Our latest book display focuses on space flight, an area of our collection which many readers may not have explored, but which has a prominent place in 20th century US history.
On 12th April, the International Day of Human Space Flight marks the anniversary of the first human space flight in 1961 by Yuri Gargarin. This was a key moment in the Space Race, the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to develop their space flight technologies amidst the tensions of the Cold War. The Soviet Union were the first to hit many of the milestones in this race, including the first human space flight as mentioned, but the US programme was the first to successfully land humans on the moon.
As well as books within the Vere Harmsworth Library’s collection, the display highlights online resources that may be of interest. One great place to start is the history pages on NASA’s website, where a wide range of reports, articles, primary documents, bibliographies, timelines, biographies and more can be found. For those interested in the early stages of the Space Race, the Library of Congress’s research guide, Sputnik and the Space Race : 1957 and beyond links to some well-selected articles and online collections of primary source documents.
The book display can be found on the ground floor on the left hand side, near the armchairs and low table. Many of these books can be loaned out, and some are also available as ebooks via SOLO.
Please be aware of the following updates as we move into the Easter Vacation.
Opening Hours
From Monday 17th March 2025, the Vere Harmsworth Library and the RAI Building will have the following opening hours:
Monday – Friday 9am – 7pm
Saturday – Sunday CLOSED
The Library will be closed on the bank holidays Friday 18th April and Monday 21st April. Normal term-time opening hours will resume on Tuesday 22nd April 2025.
Please check the VHL website for updates and upcoming closure periods.
Vacation Loans
Vacation loans are now in place across the Bodleian Libraries. Books checked out will not need to be returned until Tuesday 29th April. You may return your book before that time if you wish.
Please note that this does not apply to self-collect books, which will need to renewed every seven days as normal.
Our new book display explores the life and work of scholar, writer and political activist Angela Davis.
Davis has worked and campaigned over several decades for racial and gender equality, and wider social justice. She was a co-founder of Critical Resistance, an organisation working to dismantle the prison industrial complex, and was a longstanding member of the Communist Party USA, even running twice as their vice-presidential candidate in the 1980s. She was also a member of the Black Panther Party. Her academic work focuses on feminist and Marxist philosophy, critical theory, punishment and imprisonment, and African American studies. She is perhaps best known for her incarceration in 1970 and the “Free Angela Davis” movement that campaigned for her release until her acquittal in 1972.
The book display can be found on the ground floor on the left hand side, near the armchairs and low table. Many of these books can be loaned out, and some are also available as ebooks via SOLO.
Readers may be interested in the following ebooks:
The new selection of titles for the Alain Locke Collection are now available and on display in the Vere Harmsworth Library!
Alain Locke Display, taken January 2025
Readers will be able to see the new selections on the Ground Floor of the Library. This area, as part of our agreement with the Association of American Rhodes Scholars (AARS), will be dedicated to displaying and promoting the Collection.
With the kind agreement of the AARS, two collection intakes will be taken each year, totalling $10,000 worth of books per year.
In spring 2021, the VHL and RAI agreed to create the Alain Locke Collection with support from the AARS. Named after the first African American Rhodes Scholar, the collection aims to focus on research monographs in the areas of African American history, politics, biography and culture, alongside notable gaps in material not produced by commercial publishers.
The Bodleian is committed to providing students and researchers with world class access to resources to enable them to fulfil their scholarly ambitions. We are therefore hugely grateful to the AARS for pledging a gift of $25,000 over five years supporting the Alain Locke Collection. This supports our intention for the VHL to become a leading centre for the study of African American history, politics, and culture.
The establishment of the Alain Locke Collection will allow the VHL to expand the purchase of African American focused research monographs, without affecting expenditure on other research areas. It will build on the VHL’s current holdings and run alongside the continued intake of research monographs via the legal deposit agreements and e-book packages. It will allow the VHL to identify and address potential gaps in some of the older materials. Most significantly, it will demonstrate our commitment to representing African American history and culture within our collections.
Current students and researchers can recommend titles to be purchased for the Alain Locke Collection by contacting the Vere Harmsworth Librarian (bethan.davies@bodleian.ox.ac.uk).
