Come and meet over 50 specialists to talk about resources for your dissertation topic!
The Fair is an excellent opportunity for students to gain a wider perspective on the wealth and riches of research sources available for your field of study.
At the Fair you can learn about resources you may not yet have yet considered and meet the curators of collections who can guide you towards relevant material or useful finding tools.
30 stalls will cover many areas:
Special Collections, libraries and archives, e.g.
Archives & manuscripts
College Libraries (Special Collections) & College Archives’ Collections
Early Printed Books
Oxford Brookes University Special Collections and Archives
Oxfordshire History Centre
UK Government and International Intergovernmental Publications
Topical stalls, e.g.
Biography
Economic & Social History
English
Digital Scholarship
LGBTQ, Gender & Sexuality
History of Science & Medicine
Visual culture
and more
Geographical stalls, e.g.
Africa & Commonwealth
East Asia & South Asia
Eastern Europe and Russia
Great Britain & West Europe
Middle East, Hebrew & Judaica, Caucausus & Central Asia
Latin America
United States
You will also have an opportunity to speak to other students who have previously written dissertations and learn about their TOP 10 TIPS.
At our Information Skills stall, learn what courses are laid on to help you develop the skills you will need.
The format of the Fair encourages you to explore and discover new materials at your own pace, to be curious, to network and to make connections to experts and their peers while also learning about creative use of sources in Digital Scholarship.
Accessibility
The main entrance to the Examination Schools is stepped. There is a ramped entrance immediately to the left of the main entrance. There is lift access throughout the building, two wheelchair accessible toilets and hearing support systems that can be deployed where needed throughout the building. Most areas of the building have level access.
The accessible toilet is gender neutral and is at the bottom of the staircase opp. Room 8.
Doing research on your thesis also means that you will need to learn new skills, deepening your knowledge of resources and sources and how to go about locating and using them.
To help you on this exciting journey, the library has organised a series of talks, classes, and workshops which are designed to
Upskill your information searching and research skills;
Learn about the rich sources available to them in Oxford (and beyond) and know how to access them;
Learn how to handle the material, incl. archives, correct citation practices, ethical research practice, etc.;
Get to know relevant experts in Oxford libraries and archives.
Photo by Isabel Holowaty, 27 Nov 2023, Maison Française, Oxford
Who is the guide for?
It is intended for researchers and students who are studying Disability History and other information professionals supporting researchers. It is also useful for practitioners and members of the public with an interest in (or who have a disability) and wish to gain a historical perspective.
What can you find in the guide?
The LibGuide consists of a collection of research resources crowdsourced during a Hackathon by 24 volunteers in Dec 2022 who scoured the internet for relevant archives, journals and various other useful websites. Over 200 nominated resources were then assessed and organised by Alice to make them as discoverable as possible. The guide conforms with accessibility standards.
The selected resources cover a great variety of topics across different historical periods (ancient to contemporary history).
The disabilities covered are wide ranging and include, for instance, autism, birth defects, chronic pain, hearing loss /deafness, learning disabilities, mental illness, mobility disabilities, visual impairment, and more.
Resources were also selected for aspects of disability relating to education, employment, medical technologies, stigma and war. The materials themselves may be archives, audio-visual, biographies, books, journals, legislation, newspapers, theses and websites.
The guide will continue to evolve. It is currently limited largely to English language resources focused on western history and we hope there will be opportunities to expand its scope in the future.
We very much welcome feedback and, continuing in the crowdsourcing spirit, invite suggestions for additional resources for the LibGuide which can be made via our Recommend a Resource form.
Many congratulations and thanks go to Alice for her terrific work. We believe that this guide will be an excellent resource to help with the discovery of resources for disability history. Thanks of course also go to the volunteer ‘hackers’, without whom this guide would not exist, and the History Faculty for hosting and funding the hackathon in 2022.
Isabel Holowaty, Deputy Head of Humanities Libraries & History Librarian (Research), Bodleian Libraries, Oxford University
Following the cyber-attack, our colleagues in the British Library work are working very hard to restore operations and services. As the disruption is likely to continue for a few weeks, below is a list of tips for some workarounds.
