Update: Early closure of library on 5th December 2024

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.

Normal Term time opening hours will be in place for the rest of Week 8. We will then move into our Vacation opening hours on Monday 9th December (Week 9). Please check our website for further information on opening hours.

If you have any questions about using the library, please contact bethan.davies@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

New titles in the Alain Locke Collection! Summer 2024 intake

The new selection of titles for the Alain Locke Collection are now available and on display in the Vere Harmsworth Library!

Four shelves of books under a sign saying Alain Locke Collection.

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.

Decorative book covers.

A selection of book covers from our August 2024 intake.

You can see above a selection of some of the titles that have been selected. You can view the full list here and you can view all selected Alain Locke Collection titles here.

About the collection

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).

 

Update: Microfilm Reader Service

The Vere Harmsworth digital Microfilm Reader will be unavailable for this week (week beginning 26th August, 2024) whilst we move the Reader to a new computer system.

Moving to a new computer system will improve usability of the reader, and allow for more regular security and software updates.

Changing over to a new computer will require set up and re-installation of the new software. We advise readers to allow for some time for library staff to become familiar with the new system.

Readers may like to consider using the digital microfilm reader in the Old Bodleian if they wish to consult microfilm/fiche/card material from offsite storage.

If readers wish to consult microfilm/fiche material from the Vere Harmsworth Collections, please contact the Subject Librarian (bethan.davies@bodleian.ox.ac.uk) in the first instance.

Many thanks for your patience whilst we work to improve our services.

 To find out more about using the Vere Harmsworth Library collections please contact the Vere Harmsworth Library (vhl@bodleian.ox.ac.uk).

New! Online Resources: Gender and Sexuality, Slavery and Antislavery, and Disability Histories!

Bodleian Readers now have access to three new databases, which build on and expand our collections in three key areas: gender and sexuality, slavery and disability histories.

These three databases are part of a broader purchase of online resources. In line with the Bodleian Libraries’ strategy (pdf) to enhance our collections, the Bodleian Libraries committed substantial funding to a set of purchases of electronic research resources deemed to be important to researchers in the University. The below three have been highlighted as being of interest to Americanists.

You can find out more about all purchases made on the History Faculty Library blog.

Slavery and Antislavery: A Transnational Archive: Part III: The Institution of Slavery

Decorative image of Dred Scott. Caption of image reads: Portrait of Dred Scott (1795-1858) by an unknown artist. Dred Scott was a slave who sued for his and his family's freedom after having lived with their owner in several free states in the 1830s. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Scott, claiming that as a slave, he was not a citizen of the United States and therefore his case could not be heard before a federal court.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Institution of Slavery module explores, in vivid detail, the inner workings of slavery from 1492 to 1888. This compliments our existing collection Part II: Slave Trade in the Atlantic World. Includes:

  • Papers and diaries of slave owners, traders and pro-slavery advocates.
  • Papers of key political figures and families, such as US Attorney General and governor of Kentucky John J. Crittenden, and Massachusetts state senator, U.S. Representative from Massachusetts, and U.S. attorney Caleb Cushing.
  • Court records related to the case of Dred Scott, and personal papers of the Blair family, who were involved in Scott’s council during the trial.
  • court cases, petitions and legislation related to slavery from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
  • Records related to East Florida (1737-1858) in English and Spanish, including resources related to slavery.
  • Senate Select Committee papers into John Brown’s raid of Harper’s Ferry (1859).
  • Slave narratives from the Federal Writer’s Project, collected and published in the 1930s.
  • …alongside records related to the institution of slavery in British North America and the Caribbean.

History of Disabilities: Disabilities in Society, Seventeenth to Twentieth Century

Decorative image of books. Caption underneath reads: Books from Special Collection S.32.A. (Feeble-minded, Mental Deficiency, et al) of the New York Academy of Medicine Library. Photo by Philip Virta, 2021.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disabilities in Society, Seventeenth to Twentieth Century presents monographs (books), manuscripts, and ephemera that provide a historical view of disabilities from the seventeenth to twentieth century. All collections in this database are sourced from the New York Academy of Medicine Library.