If you have any further questions about the Alain Locke Collection, or the display, please contact Bethan Davies. To find out more about supporting the Vere Harmsworth Library and the Alain Locke collection please contact the Vere Harmsworth Library (vhl@bodleian.ox.ac.uk).
Alongside our current Martin Luther King Jr. book display, we are now displaying a selection of items from the Philip and Rosamund Davies U.S. Election Campaigns Archive which relate in a variety of ways to King’s life, work and legacy.
Central to the display is a magazine commemorating the campaign of Robert F. Kennedy, who was himself assassinated in 1968, two months after King, while running for the Democratic presidential nomination. In this magazine, visitors to the library can read Kennedy’s famous speech given in the immediate aftermath of the news of King’s assassination.
Robert “Bobby” Kennedy features again in a selection of campaign badges – his reads “Sock it to ’em Bobby”. It can be seen alongside one for Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1964 campaign; King himself supported Johnson’s campaign, and Johnson would go on to sign the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968. The selection is completed by three badges from Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign which make the longevity of King’s legacy clear by creating a direct connection between King and Obama.
Finally, looking at the wider context of the civil rights movement, we have on display a pamphlet produced by Henry Winston, another African American political leader and activist, entitled Negro-White Unity.
About the US Elections Campaign Archive
The Philip and Rosamund Davies U.S. Elections Campaigns Archive is an actively growing collection of campaign ephemera from American elections at all levels (National, State, Local). The Archive covers the 19th Century up to and including our current period, but the majority dates from the late 20th Century onwards. Materials include Includes buttons, posters, leaflets, stickers, t-shirts & hats, to more unique items: dolls, jewellery, shoes, bars of soap, playing cards, artwork & commemorative plates!
Negro-White Unity by Henry Winston, (New Outlook Publishers, 1967) (MS. 21407/204)
Henry Winston was an African American political leader and Marxist activist. Winston was actively involved in campaigning for African American Civil Rights in the 1940s and 50s, before the mainstream movement began. Winston was imprisoned from 1956-61 because of his involvement with the Communist Party. His imprisonment was seen as controversial due to his declining health and Winston eventually went blind due to inadequate treatment whilst in prison. This pamphlet was produced after Winston had left prison and had become the Communist Party USA Chairman. A digitised version of this leaflet is available via the American Left Ephemera Collection, University of Pittsburgh Digital Collections (https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt:31735061655746)
Robert F. Kennedy: The last campaign (Award Books, 1968) (MSS. Amer. s. 33 / 1 / 1)
Robert “Bobby” Kennedy was the attorney general of his brother John F. Kennedy’s administration in 1961-64. During that time, both Kennedys witnessed the growing civil rights movement, and the growth of King as a civil rights leader. In 1968, Bobby was running for the Democrat candidate, when the news of King’s assassination came through. The pages here show quotations from Bobby Kennedy’s speech in immediate response to the news, and shows his attendance at King’s funeral. This magazine was created to commemorate Bobby Kennedy’s final campaign, as he would also be assassinated two months after King.
Badges
Lyndon B. Johnson, Democrat Candidate, 1964 (MSS. Amer. s. 33 / 50)
Lyndon B. Johnson became the president after the Kennedy assassination. Partially in memory of John F. Kennedy, Johnson worked hard to get the 1964 Civil Rights Act through Congress. King was present when Johnson signed the Act into law.
Robert (Bobby) Kennedy, Democrat Candidate, 1968 (MSS. Amer. s. 33 / 50)
The badges chosen here (during the main campaign and in the run up to the 2009 inauguration) create a direct connection with Obama and Martin Luther King. Notably, one badge alters the famous picture of King with Malcolm X, taken in 1964.
Books by or including Dr King from the Vere Harmsworth collections
Stride toward freedom: The Montgomery story (Harpers & Brothers, 1958)
King’s first memoir discussed the events of the Montgomery bus boycott, which famously involved fellow activist Rosa Parks. King discusses the racial conditions before, during and after the boycott, the role of local activists and the importance of a non-violent approach. Later editions are also available in the Vere Harmsworth Library.