BL updates and contacts
Regularly check the British Library blog and their Twitter feed @britishlibrary for updates on the current status of their services. You can contact the BL via Twitter or emailing customer@bl.uk (be prepared for delay to responses).
On Monday 15 January 2024, the BL released access to an interim catalogue. You can search for the majority of their print holdings.
‘We have no evidence that data of our users has been compromised. However, if you have a British Library login and your password is used elsewhere, we recommend changing it as a precautionary measure.’
Tip 1: Finding alternative copies
Researchers can obviously double-check SOLO for alternative copies, but may also want to consider HathiTrust or Archive.org for older and out-of-copyright material.
Although the British Library catalogue is not available, you can still check for British Library published material in Library Hub Discover. This resource is a database of 204 UK and Irish academic, national & specialist library catalogues. If you want to easily find a copy in another library in the UK, then make friends with Library Hub Discover!
Recommend a Purchase for the Bodleian Libraries (Oxford staff and students only)
If an item is not held in Oxford or it is not accessible because it is a Non-Print Legal Deposit item, Oxford researchers can check SOLO if another Oxford library (incl. a college library) has your book. If not, you can ask for a book to be purchased using our Recommend a Purchase form (SSO required).
Tip 2: Finding and locating BL open shelf collections
The reading rooms are still open for private research and collections, which are on the open shelves, can therefore be used. Very limited, manual collection item ordering in London for general collection items stored in St Pancras (this does not include special collections) – these can be requested by completing paper forms in the Reading Rooms and will be delivered at set times.
So, how do you find St Pancras items when the BL catalogue is down?
In Library Hub Discover’s Advanced Search, you can limit your search to BL St Pancras in the Library section. You can at least copy the shelfmark and make your way to London.
Calendar of state papers, domestic series, of the reign of Anne : preserved in the Public Record Office. British Library SPHOA HLR 941 (RS 129 )
Admissions
The BL can only issue temporary reader tickets at the moment. If you already have a card and it needs renewing, this will probably be slightly easier than those who need to register for the first time. Contact customer@bl.uk if you need help but be prepared for a delayed response as our colleagues will be terrifically busy with other enquiries.
Tip 3: Accessing British Library website content
BL websites will have been archived, probably to varying degrees of depth, by the Internet Archives’s Wayback Machine.
If you have the URL of the webpage you want to access, just type it into the search box and you will be presented with a calendar indicating the days and years when a snapshot of the webpage was taken:
Wayback Machine showing when the BL website on its Collections (http://www.bl.uk/collection-items) were archived.
Some formatting may be a bit odd and, depending how deeply the content was crawled, you may not always get the full content. It also loads quite slowly. However, I was able to listen to some sound recordings:
A sound recording from the BL Collections website ‘Sisterhood and After: The Women’s Liberation Oral History Project’ where Ann Oakley discussed motherhood and depression. Interview 11 May 2012. Shelfmark: C1420/56
So, how do you find the URL of a BL website?
This becomes a little more ‘interesting’. The easiest is to Google, hopefully find the webpage you are interested in, make a note of the URL string and put it into the Wayback Machine. Please note that this may not always work, if e.g. names of URL were changed over time.
You may also come across links to the BL webpages from other sources. This can of course include the BL’s own Blogs which don’t appear to be affected by the cyberattack. A list of BL blogs is webarchived at https://web.archive.org/web/20231010125136/https://www.bl.uk/blogs.
Please note that this technique will not work for URLs of content in databases with dynamic content such as library catalogues, archive catalogues, etc. None of these are crawled by the Wayback Machine.
At this point it might be a good idea to upskill your Google searching skills. You can target your searches more effectively with certain commands. Check out our Advanced Google Searching teaching materials and video recording.
Tip 4. Looking for the ESTC?
The English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC) is the definitive union catalogue for early British or English language books, covering publications printed before 1800. The BL website for ESTC is down.
If you are not a member of Oxford University and you are just searching for citations, then you can still search Oxford’s SOLO from anywhere in the world:
Searching ‘eebo cooking banquet’ in SOLO’s Oxford Collections.
