Tag Archives: ebooks

Historical Musicals Display!

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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:

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

And for our ebook selection:

Titanic
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

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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.

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 "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 "Not Straight, Not White: Gay Black Men from the March on Washington to the AIDs Crisis" by K. J. Mumford featuring white text on a black background with a photograph of a man standing with his back to the viewer.
Book cover for "Female Homosexuality in Ancient Greece and Rome" by S. Boehringer featuring a painting of three young women
Book cover for "The Libertine's Friend: Homosexuality & Masculinity in Late Imperial China" by G. Vitello featuring an ink illustration of two men in a forest
Book cover for "Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture and the Making of the Gay Male World 1890-1940" by G. Chauncey featuring an illustration of two men in suits wearing top hats and smoking sigars on a pastel yellow background darkened in the corners to convery illumination.
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.
Book cover for "Emerging Lesbian Voices from Japan" by S. Chalmers featuring a kanji character on a teal background
Book cover for "TransAntiquity: Cross-dressing and Transgender Dynamics in the Anicent World" It features a photograph of a relief wall carving of four figures on a black and blue background.

Mental Health Awareness Week

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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.

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.)

Earth Day

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Banner with a logo reading: "Earthday.org." The background is a digital drawing of a sunset over the ocean.

To raise awareness about the ecological impact of human activity, Earth Day has been held every April 22nd since 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.

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 "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
Book cover for "Environmental thought in The Greco-Roman World" O. D. Cordovana featuring a mosaic of a griffin/chimera
Book cover for "Colonial Seeds in African Soil: A Critical History of Forest Conservation in Sierra Leone" featuring a black and white photograph of a boy in a forested landscape.
Book cover for "Civilizing Nature: National Parks in Global Historical Perspective" by B. Gissibl, S. Hohler and P. Kupper featuring a photograph of a Rhino being airlifted in a grassy landscape.
Book cover for "The Ends of the Earth" edited by D. Worster, featuring a block colour print-style illustration of a fisherman in front of a lake set in front of mountains on a yellow background.
Book cover for "An Environmental History of Australian Rainforests Until 1939" by W. Frost, featuring green repeating floral patterns.
Book cover for "Toxic City: Redevelopment and Environmental Justice in San Fransisco" by L. Dillon, featuring a photograph of a powerplant against the sky.
Banner with a logo reading: "Earthday.org." The background is a digital drawing of a sunrise over the ocean.

Women’s History Month

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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.
Book cover for " Berthe Morisot's Images of Women " by Anne Higonnet. Includes self-portrait of the artist in a yellow dress, the image is surrounded by a blue background.
Book cover for "Tamara de Lempicka" by Patrick Bade. The cover includes the painting by the artist titled " The green Turban" which depicts two women leaning against one another.
Book cover of " Mary Cassatt : a life" by Nancy Mowll Mathews. The cover includes a self-portrait of the artist in a white dress lounging against a sofa with a beige background.
Book cover of "Modern women artists in the Nordic countries, 1900-1960" by Kerry Greaves. It includes an abstract experssionist painting in various jewel tones and alternating white and burgandy text and background beneath the painting.
Book cover for " Sturtevant : Warhol Marilyn" by Patricia Lee. The cover includes the famous portrait of Marilyn on a white background with black text.
Book cover for "Women artists of the harlem renaissance" edited by Helen Hirschke. It features an art noveau- style figure in black and white with text above in ombres of red and black.

LGBT+ History Month 2025

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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.

Our physical display includes:

  1. Black on Both Sides : A Racial History of Trans Identity by C. Riley Snorton.
  2. Re-Dressing: America’s Frontier Past by Peter Boag.
  3. Daring Hearts : Lesbian and Gay Lives of 50s and 60s Brighton by The Brighton Ourstory Project.
  4. Male Colors : The Construction of Homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan by Gary P. Leupp.
  5. Masculinity, Class and Same-sex Desire in Industrial England, 1895-1957 by Helen Smith.
  6. Islamicate Sexualities : Translations Across Temporal Geographies of Desire, edited by Kathryn Babayan and Afsaneh Najmabadi.
  7. Female Masculinity by Jack Halberstam.
  8. The Pink Triangle by Richard Plant.
  9. True Sex : The Lives of Trans Men at the Turn of the Twentieth Century by Emily Skidmore.
  10. Autobiography of an Androgyne by Ralph Werther/Earl Lind, edited by Scott Herring.
  11. Intimate Friends : Women Who Loved Women, 1778-1928 by Martha Vicinus.
  12. Histories of the Transgender Child by Jules Gill-Peterson.
  13. Gay Life and Culture : A World History by Robert Aldrich.
  14. Good as You by Paul Flynn.
  15. It’s Not Unusual: A History of Lesbian and Gay Britain in the Twentieth Century by Alkarim Jivani.
  16. Out on Stage by Alan Sinfield.

