I am pleased to report that the Vere Harmsworth Library has organised trial access to the Newsbank/Readex database LGBTQ+ Life in America. This trial will run from the 28th January until the 28th February 2026.
Sourced from more than 16,000 American and global news publications, this resource provides insights into the reporting and voices of LGBTQ+ communities. Coverage begins from the earliest representations in American and global news up to the modern day. This includes historic coverage which may be difficult to identify due to the use of veiled language or media biases. Coverage starts from the 19th Century up to the present period.
Sources are full-text searchable and can be categorised by era, or researchers can use the Suggested Searches to find popular topics. These list some of the key events/themes/figures from each time period, providing a helpful overview for users who may not be familiar with the wider historical context.
The new selection of titles for the Alain Locke Collection are now available and on display in the Vere Harmsworth Library!
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.
A selection of some of the book covers from the January 2026 intake.
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).
Our latest book display presents a range of books from our collections which explore how the consumption and production of food in the US interact with various social and political issues, today and throughout history.
The library team has also suggested a range of online resources for those interested in delving deeper into food studies. The Food and Foodways Web Archive is a selection of food-related websites archived by the Library of Congress. Civil Eats is a news site covering the politics of the American food system, with an emphasis on social justice and sustainability. The Conrad N. Hilton Library lists a range of open access digital collections on food history, with a focus on historical menus, recipes and cookery books, and the UC Berkley library suggests a broad range of online archives and collections relating to diverse aspects of food studies.
The book display can be found on the ground floor of the Vere Harmsworth Library by the comfy chairs towards the back of the room. Books are labelled as loanable or for library use only, and links to ebooks are given where the Bodleian has ebook access.
If you have any questions about working in the Vere Harmsworth Library, please email vhl@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.
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