Tip 5. Looking for BL Special Collections?
You may be able to use other sources to find descriptions of BL Special Collections. It can be a bit tricky but here are some suggestions:
Both The National Archives and The Archives Hub describe collections held in repositories in the UK, including the British Library. You can limit your search to just the British Library and get some description and shelfmarks. In some instances, the description also mentions microfilmed versions which may be accessible in another library.
A search in The National Archives Discovery tool for India Office material held in the British Library.
Many BL archival and rare book materials have been digitised in source databases, such as the East India Company (Modules I-V). You can get a list of these databases by searching our Databases A-Z for “British Library”. Current staff and students can then of course access these, using SSO for remote access.
Databases A-Z with a phrase search “british library”.
If you are an external reader and would like to register with the Bodleian Libraries, check out our information how to join.
Wishing our BL colleagues all the very best as they wrestle with a major challenge, Isabel Holowaty, Deputy Head of Humanities Libraries & History Librarian (Research)
America in records from colonial missionaries, 1635-1928
We are pleased to announce that Oxford researchers now have online access to 14 collections of the Anglican missionary archive, the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (USPG), which have been digitized by British Online Archives. Previously only available in the Weston Library, the digitised material can now be accessed throughout the University and remotely with the Oxford SSO.
The USPG is a UK-based Anglican missionary organisation, founded in 1701, which sent missionaries to many parts of the world and was involved in educational, charitable and medical work as well as evangelization. The material also throws light on social conditions, travel and daily life abroad from the view point of British missionaries and their families.
The digitized material is relevant to British, Commonwealth and global history, covering the 17th to mid-20th centuries. It has been organised into 14 collections which can be found via SOLO or Databases A-Z:
The digitized material dates from 1635 to 1967 and includes letters, journals, reports, minute books, financial records, statistical returns, drawings, leaflets, questionnaires, school records, press cuttings, and printed books and magazines.
The geographical coverage is wide including the American colonies before independence, Canada, the Caribbean, Ghana, Tanzania, Malawi, South Africa, Mauritius, India, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.
the establishment of the Anglican Church in north America
the American War of Independence
slavery and its abolition
the establishment of Christian schools
indigenous communities
women missionaries
the impact of colonialism
philanthropy
the experience of wars including the two World Wars and the Sino-Japanese War
The digitized material represents a proportion of the whole USPG archive which is held on deposit in the Bodleian Library and is available for consultation in the Weston Library.
Lucy McCann, Senior Archivist, Special Collections, Bodleian Libraries
We are delighted to report that a major new discovery tool for Oxford archives and manuscripts, MARCO, is now available. Oxford’s very own Professor Lyndal Roper, Regius Chair of History, launched the service in a ceremony on 26 October 2023.
It is for all users of manuscript and archive collections held at the Bodleian Libraries and Oxford colleges and is the easiest place to start your search for manuscripts and archives held in Oxford, allowing searching across all online descriptions of the collections.
The discovery tool will allow researchers to deep-dive into detail but also discover material they may not have expected to be held in Oxford.
Where there is a digital copy in Digital.Bodleian, a link will be provided.
ELEVEN CATALOGUES = ONE SEARCH
The descriptions are drawn from eleven online catalogues, extending from Greek papyrus fragments from the 5th century BC to 21st century born-digital archives.
The collections include works of literature, medieval legal charters and deeds, politics, science, medicine, theology, law, music, photographic material and religious devotion, as well as many forms of documentary material produced by individuals and institutions.
The project unifies information about individuals, ensuring that whichever spelling or variation of a name you use, you will still find relevant materials:
You can also use keyword searching for find relevant materials.
What is not included?
Please note that not all manuscripts and archives are described online. Many of the catalogues are works-in-progress, and some collections are not yet described online at all. For more information, see below.
Continue to search individual catalogues
Existing users of the individual catalogues, or users who know which individual catalogue describes material they need, can still search the source catalogues directly.
