We are pleased to invite Oxford researchers to trial Mass Observation Project, 1981-2019.

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.

The trial ends 8 May 2026.

Feedback should be sent to isabel.holowaty@bodleian.ox.ac.uk or jo.gardner@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

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!

We are pleased to announce that the Bodleian Libraries currently have trial access to two new eResources:

LGBTQ+ Life in America 

Readex database LGBTQ+ Life in America is a great resource for news reports of LGBTQ+ events, figures and topics from 19^th 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 28^th February, 2026. 

You can find out more about this resource via a Vere Harmsworth Library Blog post.

Please send feedback on this resource to bethan.davies@bodleian.ox.ac.uk. 

Sex & Sexuality

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 28^th February, 2026.  

You can find out more about this resource via a History Faculty Library Blog post.

Please send feedback on this resource to isabel.holowaty@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.