This January marks the birth month of many widely acclaimed writers, such as J.R.R. Tolkien, J.D. Salinger, Virginia Woolf, Anne Brontë, A. Milne, Edgar Alan Poe, Isaac Asimov and many more contemporary writers like Haruki Murakami. It is also the beginning of the 250th year since Jane Austen’s birth, which will be celebrated in December 2025.
To celebrate this, a display showcasing the history of writing has been prepared in the Radcliffe Camera. It will follow the broad history of writing as a medium of storytelling, from ancient times to the modern world as well as the print and publishing processes that go along with it. An e-book display, which can be accessed below by clicking on the book cover pictures, goes into more detail with the historical context of the writers mentioned above, as well as following the histories of writing outside of Europe.
These e-book resources can be accessed via SOLO, which will require an Oxford University SSO login. Alternatively, they can be used through a Bodleian reader account for external readers who can access the material by connecting to the Bodleian Libraries Wi-fi network or logging on to the reader PCs within the library.
On the last Friday of November (29th Nov 2024), the LGBTQ+ History Hackathon was held at the History Faculty. Co-hosted by Faculty academics and the History Faculty Library, over 70 people (students, staff, and members of the public) participated, both in person and online. The aim of the event was to crowdsource resources for a new Oxford resource guide for LGBTQ+ history. It very much followed the model of the Disability History Hackathon, held two years ago, which was a great success and provided resources for the disability history LibGuide.
Welcome to event in lecture theatre – Professor Martin Conway (Chair of the Board of the Faculty of History) and Isabel Holowaty (Deputy Head of Humanities Libraries and Bodleian History Librarian Research).
The event was opened in the Faculty lecture theatre by Prof. Martin Conway, Chair of the Faculty Board. After introductions, an outline of the scope of the proposed LibGuide, and a brief presentation on Bodleian Libraries Academic Library Services’ EDI activities by Helen Worrell, participants were shown useful advanced Google searching techniques by Rachel D’Arcy-Brown, History Librarian (Teaching). Participants then spread out across various rooms in the faculty, and began searching the internet to find relevant resources. In total, almost 500 resources were recommended, covering a wide range of topics and a variety of historical periods. These resources included journal articles, archives, and newspapers. This is a really fantastic result, representing a great effort on the part of all who got involved.
The event closed with a presentation of a snapshot of initial results by Zac Draysey, History Faculty Library Graduate Trainee, and final remarks and thanks by Prof. Matthew Cook, Jonathan Cooper Chair of the History of Sexuality.
The Hackathon provided a fun and inclusive way of amassing quality resources. It enables us to draw on the interests and expertise of a diverse group of people from Oxford but, thanks to technology, also from people across the UK and even North America. This will allow us to add a broad range of resources to the LibGuide.
The next steps will involve assessing and organising the recommended resources collected during the hackathon and create an easy-to-use guide, which places this wealth of high-quality information into a helpful context. This LibGuide will be accessible not only to University students and staff, but to anyone all over the world. In this spirit, the Hackathon focused on publicly available and open access material.
Our current plan is to launch a beta version of the LibGuide by June 2025, in time for pride month. Updates and further information will be posted here on the blog, as well on the Hackathon page itself.
Enormous thanks go to all participants for giving to freely their time and effort. Thanks also go to the History Faculty for hosting the event, sponsoring refreshments, and to their staff for supporting its organisation.
(c) AM. Trade in Early Modern London: Livery Company Records, 1450-1750
Trade in Early Modern: London Livery Company Records, 1450-1750 is useful for the study of the history of early modern London through the lens of the livery companies and trade. It provides access to the various livery companies’ records, providing a unique overview of trade in early modern London over a key three-hundred year period. They are also a useful commentary on pivotal events such as the Reformation, the Civil War, the Great Plague, and the Great Fire of London.
Oxford students and researchers need to use SSO for remote access. The resource is accessible via SOLO.
Livery companies evolved from London’s medieval guilds, becoming corporations under royal charter responsible for training in their respective trades, as well as for the regulation of aspects such as wage control, labour conditions, and industry standards. The companies’ rich and varied records document the central role that these institutions played in the economic, political, social, and cultural life of the city.
