Disability History Month 2025

Posted on 20 November 2025 by ljones

This year, the official theme for Disability History Month is “Disability, Life and Death.” This theme addresses concerns about the legislation being considered in parliament regarding assisted suicide and how it could be used against disabled people. Instead, as explained by the DHM website, it should be the responsibility of our society to properly accommodate disabled people to be able to live their lives to the fullest. They also address the history of ideas that have attacked disabled people’s right to life, including the history of eugenics and the sterilisation or mass murder campaigns that it led to.

From the 20^th of November through December, a collection of History Faculty Library material will be displayed on this topic in the Upper Gladstone Link of the Radcliffe Camera. In addition, a selection of relevant e-resources have been listed below. Please click on the book cover pictures to be taken to the SOLO catalogue record for each resource. For further reading on the subject of disability history, please check out our LibGuide by clicking here.

Books featured on the display from the top left:
“War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America’s Campaign to Create a Master Race” by Edwin Black | “Disability in Eighteenth Century England: Imagining Physical Impairment” by David Turner | “The Routledge History of Disability” edited by Roy Hanes | “Ramping Up Rights: An Unfinished History of British Disability Activism” by Rachel Charlton-Dailey | “The Problem of Mental Deficiency: Eugenics, Democracy and Social Policy in Britain c.1870-1959” by Mathew Thomson | “Three Generations, No Imbeciles: Eugenics, the Supreme Court and Buck v. Bell” by Paul Lombardo | “Death and Deliverance: ‘Euthanasia’ in Germany c.1900-1954” by Michael Burleigh | “Medical Films, Ethics and Euthanasia in Nazi Germany: The History of Medical Research and Teaching Films of the Reich Office for Educational Films– Reich Institute for Films in Science and Education, 1933-1945” by Ulf Schmidt | “Treatment Without Consent: Law, Psychiatry and the Treatment of Mentally Disordered People Since 1845” by Phil Fennell | “A Historical Sociology of Disability: Human Validity and Invalidity from Antiquity to Early Modernity” by Bill Hughes | “Colonising Disability: Impairment and Otherness Across Britain and its Empire c. 1800-1914” by Esme Cleall | “A History of Disability in England: From the Medieval Period to the Present Day” by Simon Jarrett.

Accessing these e-resource materials will require a Single-Sign-On Login for Oxford University members. External readers will need to log in with their Bodleian accounts while using the Bodleian libraries network (either the Bodleian Libraries Wi-fi network or using the reader PCs within the library.)

Book cover for "The Staff of Oedipus: Transforming Disability in Ancient Greece" by Martha L. Rose. White text on a grey illustration of Oedipus seated, with his staff and a woman crying at his feet. The highlights of the illustration are in an orange-toned cream rather than white.

Book cover for "The Good Death: Nazi Euthanasia on Trail, 1945-1953" by Michael S. Bryant. Alternating white and orange text overlaid on a black background. Behind this, an illustration of men in long coats having a discussion stand in the top left corner. Underneath them, distressed people stuck in square-shaped holes in the floor hold their faces in their hands.

Black History Month 2025

Posted on 1 October 2025 by ljones

This month we are celebrating Black History Month! This years theme is “Standing Firm in Power and Pride”, which aims to highlight those people and communities who have resisted racism, lead social change, and stood firm in their pride for the Black community in Britain.

Cherron Inko-Tariah MBE, the Editor in Chief of the Black History Month UK Magazine, wrote in this years issue that “The need to stand firm is especially clear against a backdrop of rising nationalism and systemic inequalities… Yet the story of power in Black history is not only about struggle — it is also about resilience and pride.” To read more of Inko-Tariah’s thoughts, and learn about Black History Month, go to their website, here.

Our physical display takes material from the History Faculty collection and tackles a range of eras, with a focus on resistance, liberation in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Books on the display above, from left to right:

