[Partially taken from the History Faculty Library Blogpost: Ten new eresources for early modern England, slavery and anti-slavery, British Empire, decolonisation, 1970s US and environmental history in the 20th century]
In line with the Bodleian Libraries’ strategy (pdf) to enhance our collections, we have committed funding to a set of selected purchases of electronic research resources. These acquisitions reflect our ongoing commitment to supporting the University of Oxford’s world-class research community by providing access to high-quality, authoritative digital content across a wide range of disciplines.
These resources, and others in our extensive list of source databases, are all accessible via SOLO or Databases A-Z. University staff and students can access them anytime, anywhere, using their Single Sign-On (SSO) credentials.
Two resources of particular interest to Americanists are:
Nineteenth Century Stage: The Industry, Performance and Celebrity
This resource brings together primary source material from archival collections in the UK, USA and Australia to reveal the shifting and expanding theatre world of the nineteenth century. Featuring material such as prompt books, programmes, company records, photographs and playbills, users can explore the multi-faceted nature of the nineteenth-century theatre industry, the lives and careers of well-known actors and actresses and the production, performance and reception of popular plays of the time.
Resources can be searched by geographic area, allowing researchers to narrow down to American playhouses and theatres, or focus on American actors and actresses involved in transatlantic touring. Researchers may also be interested in the theatrical depictions of race, including African Americans and Native Americans, which is discussed further in one of the thematic guides hosted on the database.
You can access this database here.
Please note that this database includes racist depictions and reference to terminology that some people may find distressing or offensive.
Slavery & Anti-Slavery: Part IV: The Age of Emancipation
Part IV: The Age of Emancipation compliments and expends the Bodleian’s current access to Slavery & Anti-Slavery Part II (Slave Trade in the Atlantic World) and Part III (The Institution of Slavery). You can find out more about both of these resources via our previous blogposts:
The Age of Emancipation includes numerous rare documents related to emancipation in the United States, focusing on the activities of the federal government and charitable religious organisations post-Civil War. Alongside these are personal records of families and individuals directly involved in debates related to abolition and the treatment of formerly enslaved persons. The records below often provide first-person narratives of life the Reconstruction South, as well as biographical information. Alongside this are resources related the establishment of slavery in the early British colonies in the Americas and Caribbean.
Resources from this database include the following:
Records from the Freedman’s Bureau
Established by the War Department post-Civil War, the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands was created to support freedmen and refugees, and matters related to lands abandoned of seized during the War. It’s primary focus became supporting formerly enslaved persons to become self-sufficient. Records include:
- Field Office reports from Southern states, who were in direct contact with the formerly enslaved. Correspondence records include letters from the formerly enslaved as well as employers and landowners. Other documents include reports, contracts, censuses and first-hand accounts of black life during Reconstruction.
- Adjunct General Office Records related to submissions sent by Black soldiers and sailors who fought in the Civil War. Submissions were made for bounty, pension, pay arrears, rations and prize money. Includes valuable genealogical and military information.
- Correspondence and official documentation issued and received by the central headquarters of the Bureau in Washington DC.
- Records of the Bureau’s Education Division, related to the creation and oversight of educational establishments for both formerly enslaved children and adults, including correspondence and school reports.
Religious charitable societies
Most educational provision for freedmen was provided by religious groups based in the North. Two such charitable organisations were the Records of the Freeman’s Aid Society Records, a Methodist Episcopal Church; and Annual Reports of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Missions for Freedmen. Both societies were involved in the setting up of educational and religious establishments for freedmen, training of black teachers and preachers. Records also often include reports of daily life for African Americans, and the struggles of black establishments in the Reconstruction South.
Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company
A private savings bank established by Congress in 1865 specifically to collect deposits from formerly enslaved communities, the bank unfortunately failed in 1874, destroying the savings of many African Americans. The documents digitised here provide an index and register of signatures of depositors, which often contain biographical information, such place of birth, former plantation, former enslaver, current employment and relatives.
District of Texas, the 5th Military District
Post Civil-War, the the US Military created separate divisions and later districts across the Southern states to administer military and civilian matters. The correspondence digitised is from the Office of Civil Affairs, based in the District of Texas, the 5th Military District. They demonstrate the turmoil in Reconstruction Texas within the US Military to establish law and order, and expressions of popular feelings about Reconstruction efforts, racial attitudes and problems related to crime and lawlessness, in particular the growth of Klan activity in the area.
Personal papers of key individuals
The records related to the American Civil War and Reconstruction are rounded out by the personal papers of several key figures from the period. The majority of these papers are of abolitionists and anti-slavery campaigners. Providing an alternative viewpoint are the the papers of Alexander Hamilton Stephens, former Congressman and Vice-President of the Confederacy.
- Anna E. Dickinson, abolitionist and woman’s rights advocate
- Senator James R. Doolittle
- Edwin McMasters Stanton, Secretary of War
- Charles Follen McKim, famed architect and active abolitionist, whose family were actively involved in the Underground Railroad
- Senator Zachariah Chandler, Secretary of the Interior and Underground Railroad supporter
- Family papers of the Blackwells, covering 1759 to Reconstruction. Includes abolitionist and women’s rights advocate Lucy Stone, and Elizabeth Blackwell, a doctor who pioneered the role of women in medicine
Colonial Office Records and other resources
The database also includes resources held in the British National Archives related to abolition. Of most interest to Americanists are Colonial Office Records for America and the West Indies, specifically records related to the slave trade. These documents go back to the 17th Century, and provide insight into the establishment of slavery in the British American Colonies and the Caribbean. There are also records related to the West Africa Squadron, a British naval forces created after Britain abolished slavery in 1807, used to intercept slave ships. The Squadron records also include documents related to the establishment of Freetown in Sierra Leone.
You can access this database here.
Due to the nature of the subject and the time period in which the sources were published, Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive, contains racist and outdated discussions of race, racial stereotypes and offensive imagery.
Find out more about the new History Databases available via the History Faculty Library blogpost.