About the project
The project aims to create a researcher-driven and easy to use discovery interface, MARCO, which will allow manuscript and archival materials from the Bodleian and Oxford’s colleges to be searched together. This discovery layer will enable new and existing audiences to better access the materials and will offer a fit-for-purpose environment for finding information about Oxford’s unique collections.
MARCO realizes the Bodleian Libraries’ vision of a connected, user-friendly, robust and adaptable digital environment for the University of Oxford’s manuscripts and archives.
Huge congratulations are due to the very many colleagues involved in designing and launching this project which is part of the Mellon Foundation funded FAMOUS project.
While you are here:
Access to Bodleian Libraries archives: The Bodleian Libraries’ welcome academics, students and researchers to consult special collections in person. Information on how to do so can be found on the Using Special Collections page.
Guides and Finding Aids. For an overview of the special collections held at the Bodleian Libraries, see the Special Collections section of Bodleian Libraries website. This includes:
Subject Guides, which provide an overview of all the Libraries’ special collections, not just those catalogued online, with links to further information.
Detailed finding aids, which give specific information working with individual collections.
We are delighted to run the History Thesis Fair for second-year undergraduates this year. Come and meet over 50 specialists to talk about resources for your dissertation topic.
Thursday 4 May afternoon (week 2)
Colleges B-N: 2-3pm & College O-W: 3-4pm
North Writing School, Examination Schools
The Fair is an excellent opportunity for students to gain a wider perspective on the wealth and riches of research sources available for your field of study.
At the Fair you can learn about resources you may not yet have yet considered and meet the curators of collections who can guide you towards relevant material or useful finding tools.
Over 30 stalls will cover many areas:
Special Collections, libraries and archives, e.g.
Archives and Manuscripts 1500-1800
Archives and Modern Manuscripts 1800-
College Libraries (Special Collections)
College Archives’ Collections
Early Printed Books
Institute of Historical Research Library / Senate House Library
Oxford Brookes University Special Collections and Archives
Oxfordshire History Centre
UK Government and International Intergovernmental Publications
Topical stalls, e.g.
Biography
Community History
Digital Scholarship
Disability History
Legal History
LGBTQ+ History
History of Science & Medicine
Oxford and Empire
and more
Geographical stalls, e.g.
Africa & Commonwealth
East Asia & South Asia
Eastern Europe and Russia
Great Britain & West Europe
Middle East, Hebrew & Judaica, Caucus & Central Asia
Latin America
United States
You will also have an opportunity to speak to other students who have previously written dissertations and learn about their TOP 10 TIPS.
The format of the Fair encourages you to explore and discover new materials at your own pace, to be curious, to network and to make connections to experts and their peers while also learning about creative use of sources in Digital Scholarship.
Accessibility
The main entrance to the Examination Schools is stepped. There is a ramped entrance immediately to the left of the main entrance. There is lift access throughout the building, two wheelchair accessible toilets and hearing support systems that can be deployed where needed throughout the building. Most areas of the building have level access.
The accessible toilet is gender neutral and is at the bottom of the staircase opp. Room 8.
Doing research on your thesis also means that you will need to learn new skills, deepening your knowledge of resources and sources and how to go about locating and using them.
To help you on this exciting journey, the library has organised a series of talks, classes, and workshops which are designed to
Upskill your information searching and research skills;
Learn about the rich sources available to them in Oxford (and beyond) and know how to access them;
Learn how to handle the material, incl. archives, correct citation practices, ethical research practice, etc.;
Get to know relevant experts in Oxford libraries and archives.
We are pleased to announce that bookings are now being taken for the Humanities Research Fair for postgraduates which will take place on Monday 27 January 2-5pm, South School, Exam Schools, OX1 4BG (map).
This free event is an excellent opportunity for Humanities postgraduate students to gain a wider perspective on the wealth and riches of research sources available for your field of study.
In a single place you get to meet lots of experts at the same time. You can learn about resources you may not yet have yet considered and meet the curators of collections who can guide you towards relevant material or useful finding tools.
The format of the Fair encourages you to explore and discover new materials at your own pace, to be curious, to network and to make connections to experts and their peers while also learning about creative use of sources in Digital Humanities.