Making the revolution global : black radicalism and the British socialist movement before decolonisation by Theo Williams | Police power and black people by Derek Humphry | Black for a cause– not just because : the case of the “Oval 4” and the story it tells of Black Power in 1970s Britain by Winston N. Trew | Slaves to fashion : black dandyism and the styling of black diasporic identity by Monica L. Miller | Ambivalent affinities : a political history of Blackness and homosexuality after World War II by Jennifer Dominique Jones | There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack: The cultural politics of race and nation by Paul Gilroy | We were there by Lanre Bakare | Britons through negro spectacles by A.B.C. Merriman-Labor | Black voices on Britain : selected writings edited by Hakim Adi | Black England : a forgotten Georgian history by Gretchen Gerzina | Rhodes must fall : the struggle to decolonise the racist heart of empire by the Rhodes Must Fall Movement (Oxford) | A black boy at Eton by Dillibe Onyeama | Black Liverpool : the early history of Britain’s oldest Black community, 1730-1918 by Roy Costello | The struggle is eternal : Gloria Richardson and black liberation by Joseph R. Fitzgerald | Black Tommies : British soldiers of African descent in the First World War by Ray Costello | The motherland calls : Britain’s black servicemen & women, 1939-45 by Stephen Bourne | The other special relationship : race, rights, and riots in Britain and the United States edited by Robin D.G. Kelley and Stephen G.N. Tuck

As part of Black History Month, Oxford University will be holding their annual lecture, this year given by Dr José Lingna Nafafé on the topic of Lourenço da Silva Mendonça early abolitionists. Please check out the website here for more information and to book tickets.

International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition

Posted on 19 August 2025 by ljones

First observed in Haiti on August 23rd 1998, this remembrance day reflects on the lives of the victims of the Atlantic slave trade, as well as the institutional machinations that perpetrated it. In doing so, this project reveals the depths, the causes, and the continued legacy of ramifications that find their roots in this atrocity.

In accordance with this, a display featuring History Faculty Library material relevant to this topic has been arranged in the Upper Gladstone Link of the Radcliffe Camera for perusal. Alternatively, there is an e-book collection to browse through at the bottom of this page, please scroll down and click on the book covers to be taken to the SOLO record of each resource.

Books on the display above, from left to right:
“Maroon Nation: a History of Revolutionary Haiti” by Johnhery Gonzalez | “Slave Religion: The ‘Invisible Institution’ in the Antebellum South” by Albert J. Raboteau | “The Ragged Road to Abolition: Slavery and Freedom in New Jersey, 1775-1865” by James J. Gigantino II | “The Slave’s Cause: a History of Abolition” by Sinha Manisha | “Black Ghost of Empire: The Long Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation” by Kris Manjapra | “All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family’s Keepsake“ by Tiya Miles | “Black Ivory: a History of British Slavery” by James Walvin | “Fugitive Slaves and Spaces of Freedom in North America” ed. Damian A. Pargas | “Rebellious Passage: The Creole Revolt and America’s Coastal Slave Trade” by Jeffrey R. Kerr-Ritchie | “Spain and the Abolition of Slavery in Cuba, 1817-1886” by Arthur F. Corwin | “Beyond Bondage: Free Women of Colour in the Americas” by David B. Gaspar and Darlene C. Hine | “Romantic Colonization and British Anti-Slavery” by Deidre Coleman | “Slave Portraiture in the Atlantic World” by Agnes I. Lugo-Oritz and Angela Rozenthal | “Deep Like the Rivers: Education in the Slave Quarter Community, 1831-1865” by Thomas L. Webber

Book cover for "Recovering Scotland's Slavery Past: The Caribbean Connection" ed. T.M. Devine. Text on a brush-textured navy and black background with a pencil drawing in the middle of captives being loaded onto a ship.

Book cover for: "Dismal Freedom: A History of the Maroons of the Great Dismal Swamp" by J. Brent Morris.
Text overlaying a digital illustration of a couple wading through water with foliage all around them.

The National Maritime Museum and Queen’s House under Royal Museums Greenwich will be holding their annual exhibition with a range of talks and activities on the 23^rd of August for Slavery Remembrance Day. Click here for more details on the itinerary.
In addition, this date coincides with the anniversary of the opening for the International Museum of Slavery in 2007, a part of the collective of National Museums Liverpool. Which, in partnership with the black community of Liverpool, participates in events for Slavery Remembrance Day. There are a range of in-person events and online resources, click the link here for details on this.

South Asian Heritage Month 2025

Posted on 18 July 2025 by ljones

From the 18th July to the 17th of August, we are marking South Asian Heritage month at the HFL. SAHM was set up to celebrate South Asian identity and history in diaspora communities in the UK.

This display aims to explore a variety of backgrounds within diaspora communities, as far as is possible with our current physical collection. We highly recommend you check out our online reading list below, as it provides work on a variety of topics we do not currently have in the library itself.

Explore how the South Asian diaspora shaped the sound of BBC Radio, in Liam McCarthy’s book online, or how South Asians made modern Britain the country it is today through our physical display.