  • Papers of the general superintendent of the New York City Asylums from the 19th -early 20th Century, including correspondence, diaries, speeches, and involvement in key legal cases.
  • Case records, patient histories and correspondence of a 19th-early 20th Century nurologist.
  • Douglas C. McMurtrie Cripples Collection – 300 bound volumes containing approximately 3,500 separate books, pamphlets, reports, and articles on disability and the disabled (particuarly children) from the early 20th Century. This collection was established by McMurtrie, who was Directory of the Red Cross Institute for Crippled and Disabled Men. 
  • over 3,000 pamphlets from the 19th/20th Century and historical books from the Library covering disabilities, diagnosis, treatment, memoirs, reports, policy documents, advertisements and more.

Archives of Sexuality and Gender: Sex and Sexuality, Sixteenth to Twentieth Century

The Archives of Sexuality and Gender: Sex and Sexuality, Sixteenth to Twentieth Century is a collection like no other. It is made up of more than five thousand rare and unique books covering sex, sexuality, and gender issues across the sciences and humanities and throughout history. This compliments our existing collections: LGBTQ History and Culture since 1940, Parts I and II.

Two of the three libraries which make up the collections are US-based. They are:

  • New York Academy of Medicine Library – more than 1,500 books covering topics in sex, sexuality, and gender, some dating from the 16th century. Also includes records related to the court case of Mary Ware Dennett, an early 20th Century birth control and sex education advocate.
  • The Kinsey Institute for Sex Research – a collection of materials from 1700 to 1860. This is a portion of Dr. Kinsey’s original library which he used to study human sexual behavior from a variety of academic and literary viewpoints.

New! Online Resource: Black Nationalism and RAM; and Papers of Amiri Baraka 

I am pleased to report that the Vere Harmsworth Library has purchased the previously trialled databases Black Nationalism and the Revolutionary Action Movement and Papers of Amiri Baraka for Bodleian Readers.

Black Nationalism and the Revolutionary Action Movement: The Papers of Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford)

The Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) came into existence as a result of a year of organizing for student rights and involvement in the civil rights movement among a collective of undergraduate students at Central State College (now University) in late May to early June of 1962.

Originally focused in Philadelphia, RAM, engaged in voter registration/education drives, organized community support for the economic boycotts of the Philadelphia “400” ministers led by Rev. Leon Sullivan and held free African/African-American history classes at its office. RAM participated in support demonstrations of the struggles then being waged in the South to end racial segregation. It was also active in coalitions to eliminate police brutality against the African-American community.

RAM became a national organisation in 1964, organising African American students, raising the demand for Black studies and campaigning for economic, social and political equality. It also sent organisers into Southern states. RAM was the first African-American organization to denounce the US government’s war of aggression against the people of Vietnam and support the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (NLF). RAM was dissolved in 1968, following pressure from US government intelligence agencies (most noticeably the FBI) and local police forces.

This collection of RAM records reproduces the writings and statements of the RAM and its leaders. It also covers organizations that evolved from or were influenced by RAM and persons that had close ties to RAM. The most prominent organization that evolved from RAM was the African People’s Party. Organizations which worked with RAM included the NAACP, SNCC and Deacons of Defense. Organizations influenced by RAM include the Black Panther Party, League of Revolutionary Black Workers, Youth Organization for Black Unity, African Liberation Support Committee, and the Republic of New Africa. Individuals associated with RAM and documented in this collection include Robert F. Williams, Malcolm X, Amiri Baraka, General Gordon Baker Jr., Yuri Kochiyama, Donald Freeman, James and Grace Lee Boggs, Herman Ferguson, Askia Muhammad Toure (Rolland Snellings), and Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael).

You can access Black Nationalism and Revolutionary Action Movement using your Single Sign On here.

Papers of Amiri Baraka, Poet Laureate of the Black Power Movement

The collection consists of materials from the years 1913 through 1998 that document African American author and activist Amiri Baraka and were gathered by Dr. Komozi Woodard in the course of his research. The extensive documentation includes poetry, organizational records, print publications, articles, plays, speeches, personal correspondence, oral histories, as well as some personal records. The materials cover Baraka’s involvement in the politics in Newark, N.J. and in Black Power movement organizations such as the Congress of African People, the National Black Conference movement, the Black Women’s United Front. Later materials document Baraka’s increasing involvement in Marxism.

