Category Archives: Archives

New database: Mirabile – Digital archives for medieval culture

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Mirabile logo Oxford medievalists now have access to Mirabile, an aggregator resource for bibliographies and critical journal literature relevant for medieval studies and culture.

It provides online a variety of specialist resources including important resources constituted by the well-known SISMEL‘s databases and important journals published by the Edizioni del Galluzzo.

1. DB mediolatino:

  • MEL (Medioevo latino) – bibliographical bulletin, with more than 250.000 records; covers 6th-15th centuries

    Abelard MEL entry

    MEL entry for Peter Abelard

  • BISLAM (Bibliotheca Scriptorum Latinorum Medii recentiorisque Aevi), the  important authority list for names of medieval Latin authors, with more than 15.000 entries and 80.000 variants
  • CALMA (Compendium Auctorum Medii Aevi) – authoritative index of medieval authors and works.
  • MEM (Medioevo musicale) – bibliographical bulletin on medieval music
  • RICaBIM (Repertorio di Inventari e Cataloghi delle Biblioteche Medievali)

2. DB italiani includes:

  • LIO (Lirica italiana delle origini)
  • BAI (Biblioteca agiografica italiana)

3. DB agiografici

  • MATER (Manoscritti agiografici di Trento e Rovereto)
  • MAGIS (Manoscritti agiografici dell’Italia del Sud)
  • BAI (Biblioteca agiografica italiana)

4. DB francesi

  • MAFRA (Repertorio dei manoscritti gallo-romanzi copiati in Italia)

5. Digitised Società Internazionale per lo Studio del Medioevo Latino (SISME) journals

over 1400 articles in pdf

  • Documenti e studi sulla tradizione filosofica medievale: an International Journal on the Philosophical Tradition from Late Antiquity to the Late Middle Ages. ISSN 1122-5750
  • Filologia mediolatina: Studies in Medieval Latin Texts and their Transmission. ISSN 1124-0008
  • Hagiographica: Journal of Hagiography and Biography of the Società Internazionale per lo studio del Medioevo Latino. ISSN 1124-1125
  • Iconographica: Journal of Medieval and Modern Iconography of the Società Internazionale per lo Studio del Medioevo Latino.
  • Itineraria: Travel Accounts and Knowledge of the World from Antiquity to the Renaissance. ISSN 1594-1019
  • Micrologus: Nature, Sciences and Medieval Societies. ISSN 1123-2560
  • Stilistica e metrica italiana. ISSN 1591-6693

Please note that the interface and help files are in Italian.

The Conservative Party Archive: an introduction

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With many thanks to Elizabeth McCarthy, Conservative Party Archive, Bodleian Library, who wrote this guest blog.

Electrion address from a young Margaret Thatcher [CPA: PUB 229/9]

The Conservative Party Archive (CPA), held in the Bodleian Library, is the official archive of the Conservative Party; the papers it holds date back to 1867 and the first conference of the Conservative & Unionist Association (in a London pub!). The archive was established in 1978, and it is currently one of the biggest archives in the Bodleian, with more material arriving all the time.

What’s in it?

The CPA can be divided into a number of main sections, representing the primary areas of Conservative Party organisation.

It holds the papers of the ‘elected’ or ‘parliamentary’ party – for example, the papers of the 1922 Committee and the Shadow Cabinet.

It also includes the Party’s ‘voluntary’ organisations, from the National Union of Conservative & Unionist Associations to think tanks around the nation.

Finally, it holds the material of what can be called the ‘professional’ Party – Conservative Central Office, the Conservative Research Department and high level committees.

Heath’s election address for the 1950 General Election, 23 February 1950 [CPA: PUB 229/9/3]

The CPA also holds large collections of published material and ephemera, including over 100 years of election posters.

What subjects are covered?

CPA material is particularly strong in the following areas:

  • Conservative policy on foreign, colonial and commonwealth affairs, 1930s-present
  • All areas of domestic policy – health, education, social security, transport, trade and industry, etc., 1930s-present
  • General Election planning and strategies, 1929-2010
  • Development of parliamentary democracy in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, c 1945-present
  • Debates during annual Conservative Party conferences, 1867-1977

The CPA collections are growing all the time, and the archive is in the process of making available a number of sections that have not been used for research before.

If you are keen to get your hands on an ‘untapped’ collection, just get in touch!

Election poster 1929 Lighthouse of Conservatism [CPA Poster Collection]

How do I use it?

Start by taking a look at the CPA’s online catalogue. You can also take a look at the Guide to the CPA for guidance on subjects and sections.

CPA material is read in Duke Humfrey’s Library in the Old Bodleian, and you’ll need to make an appointment to see it. To do so, email conservative.archives@bodleian.ox.ac.uk or phone 01865 277181. You’ll need to have a category A reader’s card (more on Admissions); get in touch with the CPA or with the Admissions office if you have any questions about this.

 Get in touch

 

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