40+ stalls
Special collections (archives & early printed books, maps, museums)
Topical stalls (e.g. resources for English literature, Theology, History, Modern Languages, Biography)
Geographical stalls (e.g. US studies, Latin American, Far & Near Eastern, European)
General resources (e.g. Information skills, Open Access, Digital Humanities, Top 10 Tips from a Graduate)
Take part in the live historical printing with the Centre for the Study of the Book
Relax with a cup of tea at the Student Wellbeing stall and try your hand at fiendish Bodleian jigsaw puzzle
A series of talks on Digital Humanities will accompany the Fair.
The Bodleian Libraries have today released Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts https://archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/, providing access to the Bodleian’s world-renowned collection of archives and manuscripts on a new, user-friendly site.
The resource is in beta and researchers are encouraged to give feedback.
Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts is a new interface which revolutionizes the discoverability of archives. Whereas previously descriptions of archives and manuscripts were available in separate online catalogues, they’ve now been brought together into one site.
https://archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts currently includes descriptions for approximately 100,000 boxes of archival material collected by the Bodleian Libraries, dating from c. 1500 to the 21st century. Material described is predominantly in manuscript form, but the collections also contain large amounts of photographic material, audiovisual items, and born-digital content. Over the next 12 months Bodleian Libraries staff will continue to add to Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts, incorporating some of the Bodleian’s most important published catalogues – the Summary and New Summary Catalogues.
The predecessor to Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts, the Online Catalogue for Archives and Manuscripts, will remain available until early January 2020 at which point we will switch over to Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts fully, and decommission the Libraries’ old Online Catalogues platform.
For more information and an FAQ about Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts visit the public FAQ document.
While you are here…
The online catalogue for Medieval archives and manuscripts held in the Bodleian Libraries is available at https://medieval.bodleian.ox.ac.uk.
Ho Tim Seminar Room University of Oxford China Centre (Dickson Poon Building, Canterbury Road)
No booking required!
The Visual History Archive® is USC Shoah Foundation’s online portal that allows users to search through and view more than 55,000 video testimonies of survivors and witnesses of genocide. Initially a repository of Holocaust testimony, the Archive has expanded significantly to also include survivor and witness testimony from other genocidal events: the Armenian Genocide (1915-1923), the Nanjing Massacre (1937), the Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda (1994) and the Guatemalan Genocide (1978-1996) as well as more recent testimonies relating to the Anti-Rohingya Mass Violence (August-October 2017).
This 2 hour workshop run by the USC Shoah Foundation will provide hands-on training on how to use the Visual History Archive, introducing students, librarians, staff, and faculty to the archive’s history, collections, interface, and search engines that are the key to unlocking the research and teaching potential of the archive. Learn about watching interviews and get tips how successfully to navigate the many testimonies.
In a large library system such as the Bodleian Libraries and Oxford college libraries, holding over 13 million books and vast archives between them, archival resources on women can be difficult to spot. Therefore, in honour of History Day 2018, organised by the Institute of Historical Research Library and Senate House Library, and whose theme this year is women’s history, this blog post aims to highlight the archives of a selection of remarkable women who were in some way connected to Oxford or whose papers were deposited in Oxford. Their lives span the political, literary, social and scientific spheres of late 18th, 19th and 20th century Britain. Each one of them has a story to tell, in their own way, through their diaries and letters, and each is outstanding and interesting for their various contributions to British life, culture and science. Collectively, the archives document women’s lives and their struggles for recognition and rights, but also celebrate their achievements both before and after the suffragette movement.
The history of women in Oxford’s male-dominated university is briefly described at History of Women at Oxford. It was thanks to individual initiatives, and the pioneering work of the Association for Promoting the Higher Education of Women (AEW), that women’s colleges came to be established in Oxford. Lady Margaret Hall and Somerville opened in 1879, followed by St Hugh’s in 1886 and St Hilda’s in 1893. Women only become full members of the University in 1920.
