This year, the Library has obtained access to hundreds of new digital archives, including the full collection from British Online Archives. These include new collections covering missionary, military, trade union, trade and political records including many collections covering the British Communist Party and some new collections on the East India Company. Overall, they offer a fantastic trove of resources for students and staff to explore.
Other notable recent acquisitions include the Royal Anthropological Institute Archive, and the archive of the Hindustan Times newspaper, which covers 1924-2010.
We have also updated our access to collections from Adam Matthew Digital: this includes the final part of the Mass Observation archives (covering the 2000's), a new archive on interwar culture and other new archives on Victorian film and the East India Company coming soon.
In addition, we have secured a deal with Gale Cengage to access a large number of their digital archives, maximising access for staff and students. These new archives include collections on China, Latin America, U.S. History, U.S. and U.K. declassified documents, political extremism and radicalism and the final part of the State Papers Online. Added to these are numerous newspaper archives, topping up existing access and adding access to the Picture Post magazine archive.
All new resources are available via our A-Z list, or you can browse by theme, time period or country on the Primary Sources Guide. Newspaper and magazine archives are listed on the News Archives Guide.
We are currently trialling this new online collection:
Decolonization: Politics and Independence in Former Colonial and Commonwealth Territories
This collection brings together material from within former British colonies and Commonwealth nations, alongside some from former French and Portuguese territories, to provide valuable primary source material created for local audiences by local actors during a period of enormous global change. After the Second World War decolonization movements around the world gathered pace, and from the small port colony of Aden to the vast Indian sub-continent, new borders were set and new nations built.
This recorded webinar explores this collection: https://support.gale.com/doc/webinar-gps-decolonization
The trial runs from now until 17th February 2023.
As always, feedback on collections we are trialling is extremely appreciated. Please send your comments about this collection to n.nye@exeter.ac.uk (Subject Librarian for Archaeology and History).