Bodleian Libraries users now have access to Democracy in Turkey, 1950–1959: Records of the U.S. State Department Classified Files, a collection in Gale’s Archives Unbound.

This collection of State Department documents provides access to unique primary source materials on the political, economic and social development of Turkey during a period of democratization in the 1950s. It contains a wide range of materials collected and reported from the American Embassy in Ankara and U.S. consular offices, including:

• special reports on political and military affairs
• studies and statistics on socioeconomic matters
• interviews and minutes of meetings with foreign government officials
• court proceedings and other legal documents
• full texts of important letters, instructions, and cables sent and received by U.S. diplomatic personnel
• voluminous reports and translations from foreign journals and newspapers
• countless translations of high-level foreign government documents, including speeches, memoranda, official reports, and transcripts of political meetings and assemblies
• political parties and elections
• unrest and revolution
• human rights
• government
• administration
• fiscal and monetary issues
• labor
• housing
• police and crime
• public health
• national defense
• foreign policymaking
• wars and alliances
• education
• religion
• culture
• trade
• industry
• foreign relations
• natural resources
• postwar result of Atatürk’s secularist reforms
• Turkish state as an indivisible entity
• industrial and economic development
• cultural differences between the modernist and the traditionalist
• competitive political parties
• military intervention and government control

Bodleian Libraries users now have access to Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals with Full Text on the EBSCOhost platform. This is a comprehensive index of journal articles published worldwide on architecture and design, archaeology, city planning, interior design and historic preservation, including the full text of articles from 200+ journals. It replaces our previous subscription to a version of the Avery Index that lacked full-text content.

Bodleian Libraries users now have access to American Fiction, 1774-1920 from Gale.

This collection contains more than 17,800 titles and is comprised of prose fiction written by Americans from the political beginnings of the United States through World War I. It gathers extensive content in one place and allows researchers to explore the development of American literature in a changing culture through novels, short stories, romances, fictitious biographies, travel accounts, and sketches. These texts reveal much about the socioeconomic, political, and religious tenor of America through centuries of radical change, enabling students and researchers to answer key questions about history, society, identity, psychology, race, gender, and culture.

Purchase of this resource was partly funded by the Drue Heinz Fund.

Bodleian Libraries users now have access to the second published section of Adam Matthew’s database Central Asia, Persia and Afghanistan, 1834-1949. The new section is titled Afghanistan From Civil War to World War II, 1923-1949. This complements the first section already available to Bodleian users: From Silk Road to Soviet Rule, 1834-1922.

The new section consists of digitised files from the British Foreign Office, and focuses on internal developments in Afghanistan from 1923 to 1949 as Britain and the Soviet Union vied to gain control of the region. The materials examine the implementation of rapid reforms, development of new trade and infrastructure, internal conflict and international relations with Britain, the Soviet Union, and Germany. The resource covers a range of themes such as socio-cultural changes and reform, communist influence and economics as well as tribal conflicts.

Bodleian Libraries users now have access to an archive of Bungei Kurabu – Meiji hen (文芸俱楽部. 明治篇) on the JapanKnowledge platform, covering issues published from 1895 to 1912.

Bungei Kurabu (Literary Club) was the flagship literary magazine of Hakubunkan publishing house from January 1895 to January 1933. The total number of volumes included 457 issues and 150 regular and irregular extra issues. Of these the 284 issues made available here are those released during the period running from 1895 to 1912.

This magazine received the full support of its readership and became the major literary journal during the period it was in print. Takekurabe by Higuchi Ichiyo was first printed in a single issue of Bungei Kurabu, gaining Ichiyo fame and establishing her position in Japanese modern literature. Other major authors who submitted to the publication are, Izumi Kyoka, Ozaki Koyo, Tayama Katai and Yamada Bimyo. Also, every issue featured wood block prints and illustrations by numerous artists, such as Kaburaki Kiyokata, Kobayashi Kiyochika and Takeuchi Keishu.

These magazines contain many photographs of geigi (geisha/geiko), actors and entertainers, along with articles commenting on the trends and mores current at the time.