The collection has been organised into 18 series,

  • Series I: Black Arts Movement, 1961-1998
  • Series II: Black Nationalism,, 1964-1977
  • Series III: Correspondence, 1967-1973
  • Series IV: Newark (New Jersey), 1913-1980
  • Series V: Congress of African People, 1960-1976 – Organisation founded by Baraka in 1970 to advance his own vision of African cultural nationalism.
  • Series VI: National Black Conferences and National Black Assembly, 1968-1975 –Includes the 1972 Convention in Gary, Indiana, where delegates adopted the National Black Political Agenda, also known as the Gary declaration and formed the National Black Assembly (NBA).
  • Series VII: Black Women’s United Front, 1975-1976 -Formed  in 1974 by Amina Baraka (Sylvia Jones), the wife of Amiri Baraka.
  • Series VIII: Student Organization for Black Unity, 1971
  • Series IX: African Liberation Support Committee, 1973-1976
  • Series X: Revolutionary Communist League, 1974-1982 – founded by Bakara when CAP disintegrated in conflict, and reflects Baraka’s move away from nationalism to a Marxist position.
  • Series XI: African Socialism, 1973
  • Series XII: Black Marxists, 1969-1980–  includes materials on black Marxist contemporaries of Baraka, and older black Marxists such as Harry Haywood, C.L.R. James, and Odis Hyde. The series also includes files on the All African Revolutionary Party, the Black Workers Congress, and the Progressive Labor Party.
  • Series XIII: National Black United Front, 1979-1981
  • Series XIV: Miscellaneous Materials, 1978-1988
  • Series XV: Serial Publications, 1968-1984
  • Series XVI: Oral Histories, 1984-1986 –  transcripts from sixteen interviews conducted by Komozi Woodard and his assistants as part of an oral history project entitled, “The Making of Black NewArk: An Oral History of the Impact of the Freedom Movement on Newark Politics.” Most of the people interviewed were primarily local Newark activists, although there are also interviews with Baraka, Maulana Ron Karenga, and scholar John Henrik Clarke. This series of oral histories is one of the most unique and valuable parts of this collection.
  • Series XVII: Komozi Woodard’s Office Files, 1956-1986

You can access the Papers of Amari Baraka using your Single Sign On here.

Long Vacation: Opening Hours, Lending updates and more!

Please be aware of the following updates as we move into the Long Vacation.

Opening Hours 

From the 17th June 2024, the VHL and the RAI Building, will have the following opening hours:

Monday – Friday            9am – 5pm

Saturday – Sunday        CLOSED

The Library will be closed on the August Bank Holiday (Monday 26th August). 

Please check the Vere Harmsworth Library website for updates and upcoming closure periods. 

Returning Loans

If your University and Library borrowing membership is expiring during the Long Vacation, please return any library books that you still have on your account as soon as possible. If your University membership has been renewed for the next academic year, or is likely to be renewed, please contact us, as we may be able to renew your books.

If you have lost any library books, or will be unable to return the books by September 30th 2024, please contact us as soon as possible via email (vhl@bodleian.ox.ac.uk) or phone (+44 (0)1865 282700).

If you do not return your books, you may be fined for a replacement copy.

Vacation Loans

Vacation loans are now in place at the VHL. Books checked out after Monday 10th June will not need to be returned until Tuesday 15th October. You may return your book before that time if you wish.

We hope you have a lovely summer, and if you are leaving the University, we wish you all the very best in your future endeavours!

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. If you have lost one of your VHL books, email Bethan Davies, VHL Librarian at bethan.davies@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

New! Online Resource: Archives of Sexuality and Gender: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940, Part II

Decorative poster from Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives. Full citation: You Are Not Alone! n.d. TS Posters from the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives 1134;1992-077/11 N. Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives. Archives of Sexuality and Gender, Gale Document Number ITJQWI002629288

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am pleased to report that Bodleian readers now have access to Archives of Sexuality and Gender: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940, Part II. This database was kindly funded by Bloomsbury Publishing.