6 March 2018 — 22 February 2019
Venue: Treasury, Weston Library (Map)
Pirates and poets; suffragettes and explorers – this exhibition celebrates the achievements of women who dared to do the unexpected. Sappho to Suffrageshowcases some of the Bodleian’s most remarkable and treasured items. Highlights on show from the Bodleian Libraries collections of over 13 million items include:
2nd century BCE fragments of Sappho’s poetry written on papyrus;
Ada Lovelace’s 19th century notes on mathematics;
the manuscript of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein;
a manuscript of Jane Austen’s juvenilia, Volume the First;
photographs by the Victorian photography pioneer Julia Margaret Cameron; and
a musical score by Fanny Mendelssohn.
the only known surviving version of the board game Suffragetto:
Highlights of the exhibition also include a ‘lost banner‘, a specially commissioned recreation of a banner originally used by the Oxford Women’s Suffrage Society in 1908, and a display featuring the perspectives of contemporary women one hundred years since the vote was won.
‘Margot’ Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith by Elliott & Fry. NPG x90783
Political hostess and diarist. Married H.H. Asquith, the Home Secretary, in 1894. In 1905 Asquith became Chancellor of the Exchequer and in 1908 Prime Minister. Her leading position, as Asquith’s wife, in London Society is reflected in her correspondence.
The collection includes diaries, 1876-1923; general correspondence, 1876-1945, followed by family correspondence, 1884-1945; literary papers, 1879-1945; personal papers.
Barbara Anne Castle, Baroness Castle by Walter Bird 17 June 1964 NPG x1664273
Labour cabinet minister and campaigner.
The papers comprise diaries 1953-2001, family correspondence 1903-2000; political papers (encompassing papers relating to the Labour Party, backbench MP subject files, ministerial papers, MEP papers, and House of Lords subject files); speeches and lectures, 1937-2001; financial and legal papers, 1919-2002; personal papers, 1926-2002; Secretaries’ papers, 1983-2002; Drawings and paintings, 1967-[1995]; and Photographs, 1905-98.
Imperial activist. Married Lord Edward Herbert Gascoyne-Cecil (1867-1918) in 1894. She subsequently married Viscount Milner (1854-1925) in 1921. She had an interest in politics and was editor of The National Review1932-48.
The collection consists mainly of the papers of Violet Milner. It contains material relating to 19th- and 20th-century British and Imperial history, in particular the Boer War. The coverage of 20th-century South African politics is notable. Most major British politicians and political events of this period are documented in some way.
(Helen) Violet Bonham Carter, Baroness Asquith of Yarnbury by Howard Coster. 1933. NPG x3017
Liberal political figure and daughter of H.H. Asquith and his first wife Helen.
Held the position of President of the Women’s Liberal Federation twice, from 1923-5 and again 1939-45. In 1945 she was invited to become President of the Liberal Party Organization, the first woman to do so, holding office until 1947. In 1963 she became the first woman to give the Romanes lecture at the University of Oxford, speaking on ‘The Impact of Personality on Politics’.
She also wrote articles for magazines, mainly for women, and letters to newspapers on national and international causes. Awarded a life peerage in 1964 and attended House of Lords until her death in 1969.
Evelyn Emmet, Baroness Emmet of Amberley by Walter Bird, November 1958. NPG x167398
Politician and Conservative MP.
Educated at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford (1917-20) where she read literae humaniores. Her political career began in local government but played a national role serving on the Home Office probation advisory committee and of the Home Office special commission on cinema and the child in 1950. In 1952 and 1953 she was the UK delegate to the UN’s general assembly. Became an MP in 1955 and elevated to the Lords in 1964, serving there as deputy speaker and deputy chair of committees 1968-77.
The papers include diaries, correspondence, speeches, articles, broadcasts, and printed papers relating to her political career.
Best known as the author of the memoir Testament of Youth. She was accepted to read English at Somerville College, Oxford, in 1915; returned after World War I in 1919, changing her course to Modern History. Papers of Vera Brittain consist of:
Notebooks concerning her participation in the World Pacifist Conference and her lecture tour in India, 1949-50
Volume of photographs of Cape Comorin, India, n.d.
