Dates: 1420 - 1920
Document Types: Audio; Correspondence; Diaries; Film; Government Documents; Logbooks; Maps; Printed Books; Scientific Papers and Surveys
Description: Primary source documents covering five centuries of colonization, journeys, scientific discoveries, the expansion of European colonialism, conflict over territories and trade routes, and decades-long search and rescue attempts.
Includes rare manuscript and early printed material, illustrated maps and documents, diaries and ships' logs. Covers the earliest voyages of Vasco da Gama, the opening of trade with the Spice Islands, the colonization of the Americas and Australasia, the search for the Northwest and Northeast Passages, and finally the race for the Poles.
Dates: 1493 - 1945
Document Types: Artwork; Book; Business and finance documents; Correspondence; Diaries; Maps; Military and Government Documents; Newspapers and Magazines; Objects
Description: Sourced from the Gilder Lehrman Collection, American History, 1493-1945 provides access to documents on American History from the earliest settlers to the mid-twentieth century.
Dates: 1606-1822
Document Types: Charter; Correspondence; Diaries; Business and Financial Documents; Legal Documents; Legislation; Newspapers; Speeches; Treaties; Warrants
Description: Collection of material from the archives of the British government covering all aspects of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century American history and the early-modern Atlantic world.
Includes access to the following modules:
Module 1: Early Settlement, Expansion and Rivalries
The first module of Colonial America documents the early history of the colonies, and includes founding charters, material on the effects of 1688’s Glorious Revolution in North America, records of piracy and seaborne rivalry with the French and Spanish, and copious military material from the French and Indian War of 1756-63.
Module 2: Towards Revolution
This module focuses on the 1760s and 1770s and the social and political protest that led to the Declaration of Independence, including legal materials covering the aftermath of the Boston Tea Party. It is also particularly rich in material relating to military affairs and Native Americans.
Module 3: The American Revolution
This module charts the upheavals of the 1770s and 1780s which saw the throwing off of British rule in the Thirteen Colonies. Contents include volumes of intercepted letters between colonists, the military correspondence of the British commanders in the field and material produced by the Ordnance Office and the office of the Secretary at War, as well as two copies of the ‘Dunlap’ edition of the Declaration of Independence printed on the night of the 4th-5th July 1776.
Module 4: Legislation and Politics in the Colonies
This module traces the colonies' legal and political evolution between 1636-1782. Includes access to council and assembly minutes and court journals.
Module 5: Growth, Trade and Development
Consists of correspondence with the Board of Trade. There are also details of land grants, financial accounts and documents focusing on American Indian relations, as well as George Vancouver’s dispatches to London from his 1791 expedition to the Pacific Northwest.
Dates: 1500-1700
Document Types: Court Records; Annotated Editions; Government Documents; Commonplace Books; Family Papers; Correspondence; Diaries; Administrative Records; Financial Documents; Manuscript
Description: Primary source documents covering the everyday lived experience in England from 1500-1700. Includes legal records, family correspondence, administrative records, wills, inventories and commonplace books, and images of everyday objects used in early modern households.
Also includes contextual essays by leading academics, as well as an interactive chronology.
Dates: 1600-1947
Document Types: Charter; Consultations; Correspondence; Diaries; Business and Financial Documents; Legal Documents; Printed Books; Trading Journals; Treaties
Description: Collection of India Office Records from the British Library, London. Includes royal charters, correspondence, trading diaries, minutes of council meetings and reports of expeditions, among other document types. Charts the history of British trade and rule in the Indian subcontinent and beyond from 1600 to 1947.
From sixteenth century origins as a trading venture to the East Indies, through to its rise a powerful company and de facto ruler of India, to its demise amid allegations of greed and corruption, the East India Company was an extraordinary force in global history for three centuries. Includes access to modules I-V.
Dates: 1737-1824
Document Types: Artwork; Correspondence; Diaries; Financial and Legal Documents; Interludes; Plays; Prologues and Epilogues; Interludes and Preludes; Playbills; Songs
Description: Archive of almost every play submitted for license between 1737 and 1824. Also includes hundreds of documents that provide social context for the plays.
Dates: 1919-1980
Document Types: Government documents; dispatches; correspondence; Newspaper cuttings; Maps; Reports
Description: British Foreign Office files dealing with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan between 1919 and 1980.