The Negro Protest: James Baldwin, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King talk with Kenneth B. Clark (Beacon Press, 1963)
Kenneth Clark was a psychologist. His famous work with his wife Marnie Clark involving children and dolls of different races was influential in the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling. This book is the text from Clark’s televised interviews with the three leading African American leaders of their time, and showcases the changing movement and different approaches, especially between King and Malcolm X. An ebook version is available via SOLO.
Strength to Love (Hodder & Stoughton, 1964)
King’s second book, originally published in 1963, contains King’s most well known and loved homilies. It enhanced King’s identity and his religious views, especially among the white audience. The version on display is the first UK edition, published in 1964. An ebook version of a later edition is available via SOLO.
Why we can’t wait (Harper & Rowe, 1964)
King’s third book, it tells the story of African American activism in the spring and summer of 1963. It also argues against the gradualist approach to Civil Rights.
Where do we go from here: chaos or community? (Bantam Books, 1968)
King’s last published work, the book was an analysis of the current state of the civil rights movement in 1968, and the state of American race relations. Post the Civil Rights Act, King was focused on improving the wages and living conditions of African Americans. This specific edition was published after King’s assassination, and includes a foreword by King’s widow, Coretta Scott King. An ebook version of a later edition is available via SOLO.
You can find out more about King’s works at The Martin Luther King Research & Education Institute at Stanford University: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/
Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a US federal holiday honouring King and the impact he had in advancing civil rights in the United States, falls this year on Monday 20th January. To mark this occasion, the Vere Harmsworth Library has created a book display highlighting some of the resources in our collection which relate to King and his legacy.
The book display can be found on the ground floor on the left hand side, near the armchairs and low table. Many of these books can be loaned out, and some are also available as ebooks via SOLO.
To find out more about using the Vere Harmsworth Library collections please contact the Vere Harmsworth Library (vhl@bodleian.ox.ac.uk).
Please be aware of the following updates as we move into the Winter Vacation.
Opening Hours
From 9th December 2024, the Vere Harmsworth Library and the RAI Building will have the following opening hours:
Monday – Friday 9am – 7pm
Saturday – Sunday CLOSED
The Library will close for Christmas at 5pm on Friday 20th December, and reopen at 9am on Thursday 2nd January.
Please check the VHL website for updates and upcoming closure periods.
Vacation Loans
Vacation loans are now in place across the Bodleian Libraries. Books checked out will not need to be returned until Tuesday 21st January. You may return your book before that time if you wish.
Please note that this does not apply to self-collect books, which will need to renewed every seven days as normal.
We hope you have a lovely break and enjoy the holiday season!
If you have any further questions about working in the Vere Harmsworth Library or borrowing items, please ask at the Information Desk, or email vhl@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.
The VHL will be closing at 6pm on the Thursday of 8th Week (5th December, 2024). This means we will be closing one hour earlier than our usual Term hours.
This is because of a private event which will be held in the Rothermere American Institute (RAI) building.
Group Study Rooms will only be bookable on the online system up to 6pm.
With the US presidential election fast approaching, we are exhibiting a selection of materials from the Philip and Rosamund Davies US Elections Campaign Archive.
On display are an exciting range of election ephemera from the past two hundred years. Alongside badges produced by the Trump and Harris campaigns, readers can view Rock the Vote’s leaflet encouraging young people to vote in the 1990s, election guides produced by the League of Women Voters in the 1920s and 1960s, the Illustrated London News’ outraged sketch of fraudulent voters in the 1870s, and a book about the importance of voting written for the American Sunday School Union from the 1820s.
Readers can view the exhibited materials in the display cabinet on the ground floor, next to our current book display on US presidential elections.
The items chosen for the current display constitute a small part of the Philip and Rosamund Davies US Elections Campaign Archive, an actively growing collection of campaign ephemera from American elections at all levels (National, State, Local). The Archive covers the 19th Century up to and including our current period, but the majority dates from the late 20th Century onwards. Materials include buttons, posters, leaflets, stickers, t-shirts & hats, as well as more unique items such as dolls, jewellery, shoes, bars of soap, playing cards, artwork & commemorative plates! Readers wishing to view items from the archive should contact the Vere Harmsworth Library at vhl@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.