Historical Musicals Display!

Posted on 2 July 2025 by ljones

As we head into the Summer Vacation, we’ve decided to do a light hearted display theme. Inspired by the viral success of Rachel Zegler’s West End performance in Evita, in which the Hunger Games star portrays the former First Lady of Argentina, Eva Peron, we have selected a variety of books from the History Faculty collection with connections to musicals. Most are currently running in London!

See if you can guess which musicals inspired the selected books!

From left to right, top to bottom, we have:

‘The Vietnam War From the Other Side’ by Ang Cheng Guan.
‘The Revolution of 1905 and Russia’s Jews’ by Stefani Hoffman.
‘Six Wives’ by David Starkey.
‘The Price of Greatness’ by Jay Cost.
‘Argentina: A Modern History’ by Jill Hedges.
‘Gay Berlin’ by Robert Beachy.
‘Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism’ by Richard L. Bushman.
‘The Age of Revolutions’ by Nathan Perl-Rosenthal.
‘Let the Record Show’ by Sarah Schulman.
‘Protesting About Pauperism’ by Elizabeth T. Hurren.
‘Marching to the Fault Line’ by Francis Beckett and David Hencke.

And for our ebook selection:

Queer Oz: L. Frank Baum's Trans Tales and Other Astounding Adventures ...

In the meantime, we hope everyone has a wonderful summer vacation!

Pride Month Display

Posted on 5 June 2025 by ljones

Banner reading "pride month" in alternating rainbow colours. The banner features an illustration of a bumblebee hummingbird with its feather colours altered to resemble the Gilbert Baker rainbow pride flag

This Pride month, the History Faculty Library has arranged a display commemorating the history of LGBT+ communities throughout the world. This display aims to address diverse experiences throughout the LGBT+ spectrum, as well as across many different cultures and time periods. The display can be browsed in the Upper Gladstone Link of the Radcliffe Camera, in addition to the collection of e-books which can be accessed by clicking on the book cover pictures further below.

Explore the activism of black members of the LGBT+ community and their relations to the civil rights movements post-WW2 with Jennifer Dominique Jones’ book “Ambivalent affinities,” featured in the on-shelf display or read analysis about the desires between ancient women of the greek and roman worlds with Sandra Boehringer’s book on the e-book display below, plus many more.

Check out the events that are being held by Oxford University for pride by clicking here and scrolling to the second sub-section, or head to Oxford Pride to see the itinerary of events throughout Oxford and how to get involved.

photograph of a display of 14 books along with 2 posters promoting the e-books linked further down in this article.
The books, from the top left are:
1) As good as marriage : the Anne Lister diaries, 1836-38 / [edited by] Jill Liddington.
2) Unmaking sex : the gender outlaws of nineteenth-century France / Anne E. Linton.
3)The Stonewall Riots : a documentary history / Marc Stein.
4)LGBT Victorians : sexuality and gender in the nineteenth-century archives / Simon Joyce.
5)Unsuitable : a history of lesbian fashion / Eleanor Medhurst.
6) Ambivalent affinities : a political history of Blackness and homosexuality after World War II / Jennifer Dominique Jones.
7) Surpassing the love of men : romantic friendship and love between women from the Renaissance to the present / Lillian Faderman.
8) On queer street : a social history of British homosexuality, 1895-1995 / Hugh David.
9) No bath but plenty of bubbles : an oral history of the gay liberation front, 1970-73 / Lisa Power
10) Not a passing phase : reclaiming lesbians in history 1840-1985 / Lesbian History Group
11) James VI and I and the history of homosexuality / Michael B. Young.
12) Ambiguous gender in early modern Spain and Portugal : inquisitors, doctors and the transgression of gender norms / François Soyer.
13) Same-sex sexuality in later medieval English culture / Tom Linkinen.
14) Before homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic world, 1500-1800 / Khaled El-Rouayheb.

Book cover for "Trans Historical: gender Purality Before the Modern" edited by G. LaFleur, M. Raskolnikov and A. Klosowska featuring a stylistic illustration of a woman with red hair in a black dress

Book cover for "Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World" edited by N. S. Rabinowitz and L. Auanger featuring black and white freize illustrations with a red border.

Mental Health Awareness Week

Posted on 1 May 2025 by ljones

From the the 12-18th May, it is Mental Health Awareness Week. This year, we have focused our online resources on the present, and even the future of mental health, on top of our usual historical offerings, particularly focusing on groups underrepresented in the HFL’s physical collection.