The six parts of this collection make available all British Foreign Office files dealing with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan between 1919 and 1980:
1919-1929: Kuomintang, CCP and the Third International
1930-1937: The Long March, civil war in China and the Manchurian Crisis
1938-1948: Open Door, Japanese war and the seeds of communist victory
1949-1956: The Communist revolution
1957-1966: The Great Leap Forward
1967-1980: The Cultural Revolution
Dates: 1947-1980
Document Types: Reports; Dispatches; Correspondence; Newspaper Cuttings; Maps; Photographs; Analyses; Statistics
Description: This collection of files from the Foreign Office (later the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) and Dominions Office focuses on the political and social history of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Consists of the complete run of documents in the series DO 133, DO 134 and FCO 37, as well as all documents covering the Indian subcontinent in the FO 371 series. Events covered include independence and partition, the Indian annexation of Hyderabad and Goa, war between India and Pakistan, tensions and war between India and China, the consolidation of power of the Congress Party in India, military rule in Pakistan, the turbulent independence of Bangladesh and the development of nuclear weapons in the region.
The files address these events from the standpoint of British officialdom. In addition to high politics, they deal with such issues as economic and industrial development, trade, migration, visits to South Asia by British politicians and by South Asian politicians to Britain and elsewhere, education, administrative reorganisation, conflict over language, aid, political parties, agriculture and irrigation, and television and the press. Together they form a resource of fundamental value to scholars and students of modern South Asia.
Dates: 1919-1952
Document Types: Correspondence; Reports; Dispatches; Profiles; Political Summaries; Analyses; Maps
Description: Primary source materials documenting the shifting nature of Anglo-Japanese relations in the first half of the twentieth century.
Includes access to three modules:
Japan, 1931-1945: Japanese Imperialism and the War in the Pacific:
Section one begins in 1931, as Japan invades Manchuria. This incident, and continued Japanese activities in the region, would lead to their dramatic withdrawal from the League of Nations and further alienation from the western powers they had allied with during the First World War. The files in this section document the decline in relations, through war in the Pacific, up until Japanese surrender on board the US Missouri in 1945.
Japan, 1946-1952: Occupation of Japan:
From 1946-1952 Japan was occupied by Allied Powers. The files for this period offer a British perspective on the creation of a democratic state in Japan and the enforcement of a new constitution. They include key British communications and reports covering topics such as war crime trials, reparations, and Japan’s economic recovery. They conclude in 1952, the year the Treaty of San Francisco normalized Anglo-Japanese relations and the first post-war British Ambassador to Japan, Esler Dening, was appointed.
Japan and Great Power Status, 1919-1930:
In 1919, as a vital member of the Allied Powers, Japan found itself occupying a new position of international power within a reorganized world order. The files in this section trace the development of this power and Japan’s relationship with the West during a decade of turbulent economic, political and social change in the wake of the First World War. Beginning with the Paris Peace Conference and the ‘Shantung Question’, the files offer insight into the events of the 1920s, from the termination of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, the devastation of the Kantō Earthquake, and the end of the Taishō democracy, to the beginning of the Shōwa period, financial crisis and Japan’s increasingly imperialist policies in Manchuria.
Dates: 1963-1980
Document Types: Correspondence; Reports; Maps; Newspaper cuttings; Memorandum; Telegrams; Press Releases
Description: Collection of Foreign Office Files covering South East Asia between 1963 and 1980 in a time of conflict, growth, and change.
Includes access to two modules: Module I: Cold War in the Pacific, Trade Relations and the Post-Independence Period, 1963-1966; and Module II: Foundations of Economic Growth and Industrialisation, 1967-1980.
This collection follows the establishment of an independent Malaysia in 1963, following the release of the Cobbold Commission Report. Under President Sukarno, Indonesia strongly opposed this decision and hostilities between the two countries escalated. Alongside tensions with Malaysia, Indonesia would experience growing civil unrest in this period, with anti-Communist sentiments on the rise. Documents featured in this collection cover these fundamental events alongside a number of key themes, including trade, economic development and authoritarian rule in this period.
Dates: 1971-1981
Document Types: Correspondence; Reports; Dispatches; Profiles; Political Summaries; Analyses; Maps; Printed media
Description: Resource for primary source documents covering the events in the Middle East during the 1970s. Includes diplomatic correspondence, minutes, reports, political summaries and personality profiles.
Module 1: Middle East, 1971-1974: The 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Oil Crisis
Explores the politics of the Middle East region in the run-up to the Arab-Israeli War and its effect on global industry, political relations and social stability, as well as providing in-depth coverage of separate conflicts in Cyprus, internal and external political relationships, and details about military exports.
