Trial – Prayer in the Ancient World Online (until 6 April 2026)

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Bodleian Libraries users have trial access to Prayer in the Ancient World Online from Brill until 6 March 2026.

Prayer in the Ancient World is a critical handbook on prayer in the ancient world including an anthology of representative prayers from the major languages and religious traditions e.g. Akkadian, Arabian, Christian, Egyptian, Greek, Hittite, Islamic, Jewish, Roman, Sumerian, Zoroastrian in Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean world, up to the end of the late antiquity period.

Please send any feedback on the trial to hilla.wait@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

Trial – Shipping records and trade statistics from British Online Archives

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Bodleian Libraries users have trial access until 4 March 2026 to three collections of primary source material in British Online Archives:

Bristol Shipping Records: imports and exports, 1770-1917: Containing over 28,000 images, the resource charts nearly 150 years of merchant shipping to and from the city of Bristol. It contains Bristol Presentments, Bills of Entry derived from the reports and manifests of ships that docked in the city. These documents offer unique insights into British maritime history and the goods traded in Bristol from 1770 to 1917. Significantly, the sources in this collection reveal how the city’s economy responded to the gradual abolition of slavery throughout the British empire during the early 1800s.

The collection provides an overview of how Bristol, and the wider economy of the United Kingdom, interacted with and influenced global trade networks throughout much of the modern period.

British Mercantile Trade Statistics 1662-1809: Containing over 47,000 images drawn from files at The National Archives (UK), the resource charts nearly 150 years of British trade and shipping. This collection includes trade ledgers, registers, and indexes that supply detailed statistical data on trade throughout the “long eighteenth century”. The collection also includes the official registers of “Mediterranean passes”: the registers detail which vessels were issued passes, their port of embarkation and destinations, as well as additional information on their size, crew, and defences.

The resource will appeal to those investigating the colonial, economic, and maritime dimensions of British history throughout this period. It should also interest those exploring broader themes, such as the escalation of global trade and the development of the fiscal-military state.

Liverpool Shipping Records: imports and exports 1820-1900: Containing over 85,000 document images, the resource charts 80 years of merchant shipping to and from the city of Liverpool. This collection comprises Bills of Entry derived from the reports and manifests of ships that docked in the city. These detailed documents offer unique insights into Liverpool’s maritime history and the goods traded in the city throughout most of the nineteenth century.

This collection provides a survey of how Liverpool, and the wider economy of the United Kingdom, interacted with and influenced global trade networks.

Please send any feedback on these trials to Isabel Holowaty.

Trial – Sex and Sexuality (until 28 February 2026)

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Bodleian Libraries users have trial access to Sex and Sexuality from Adam Matthew until 28 February 2026. This collection explores changing attitudes towards human sexuality, gender identities and sexual behaviors from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries.

The resource investigates the breadth and complexity of human sexual understanding through the work of leading sexologists, sex researchers, organizations and personal accounts, and makes accessible the unpublished papers of prominent sexologists, sex researchers, societies, advocacy groups and campaigners working across America and beyond during the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries. The collection also includes a significant proportion of correspondence between professional and private individuals, autobiographical accounts, official records and literary works.

Module I is sourced solely from the Kinsey Institute Library and Special Collections, and makes available primary sources from the tenures of the first three Institute directors. Module II, sourced from archives in the US, UK and Australia, explores LGBTIQ+ personal histories, self-expression and community activism.

Please send any feedback on the trial to: Bethan Davies and Isabel Holowaty.

Trial – LGBTQ+ Life in America (until 28 February 2026)

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Bodleian Libraries users have trial access to LGBTQ+ Life in America from NewsBank until 28 February 2026.

The resource brings to light the voices and experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals throughout U.S. history. Drawing from more than 16,000 news sources, this archive empowers researchers to examine how LGBTQ+ communities have shaped—and been shaped by—society, politics, and culture over the last three centuries.

Advanced language-mapping and editorial methods decode historical euphemisms and references to LGBTQ+ people across centuries. This collection surfaces millions of documents from the early 18th century through modern developments like marriage equality and gender identity rights, bringing context, nuance, and visibility to stories that have long been concealed.

Please send any feedback on the trial to: Bethan Davies.