Papers of Vera Brittain held at Somerville College: the Somerville archive contains a collection of her letters, diaries, photos and books left to the College by her friend and one-time literary executor Paul Berry.
The Abinger collection comprises the correspondence and papers of three generations of the Godwin & Shelley families. This includes the majority of the surviving correspondence and papers of the philosopher and author William Godwin and his first wife, the feminist author Mary Wollstonecraft, and second wife, the translator and bookshop owner Mary Jane Clairmont, as well as the correspondence of Everina Wollstonecraft and Eliza Bishop, Mary Wollstonecraft’s sisters.
Mary Wollstonecraft by John Opie. oil on canvas, circa 1797. NPG 1237
Writer, advocator of women’s rights and philosopher.
Best known for A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792), a best seller of its day, but also wrote novels and a book on the history of the French Revolution.
Archive includes correspondence & papers from 1785 to 1797.
Mary Shelley by Richard Rothwell. oil on canvas, exhibited 1840. NPG 1235
Writer and daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft. Best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus(1818).
Archive includes correspondence and papers, manuscripts of novels, short stories, poems, non-fiction works, personal papers (drawing, inventories, financial papers).
A fair copy of Shelley’s 1817 script for Frankenstein (MS. Abinger c.58) is available in Digital.Bodleian.
Read English at St Hilda’s College, Oxford. Papers include the manuscripts of published and unpublished novels and short stories, literary papers, notebooks, diaries and correspondence. Loose leaves removed from some of the bound volumes, including notes and drafts for novels, are in MS. Pym 99.
English interior decorator, hostess and socialite. The collection includes letters from many of the literary and society figures of her day, some personal and family papers, a few diaries of Lady Colefax, her visitors’ books, and a number of photograph albums.
Victoria photographic pioneer. Cameron’s work was largely forgotten until the 1940s, but she has been widely recognised since then as one of the most important and innovative photographers of all time.
Her photographs can be found in a number of albums held at the Bodleian Library, amongst them an album, which she had compiled for Sir Henry Taylor. These photos are collectively known as The Henry Taylor Album.
Dame Elizabeth Maconchy by Howard Coster. 1938. NPG x23833
Irish composer.
The archive contains almost all the manuscripts of her compositions as well as some printed scores, programmes, press cuttings, and some correspondence.
Mary Somerville by James Rannie Swinton. chalk, 1848. NPG 690
Science writer and mathematics expositor.
Received many honours during her lifetime, and after her death, Somerville College, Oxford, founded in 1879 as a women’s college, was named after her. A Somerville scholarship for women also commemorates her name.
Archive includes correspondence and papers, also relating to the Somerville family.
Ada Lovelace by William Henry Mote, after Alfred Edward Chalon. stipple engraving, published 1839. NPG D5124
English writer, mathematician and early computer pioneer.
Active in Victorian London’s social and scientific elite alongside Mary Somerville. The main part of this collection of papers belonged to Annabella, Lady Byron.
The collection also contains correspondence of Ada and her husband William, 1st Earl of Lovelace, used by Doris Langley Moore in her biography Ada, Countess of Lovelace (1978). See Bodleian Ada Lovelace blog.
Physiologist (esp. on respiration) and clinical pathologist.
Studied unofficially (women were not yet admitted to the university for that subject) and then researched physiology in Oxford. The archive comprises personal and scientific papers, spanning her lifetime, as well as family papers.
Papers relating to the education of women at Oxford University. Women were not admitted to membership of the University until 1920, although they had been allowed to sit some University examinations and attend lectures for over forty years by that date. It was the work of the Association for Promoting the Higher Education of Women (AEW), founded 1878, that women’s colleges came to be established in Oxford.
The archive includes minute books, 1878-1920; papers relating to the finances of the Association, 1878-1922; papers relating to students, 1883-1920; and printed and miscellaneous papers, 1877-1920.
More from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (subscribers only):
Follow History Day 2018 on Twitter with #HistDay2018
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The format of the Fair encourages you to explore and discover new materials at your own pace, to be curious, to network and to make connections to experts and their peers while also learning about creative use of sources in Digital Humanities.