The physical display in the Upper Gladstone Link.

We’d also like to take this chance to remind students during Trinity Term of the mental health resources on offer to them through the University and the Bodleian Library.

The University has a range of resources, covering topics such as academic wellbeing and bereavement. Find out more here: Supportive resources | University of Oxford

And did you know that there is a wellbeing display in the Old Library? Located on the Mezzanine next to the Upper Reading Room, the display has a range of books from self-help to poetry.

Earth Day

Posted on 2 April 2025 by ljones

To raise awareness about the ecological impact of human activity, Earth Day has been held every April 22^ndsince 1970. The campaign aims to encourage the larger structural change necessary to address the factors responsible for environmental crisis throughout the world, as well as more local practices. Recognising that the heaviest burden of environmental disaster will fall on the most vulnerable and marginalised populations before all else, the campaign also stresses the importance of including these communities in the movement and giving voice to their concerns.

A display has been arranged in the Upper Gladstone Link in Radcliffe Camera, consisting of History Faculty Library material. It addresses the past of human environmental intervention, as well as featuring current and future issues. This display also includes relevant e-resources, which can be accessed by clicking on the book cover pictures further below.

Book cover for "Wild by Design" by Laura J. Martin featuring leaf designs.

Book cover for "Toxic Water Toxic System: Environmental Racism and Michigan's Water War" by M. Mascarenhas featuring a photograph of protesters set to a warm-toned gradient

Women’s History Month

Posted on 6 March 2025 by ljones

Banner reading "International Women's day" in white text inside a black box. This box is paired with ink illustrations of flowers in black and white, as well as flecks of gold in the background. A sun design in the same gold rests in the middle of the image.

International Women’s day is an annual event that occurs on March 8th, aiming to commemorate the achievements of women while also advocating for gender equality. To celebrate this, the History Faculty Library at the Radcliffe Camera has arranged a display in the Upper Gladstone Link for Women’s History Month that will be held until the end of March.

This year, the display is focusing on women in the visual arts throughout history, specifically as active participants in the discipline: creators, curators, critics and patrons.

Photograph of women's history month display. The book titles include, from the top left: Women, art and patronage from Henry III to Edward III, 1216-1377 by Loveday Lewes Gee, Vision and difference : femininity, feminism and the histories of art by Griselda Pollock, Old mistresses : women, art and ideology by Rozsika Parker and Griselda Pollock, Women and art in early modern Europe : patrons, collectors, and connoisseurs edited by Cynthia Lawrence, Women and visual culture in early nineteenth-century France 1800-1852 by Gen Doy, Women in the Victorian art world edited by Clarissa Campbell Orr, The obstacle race : the fortunes of women painters and their work by Germaine Greer, Women artists : recognition and reappraisal from the early Middle Ages to the twentieth century by Karen Petersen and J. J. Wilson, Women, art, and society by Whitney Chadwick, Pre-raphaelite women artists vy Jan Marsh & Pamela Gerrish Nunn, Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, 1755-1842 by Joseph Baillio and Our hidden heritage : five centuries of women artists by Eleanor Tufts.

In addition to the display in the Radcliffe Camera, a series of 8 e-books have also been selected according to this theme. Click on any of the pictures below to be taken to the SOLO record for each resource. Accessing the materials will require a Single-Sign-On Login for Oxford University members. External readers will need to log in with their Bodleian accounts while using the Bodleian libraries network (either the Bodleian Libraries Wi-fi network or using the reader PCs within the library.)

Book cover of "Angelica Kauffman: Art and Sensibility" by Angela Rosenthal, which includes a self-portait of the artist in warm brown tones.

Book cover for "Artemisia Gentileschi and the Business of Art" by Christopher Marshall. It includes a self-portrait of the artist as St. Catherine of Alexandria.

LGBT+ History Month 2025

Posted on 1 February 2025 by ljones

In the UK, February marks LGBT+ History month, an initiative started by the education charity Schools OUT. Now in its twentieth year, the month provides an opportunity for LGBTQ+ people from a variety of backgrounds to explore their histories. You can learn more about the national campaign here.

This year, our display highlights some lesser known queer stories in history, from the medieval islamicate world to Brighton in the 50s and 60s. Be sure to check out the physical books on display, as well as our e-book display below.

Oxford University members can access all e-books remotely by signing into SOLO with their ‘Single Sign On.’ Click on the book covers below to view the SOLO records for some of the featured texts.