The Archives of Sexuality and Gender: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940, Part II provides coverage of the development, culture, and society of LGBTQ groups in the latter half of the twentieth century. It provides new perspectives on a diverse community and the wealth of resources available in the archive allow for creating connections amongst disparate materials. Oxford researchers now have access to both Part I and II of the Archives of Sexuality and Gender (see our previous blogpost for more information about Part I).

Materials were selected from the following US archives:

  • ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, University of Southern California, Los Angeles – the world’s largest repository of LGBTQ materials, primarily focused on activities in California
  • GLBT Historical Society, San Francisco, California
  • Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
  • Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
  • Lambda Archives, San Diego, California

Collections of interest to Americanists include:

Alongside the above are materials from Canadian and British based collections, alongside ephemera and publications from Mexico, giving researchers a broader geographic context.

You can access Archives of Sexuality and Gender: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940, Part II here, or via the Bodleian Libraries Database A-Z.  Note that you will need to use your Single Sign On to access this resource.

Trials: Black Nationalism and RAM; and Papers of Amiri Baraka (trial ended)

I am pleased to report that the Vere Harmsworth Library has organised trial access to Black Nationalism and the Revolutionary Action Movement and Papers of Amiri Baraka for Bodleian Readers. The trial ran until 18th February 2024 and is now finished.

Black Nationalism and the Revolutionary Action Movement: The Papers of Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford)

The Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) came into existence as a result of a year of organizing for student rights and involvement in the civil rights movement among a collective of undergraduate students at Central State College (now University) in late May to early June of 1962.

Originally focused in Philadelphia, RAM, engaged in voter registration/education drives, organized community support for the economic boycotts of the Philadelphia “400” ministers led by Rev. Leon Sullivan and held free African/African-American history classes at its office. RAM participated in support demonstrations of the struggles then being waged in the South to end racial segregation. It was also active in coalitions to eliminate police brutality against the African-American community.

RAM became a national organisation in 1964, organising African American students, raising the demand for Black studies and campaigning for economic, social and political equality. It also sent organisers into Southern states. RAM was the first African-American organization to denounce the US government’s war of aggression against the people of Vietnam and support the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (NLF). RAM was dissolved in 1968, following pressure from US government intelligence agencies (most noticeably the FBI) and local police forces.

This collection of RAM records reproduces the writings and statements of the RAM and its leaders. It also covers organizations that evolved from or were influenced by RAM and persons that had close ties to RAM. The most prominent organization that evolved from RAM was the African People’s Party. Organizations which worked with RAM included the NAACP, SNCC and Deacons of Defense. Organizations influenced by RAM include the Black Panther Party, League of Revolutionary Black Workers, Youth Organization for Black Unity, African Liberation Support Committee, and the Republic of New Africa. Individuals associated with RAM and documented in this collection include Robert F. Williams, Malcolm X, Amiri Baraka, General Gordon Baker Jr., Yuri Kochiyama, Donald Freeman, James and Grace Lee Boggs, Herman Ferguson, Askia Muhammad Toure (Rolland Snellings), and Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael).

You can access Black Nationalism and Revolutionary Action Movement using your Single Sign On here.

Papers of Amiri Baraka, Poet Laureate of the Black Power Movement

The collection consists of materials from the years 1913 through 1998 that document African American author and activist Amiri Baraka and were gathered by Dr. Komozi Woodard in the course of his research. The extensive documentation includes poetry, organizational records, print publications, articles, plays, speeches, personal correspondence, oral histories, as well as some personal records. The materials cover Baraka’s involvement in the politics in Newark, N.J. and in Black Power movement organizations such as the Congress of African People, the National Black Conference movement, the Black Women’s United Front. Later materials document Baraka’s increasing involvement in Marxism.