History of Writing

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Banner reading "History of Writing" in black text over a light grey background. In the background, there are illustrations in white depicting: a lighthouse with a wave next to it, a bouquet of violets, and a manor surrounded by blighted trees and framed by heather flowers and buds.

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.

Book cover for "Virginia Woolf in context" edited by Bryony Randall. Cover includes a sketch of Virginia Woolf in the background.
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Book cover for "Tolkien the medievalist" edited by Jane Chance. Cover depicts a medieval manuscript style ink illustration of a procession of people walking over a precarious bridge with dismembered bodies in the water below.
Book cover for "Routledge Handbook of Ancient, Classical and Late Classical Persian Literature" Photograph on cover depicts architecture with a dome and columns behind a canal.
Book cover for "J. D. Salinger's The catcher in the rye : a cultural history" by Josef Benson. Background depicts a photograph of carousel horses edited in red.
Book cover for "East of Delhi: Multilingual Literary Culture and World Literature" by Francesca Orsini. Gold text on a burgundy background.
Book cover for "Bleak houses : marital violence in Victorian fiction" by Lisa Surridge. Illustration depicts a sketch of a man holding a sword while throwing a newspaper at a woman on the floor in bandages.
Book cover of 'A history of Chinese literature' by Zhang Longxi, with an illustration of trees and mountains done in ink.
Book cover for "A Historical Guide to Edgar Allan Poe" edited by J. Gerald Kennedy. Depicts an illustration of a woman lying in a bed with flowers.
Banner reading "History of Writing" in black text over a light grey background. In the background, there are illustrations in white depicting: a raven on a branch with twigs and branches in the background and a dragon on a pile of sparkling treasure including goblets, crowns and jewels.

Disability History Month

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Banner with a gold background with "Disability History." written in black in the middle. The background is decorated with black and white triangles in shadow and reflection patterns

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.

Photograph of the Disability History Month display in the Gladstone Link of the Radcliffe Camera, 12 books and 3 posters.

Banner with a gold background with "Online Resources." written in black in the middle. The background is decorated with black and white triangles in shadow and reflection patterns

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.

  Work requirements : race, disability, and the print culture of social welfare by Todd CarmodyNo Right to Be Idle : The Invention of Disability, 1840's to 1930's by Sarah F. Rose

Global histories of disability, 1700-2015 : power, place and people by Esmee Cleall Blind in early modern Japan : disability, medicine, and identity by Wei Yu Wayne Tan

Black disability politics by Sami Schalk Curating access : disability art activism and creative accommodation by Amanda Cachia

Out of the Horrors of War : Disability Politics in World War II America by Audra Jennings Disability and labour in the twentieth century historical and comparative perspectives by Radu Harald Dinu and Staffan Bengtsson

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.

Banner with a gold background decorated with black and white triangles in shadow and reflection patterns

 

 

 

Black History Month

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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. 

History of Sport

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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. 

A book display on the history of sport. Titles displayed (left to right): Laduma! : soccer, politics and society in South Africa; Sports in American life : a history; City games : the evolution of American society and the rise of sports; Women, sport and modernity in interwar Britain; The FIFA World Cup, 1930-2010; The game of our lives; Marrow of the nation : a history of sport and physical culture in Republican China; Scoring for Britain; The changing politics of sport; And the sun shines now; Sports in world history; Sport and politics in modern Britain; A social history of English rowing; Sport under Communism

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.

The international journal of the history of sportSwimming against the tide : true story of para swimmer Madhavi Latha by Madhavi Latha PrathigudupuRoutledge handbook of sport history The History of Women's Football by Jean Williams Athlete first : a history of the paralympic movement by Steve BaileyHow Football Began by Tony Collins Games people played : a global history of sport by Wray VamplewMore than medals : a history of the Paralympics and disability sports in postwar Japan by Dennis J. Frost

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.