Full details of items on display:
Election Day, written for the American Sunday School Union, and Revised by the Committee of Publication (1820s)
Uncatalogued (post-2020 intake)
The American Sunday School Union was an inter-denominational organisation, originally founded in 1817, to establish Sunday schools of any denominational faith. It commissioned authors, often anonymous, to create stories on American subjects and settings, with the stated goal of creating literature of good “moral character” for children, at low cost. This book shows the process of three young men voting in an election, and discusses the civic importance of taking part in the election. The image in the front of the book shows local people waiting to vote. (An ebook version of this book is available online here through HathiTrust).
The Illustrated London News, 9 Dec 1876, sketch depicting fraudulent voters in the Presidential election in custody, New York
MS. 21407/188
This front image is taken of inside the Post Office Building, one of the polling centres in New York for the 1876 election between Tilden and Hayes. The Chief Supervisor of Elections, John Davenport, reportedly held those suspected of fraudulent voting within the above “cage”. Davenport’s methods were criticised and he was accused of committing election fraud for the Republican Party. The London News had a scathing comment on the proceedings: “it will scarcely tempt the subjects of our gracious Queen to envy the political liberties of the American Republic” (p.6). (An online version of this issue is available here, requiring a single sign on login).
Registration Information and a Guide to the Presidential elections, Massachusetts League of Women Voters (1920)
MS. 21407/191
The League of Women Voters was organised in 1920, a few months before the ratification of the 19th Amendment. The League was originally formed within the National American Women’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA), and many local suffrage groups were the basis for local Leagues of Women Voters. This was also the case for the Massachusetts League, which became particularly strong in Boston. The League produced non-partisan guidance for women on the election process, candidates and how to vote, even staging mock voting polls to guide women. (see Woods, “Women Take the Ballot Seriously”: Boston Women in the 1920 Election, National Park Service Blogpost).
Choosing the President, League of Women Voters, 1968
MS. 21407/191
This guide follows a similar template to the 1920 guide, but was produced on a national scale. The League created guides for each election to support its members. Viewing each guide shows how the electoral process has changed (or stayed the same), as well as the concerns of female voters. (An online version of this guide is available here.)
“Broom-Hilda says you’re never too far away to vote absentee” by Russell Myers, printed by the United States Department of Defence (1979)
MSS. Amer. s. 33 / 43 / 3
Broom-Hilda is a popular comic strip witch, created by Russel Myers, and distributed by the Chicago Tribune Syndicate. The character first appeared in April 1970. This poster was printed by the Department of Defence to encourage absentee voting among the military forces. Collecting votes from soldiers on active duty had always been difficult, and legislation to improve this began in the mid-20th Century, partly in reaction to issues encountered in WW2.
“You don’t let other people choose your music. Why let them choose your future?” Rock the Vote leaflet and sticker (1997)
MSS. Amer. s. 33 / 43 / 1
Rock the Vote is a nonpartisan organisation aiming to encourage young people (18-24) to vote and actively participate in the election process. It was founded in 1990 as a joint venture between music artists, executives and political activists, and co-founded by Jeff Ayeroff (former Virgin Records US co-chair). Its first campaign was against censorship, in response to movements to add warning labels to music with explicit content. Rock the Vote continues to be active to this today.
The Vere Harmsworth Library has set up a book display highlighting titles in our collection which relate to US presidential elections.
The US presidential election book display at the VHL.
The book display can be found on the ground floor on the left hand side, near the armchairs and low table. Readers are able, and indeed encouraged, to read and borrow these books as normal, and several of the selected titles are also available electronically through SOLO.
The books chosen for the display cover a range of subjects including voting rights, presidential campaigning, polling, and the workings of the electoral process.
The book display will be changed over in November to a new theme.
To find out more about using the Vere Harmsworth Library collections please contact the Vere Harmsworth Library (vhl@bodleian.ox.ac.uk).
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