The documents provide a rich source for a variety of aspects of early modern trade but also beyond the purely mercantile aspect. The resource is also useful for the study of early modern…
• Charity and Philanthropy
• Citizenship
• Civic Ceremonies, Music, Drama and Pageantry
• Civic Government
• Commerce
• Craft and Regulation
• Education
• Immigration
• Politics
• Prices and Wages
• Property and Estates
• Religion
Archives included
Three archives contribute the content to this database:
The Drapers’ Company
The Goldsmiths’ Company
The London Archives, from which source is included:
The Fishmongers’ Company collection
The Merchant Taylors’ Company collection [accounts go back to late C14]
The Skinners’ Company collection
The Vintners’ Company collection
Highlighted collections include:
Institutional records of churches, workplaces, alms-houses, and schools detailing the daily lives and work of a large proportion of the city’s inhabitants
Company records documenting the livery companies’ involvement in the Lord Mayor’s Show, providing a wealth of material relating to civic culture and pageantry, including payments to musicians and performers
Beautifully illuminated ordinances and memoranda books, including the Goldsmiths’ Company Books of Ordinances, the Book of the Fraternity of the Assumption of Our Lady (Skinners’ Company), and The Book of the Fraternity of Corpus Christi (Skinners’ Company)
A range of contextual features bring the resource to life for students and researchers, including a Chronology, a Glossary of Terms, a Guide to Reading Early Modern Records, and Livery Company Histories
There is a range useful supplementary materials such as contextualised essays by leading historians, including Ian Archer (University of Oxford). There is also a glossary and chronology, and helpful information on weights & measures, and the Julian (OT) and Gregorian (NT) dating systems.
The challenge of using archival material
(c) AM – Comparison of The Fishmongers’ Company Committee minutes of 13 Oct 1741 with the Letter A in the Index to committee minute books (1731-1758).
Like other AM databases, Trade in Early Modern London uses Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) technology to allow full-text searching of manuscript documents. Users can download the transcript (where it exists) but should note that the HTR technology is still developing and that it’s advisable to check for accuracy. The database allows users to compare the original with the transcript or with other related documents.
Searching and reading the documents will be challenging to the non-expert. The resource provides various ways to find material and guidance is available how to best search and browse. Additionally, uses can view side-by-side related documents, such as contemporary indices.
We are almost at the end of Michaelmas Term and so the History Faculty Library has moved into the vacation loan period. From Monday 2nd December (8th week), all books issued from the library won’t need to be returned until Tuesday 21st January (1st week, Hilary).
This also applies to any online renewals of current loans that take place from Monday 2nd onwards. However, if there is a hold request on a book you have, it will need to be brought back by the original due date.
As always, you can check due dates and renew books through your SOLO account. And if you have any questions please come and speak to staff in the Radcliffe Camera or drop us an email at library.history@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.
Disability History Month is an annual event that endeavours to document the history of inequality experienced by people with disabilities. The purpose of which, as stated by the official Disability History Month organisation, is to encourage for greater social change and human rights protections to improve the lives of those at present and in the future. It will be running from the 14th of November until the 20th of December.
This year, the official theme is “Employment and Livelihood,” which examines the factors that impact the employment of disabled people and how they have made a living throughout history, as well as in the present day. This will hopefully create a better understanding of these issues, so that a fair and just future might develop.
From our collections in the History Faculty Library, we have selected five books to work in accordance with this theme, as well as a further eight e-books which will be linked below. The remainder of the display commemorates the lives, accomplishments of people with disabilities as well as studying the challenges and attitudes they have faced throughout the world and over millennia.
To view the SOLO catalogue record for each of these online resources, please click on the front cover pictures! Please note that you will need to log in to SOLO with your Oxford University Single-Sign-On in order to access the full text. External readers will be able to access these resources by using the Bodleian Wi-fi network within the library or by using our reader PCS with their Bodleian Log-in details.
On the 22nd of December, the History Faculty at Lincoln College will be hosting a Disability Month Workshop which you can find out more about by clicking here.
Are you interested in LGBTQ+ history? Do you want to be part of an informal collective research effort?
Join a group of volunteers at the LGBTQ+ History Hackathon to help locate historical resources for an LGBTQ+ history online research guide. All are welcome!
When: Fri 29 November 2024 @ 2-5.30pm, drinks’ reception 5.30-6.30pm Where: History Faculty, George Street, Oxford or remotely via Teams
How does it work?
After a brief training session on advanced Google searches, you will work individually or in small groups to identify research resources (databases, archives, websites, etc.) on a particular aspect of LGBTQ+ history. You will create brief descriptions for each resource which will then be added to the LibGuide in the course of 2024/5. We expect to spend up to 2 hours on the Hackathon with a tea/coffee break in between – and will celebrate our joint achievement at a drinks’ reception!
You will be able to join in person in the History Faculty, George St, or remotely via Teams. You will need to register to attend.
What will you get out of it?
Discover research materials for LGBTQ+ history
Learn advanced Google search from a professional librarian
Network with other researchers
Join a community-led project to create an online guide for LGBTQ+ history
What do you need?