The collection has been organised into 18 series,

  • Series I: Black Arts Movement, 1961-1998
  • Series II: Black Nationalism,, 1964-1977
  • Series III: Correspondence, 1967-1973
  • Series IV: Newark (New Jersey), 1913-1980
  • Series V: Congress of African People, 1960-1976 – Organisation founded by Baraka in 1970 to advance his own vision of African cultural nationalism.
  • Series VI: National Black Conferences and National Black Assembly, 1968-1975 –Includes the 1972 Convention in Gary, Indiana, where delegates adopted the National Black Political Agenda, also known as the Gary declaration and formed the National Black Assembly (NBA).
  • Series VII: Black Women’s United Front, 1975-1976 -Formed  in 1974 by Amina Baraka (Sylvia Jones), the wife of Amiri Baraka.
  • Series VIII: Student Organization for Black Unity, 1971
  • Series IX: African Liberation Support Committee, 1973-1976
  • Series X: Revolutionary Communist League, 1974-1982 – founded by Bakara when CAP disintegrated in conflict, and reflects Baraka’s move away from nationalism to a Marxist position.
  • Series XI: African Socialism, 1973
  • Series XII: Black Marxists, 1969-1980–  includes materials on black Marxist contemporaries of Baraka, and older black Marxists such as Harry Haywood, C.L.R. James, and Odis Hyde. The series also includes files on the All African Revolutionary Party, the Black Workers Congress, and the Progressive Labor Party.
  • Series XIII: National Black United Front, 1979-1981
  • Series XIV: Miscellaneous Materials, 1978-1988
  • Series XV: Serial Publications, 1968-1984
  • Series XVI: Oral Histories, 1984-1986 –  transcripts from sixteen interviews conducted by Komozi Woodard and his assistants as part of an oral history project entitled, “The Making of Black NewArk: An Oral History of the Impact of the Freedom Movement on Newark Politics.” Most of the people interviewed were primarily local Newark activists, although there are also interviews with Baraka, Maulana Ron Karenga, and scholar John Henrik Clarke. This series of oral histories is one of the most unique and valuable parts of this collection.
  • Series XVII: Komozi Woodard’s Office Files, 1956-1986

You can access the Papers of Amari Baraka using your Single Sign On here.

Please send any feedback you have regarding these resources to bethan.davies@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Electric works (11th-14th DEC) and ALL DAY CLOSURE (15th DEC)

Planned essential electric works will occur throughout the RAI building (including the Vere Harmsworth Library) throughout the 11th-14th December, culminating in an all day closure on Friday 15th December 2023. Readers are advised that there will be some noise disruption throughout the week, and some reader spaces, including the 1st Floor Group Study Rooms, will be off limits.

The work will begin on Monday 11th December, and will be focused on the Ground Floor on the western side of the building (past the PCAS machine). This area from the electric cabinet onwards will be closed off to readers. Access to the PCAS machine will be maintained. The Library has been advised that there will be drilling for around half an hour, and that this noise will affect the Ground Floor level. Readers are advised to move to the upper floors to avoid disturbance.

After works on the Ground Floor are completed, the electricians will move up the building, to the 2nd and 3rd Floors. This work will be focused in the Group Study Rooms and RAI Office space (former Breakout Room). This will reduce noise disruption in the main reading rooms, but some disturbance may be expected.

Earplugs are available at the Enquiry Desk for readers if necessary.

The 1st Floor Group Study Rooms will be unavailable throughout the week of 11th-15th December. The Godfrey Hodgson Room will be available throughout the 11th-14th December. Please check the Bodleian Libraries Group Study Rooms pages for alternative spaces.

The entire RAI building, including the VHL will be closed on Friday 15th December 2023. The Library aims to re-open on Monday 18th December, subject to completion of works. Please check the VHL webpage or Twitter account for regular updates. Any change to the plan of works above will be communicated as soon as possible.

We would like to thank our readers for their patience during these essential works.

If you have any further questions about working in the Vere Harmsworth Library, please ask at the Information Desk, or email vhl@bodleian.ox.ac.uk. For further information about the planned works, email Bethan Davies, VHL Librarian at bethan.davies@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

VHL Opening Hours – Christmas Vacation

From Monday 4th December, the VHL will be operating under Vacation opening hours, which are as follows:

Monday-Friday – 9am-7pm

Saturday – CLOSED

Sunday – CLOSED

The Library will close at 5pm on Wednesday 20th December and will remain closed for the Christmas Holidays until January 2nd, 2024, when we will re-open at 9am.

Please check the Vere Harmsworth Library website for updates and upcoming closure periods.