This major resource provides digital access to a remarkable life-writing archive, offering a rare window into the everyday lives, thoughts and emotions of ordinary people living through the turbulent final decades of the twentieth century and the early twenty-first. More on the HFL Blog post.
Please note that during the trial, the downloading function has been disabled.
While at this stage there is no identifiable funding, your feedback is nonetheless helpful to inform priority purchases should funds become available in the future. Thank you!
Oxford researchers are warmly invited to trial Notable Individuals of British Communism, 1886-1997 via SOLO. This collection is drawn from the personal papers of a multitude of Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) activists throughout the twentieth century. This includes those at the heart of party (such as full-time “national organisers”), “full-time” CPGB activists such as Mariam Ramelson and Jack Dunman, and peripheral figures who supported the communist cause (such as Labour MP Dennis Nowell Pritt).
The works of trade unionists are featured extensively, and the papers of Peter Kerrigan and Arthur Horner shed light on the activities and campaigns of the Amalgamated Engineering Union and the Welsh Miners Federation, respectively.
The collection houses material from regions ranging from colonial Africa to war-torn Northeast Asia. The collection also hosts material related to militant activism, with biographical material concerning British volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, as well as accounts of those who fought against fascism in the Second World War.
Readex database LGBTQ+ Life in America is a great resource for news reports of LGBTQ+ events, figures and topics from 19th Century America up to the present day. Researchers can search across the sources, browse by era, or thematic searches based on key figures or events.
We will have access to this resource via SOLO (sign in with your SSO) until the 28th February, 2026.
Sex & Sexuality is an Adam Matthew online resource providing access to key archival material related to human sexuality from leading archives across the world. It will be useful to students and researchers in gender / sexuality studies, history, sociology, anthropology, and medicine.
We will have access to this resource via SOLO (sign in with your SSO) until the 28th February, 2026.
View our collection of specialist films and documentaries for free!
Our DVD & Video collection covers topics in Forced Migration, Development Studies, Anthropology, Politics, History and more …
All of our DVDs are loanable for readers who have borrowing rights. The video collection comprises a mix of loanable and library use only item.
You can view a film in the Social Science Library by:
Using the TV/DVD/Video player located in our Large Discussion Room (the room is bookable via our online booking system)
Borrowing our portable DVD player and connecting it to a library PC or your own device
To search for a particular title, enter the title into the SOLO search bar. If the film is available, it will display with a video icon. Select ‘Find & Request’ to view the location information.
To browse a topic, enter your keywords into the SOLO search bar.
Use the filters on the left of the screen to set the Resource Type to ‘Video.’ To see films that are in the SSL, use the Library filter.
BFI Player offers free shorts and features from the British Film Institute’s national and regional archive. An Oxford Single-Sign-On (SSO) is not required.
BoB (Box of Broadcasts)is an on demand TV and radio service for education. It allows staff and students to search an archive of over 2 million broadcasts. Content includes BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four, ITV, Channel 4, Film4, 10 foreign language channels, and more.
Kanopy is a video streaming platform dedicated to thoughtful and thought-provoking films. Founded in 2008, it was established to provide academic institutions with essential films that foster learning and conversation
BBC Monitoring was founded in 1939 at the start of WWII. Its purpose was to listen to radio broadcasts and gather open-source intelligence to help Britain and its allies understand global dynamics and assess emerging global threats, and it has continued to do so. This new eResource is an online archive of the original daily reports, including commentary and evaluation by subject experts, as well as synopses and specialist briefings. Access this new online archive via SOLO.
This collection complements our existing subscription to BBC Monitoringwhich provides access to the broader BBC Monitoring service and current content.
Each month we choose an electronic resource which we feel will be of interest to you.
Our Resource of the Month for December is a database from East View, Russian Military and Security Periodicals. Use this database to read and cross-search dozens of Russian military journals, whether privately owned or government-sponsored. Some journal holdings contain issues from the 1990s, affording longitudinal analyses.
Resource Overview
Journals and newspapers on Russia’s military industries, sciences and infrastructures may not sound like appealing reading – but sadly the Russian Federation’s aggression in Ukraine makes them a source analysts cannot afford to ignore. Periodicals like Kryl’ia Rodiny [Wings of the motherland] and Voprosy Zashchity Informatsii [Questions of the Defence of Information] offer crucial insights into Russia’s extensive military establishments. Readers may find their content distressing and disturbing: please approach this database with caution and self-care.
Where can you access the resource
This resource can be accessed via SOLO. A Single-Sign-On (SSO) is required to access the titles remotely, as they are restricted to Oxford University students and staff members.
Founded in 1949 at Yale University, the eHRAF World Cultures database allows cross-cultural comparison of global societies. Using the Murdock’s ”Outline of Cultural Materials’ ethnographic data is indexed at the paragraph level. Over 360 cultures are included, from over 1 million pages of source material.
The Human Relations Area Files, Inc. (HRAF) is an internationally recognized organization in the field of cultural anthropology. The mission of HRAF is to encourage and facilitate worldwide comparative studies of human behaviour, society, and culture. HRAF is a financially autonomous research agency of Yale University
A Single-Sign-On (SSO) is required this database remotely, as it is restricted to Oxford University students and staff members.
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