An interest in, knowledge of and enthusiasm in LGBTQ+ resources, esp. for historical study.
If dialling in from remote: computer with Teams or Zoom, camera and microphone
Historians, do you want to know what fantastic resources are available in Oxford? Do you need to improve or speed up your research method to find sources? Have you struggled to find anything in online newspapers? Is managing citations like herding cats? Do you want to explore the use of AI for information searching? Do you need or want to publish your research as Open Access but don’t know how to?
We can help you with all of these. See the list of courses on offer this term:
FINDING SOURCES & RESOURCES
Introduction to Online Resources for Historians: Show & Tell (Bodleian iSkills) – Tues 15 Oct 2024 (week 1) @ 10am-12pm – via Teams Book your place
Data sources for research – discovery, access and use – Tues 22 Oct 2024 (week 2) 2-4pm – in person Book your place
*New* Using AI for Research: Finding, Analysing, and Sharing Information Sources (Bodleian iSkills) Wed 23 Oct 2024 (week 2) @ 10am-12pm – via Teams Book your place
Newspapers & other online news sources from the 17th-20th centuries (Bodleian iSkills) – Tues 12 Nov 2024 (week 5) @ 2-3.30pm Book your place
*New* Drop-in: Exploring Bibliography of British & Irish History – Historical Abstracts Wed 13 Nov 2024 (week 5) @12.30-1.15pm. Join via Teams (Oxford members only)
Discovering archives and modern manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries (Bodleian iSkills) – Thurs. 14 Nov 2024 (week 5) @ 10-11.30am – In person Book your place
Presentation on the UN Archives Genva Platform (League of Nations Archive) (Bodleian iSkills) – Thurs 21 Nov 2024 (week 6) @ 12-1pm – Teams Book your place
Confidential Print & Foreign Office files: Sources for C19th & 20th studies (Bodleian iSkills) – Tues 26 Nov 2024 (week 7) @ 12-1pm – TeamsBook your place
photo (c) John Cairns
MANAGING YOUR CITATIONS using reference management software
As you collect your references from catalogues, databases and websites, reference management software can be really helpful to export them into a single place, structure them, export them in a chosen citation style and, via a plugin, insert the citations into your writing. It’s best to learn about these tools as early as possible. If you don’t know which software to use, check out our comparison tables.
Learn about online palaeography tutorials, creating maps using GIS software, training offered by the Institute of Historical Research (IHR) and The National Archives and more > Research training for Historians.
The Radcliffe Camera (incl. History Faculty Library) will be holding welcome tours for new students during 0th Week and 1st Week. The tours will introduce you to the library spaces and services, and talk in a little more detail about the collections in the Camera and Gladstone Link, particularly the collections of the History Faculty Library.
The tours will take place at the times below. No booking is required and the meeting point will be in the Lower Camera reading room on the ground floor. Just ask staff to direct you should you need help.
As of the start of October, we at the Radcliffe Camera History Faculty Library are celebrating Black History Month! The theme for this year is “Reclaiming Narratives,” which aims to highlight underexplored aspects of black history and experience, as well as encouraging aspects of global history to be examined and told by members of the black community through their perspectives. Another goal of this theme, as mentioned by the official UK Black History Month organisation, is to honour the work of black people throughout history with accomplishments in fields such as the arts, sciences, law, and of everyday life, the “unsung heroes.” In accordance with this, we have curated a collection of History Faculty Library material in the Gladstone Link to suit this theme, as well as an array of online material which will be linked below.
Our online collections can be accessed via SOLO with a Single-Sign-On Oxford University Login, as well as from our reader PCs and Bodleian WIFI network within the library for Bodleian card holders. If you are a member of the university and would like to access our online collections remotely, then please check out our remote access service (note that this service is not available to external readers.)
Click on the images to be directed to the SOLO record for each resource!
Oxford University will be running a series of events and lectures during this month, which you can find through this link. In addition to this list, Kellogg College will be hosting its annual Black History Month lecture on the 15th of October, which you can find details for here.
With the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics having drawn to a close and the 17th Summer Paralympic Games beginning on 26th August, there is still time to check out our History of Sport display in the Upper Gladstone Link.
As well as the physical books on our display, the Bodleian Libraries have a number of e-books and e-resources covering sporting history. 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 access the record.
For more e-resources, including the Paralympic Archive, check out our Disability History LibGuide under the heading ‘Sport’. The Bodleian also holds the archive of athlete and neurologist Sir Roger Bannister (1929-2018), and you can view the catalogue online at Bodleian Archives and Manuscripts.
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Are you interested in LGBTQ+ history? Do you want to be part of an informal collective research effort?