Module 2, 1975-1978: The Lebanese Civil War and the Camp David Accords
The Foreign Office files in Module 2 tackle the aftermath of the Arab-Israel War, tracing the successes and failures of the prolonged peace talks led by Henry Kissinger, which conclude with the historic Camp David Accords in 1978. This module explores the economic and political impact this conflict had on the UK’s relationships with other Middle East nations, as well as continuing to track the progress of peace talks between Cyprus and Turkey. These files also contain reports on the devastating civil war in Lebanon and its impact on the region, as well as assessing the political climate in Iran in the run up to the revolution.
Module 3, 1979-1981: The Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War
Module 3 is dominated by conflicts in Iran, with extensive coverage of events surrounding the revolution, the hostage crisis at the United States Embassy, and the beginning of the Iran-Iraq War. These Foreign Office files also continue to examine the on-going peace negotiations between Egypt and Israel, with a particular focus on the Israeli Occupied Territories, and contain a number of personality profiles to accompany yearly country reviews.
Dates: 1650-1920
Document Types: Art; Books; Broadsides; Business and Financial Documents; Correspondence; Diaries; Legal documents; Maps; Photographs
Description: Primary source documents covering the lives of settlers and indigenous peoples in the European and colonial frontier regions of North America, Africa and Australasia.
The earliest documents in this collection are from the seventeenth century but the majority of the material originates from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The material covering North America covers the varied frontier regions from fur trappers in Canada to cowboys in Texas and government in Baja California. It is divided into the frontier regions of the American East, the American Midwest, the American Southwest, California & Mexico and Canada. It covers the exploration of these regions followed by trade with Native peoples, colonial rivalries, expansion of government and new nations and the final settlement and 'closing' of the frontier.
Africa is mainly represented by its frontiers of the south with the British colonial expansion into modern day South Africa. There is also material relating to the exploration of West Africa and the colonial administration of Lagos.
The beginnings of European Australia and New Zealand are covered by British government documents, starting with Arthur Phillip and the penal colony at Sydney. The frontiers of other parts of Australia are also covered by documents from the UK National Archives and some material from Australian archives.
Finally, there is some material relating to Central America, specifically British Honduras (Belize), in the form of the George Arthur Papers. George Arthur’s career here relates to the other regions featured here as he spent time on the Canadian and Australian frontiers.
Dates: 1575-2014
Document Types: Correspondence; Diaries; Ephemera; Financial Documents; Legal Documents; Newspapers Periodicals; Printed books; Speeches
Description: Primary sources documenting the changing representations and lived experiences of gender roles and relations from the nineteenth century to the present. Includes sources for the study of women's suffrage, the feminist movement, the men’s movement, employment, education, the body, the family, and government and politics.
Material has been sourced from across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. Key areas represented in the material include: employment and labor, education, government and legislation, the body, domesticity and the family. Includes records from men’s and women’s organisations and pressure groups, detailing twentieth-century lobbying and activism on a wide array of issues to reveal developing gender relations and prevalent challenges.
Dates: 1554-1984
Document Types: Business and Financial Documents; Correspondence; Court Records; Illustrations; Maps; Oral Histories; Photographs
Description: Collection of primary source documents related to the workings of the early book trade, the printing and publishing community, the establishment of legal requirements for copyright provisions and the history of bookbinding.
Dates: 1700s-1800s
Document Types: Annotations; Correspondence; Diaries; Financial and Legal Records; Manuscripts; Printed Books; Research Notes
Description: Manuscript collections of the Wordsworth Trust
In addition to William Wordsworth, the resource also includes documents by Dorothy Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Thomas De Quincey and Robert Southey. There are also works by such artists as J.M.W. Turner, John Constable and Benjamin Robert Haydon. The documents (manuscripts, printed verse, correspondence, diaries, travel journals, autograph albums, guide books, fine art and maps) are digitized in color.
Dates: 1400s-2000s
Document Types: Court Records; Diaries; Lists of Slaves; Manuscripts; Maps; Newspapers; Registers; Reports; Ships Logs; Statistics
Description: Designed as a portal for slavery and abolition studies, this resource provides access to documents and collections covering 1490-2007, from libraries and archives across the Atlantic world. Close attention is given to the varieties of slavery, the legacy of slavery, the social-justice perspective and the continued existence of slavery today.
Dates: 1863-1986
Document Types: Correspondence; Ephemera; Legal Documents; Maps; Newspapers; Official Records; Oral Histories; Printed Books; Reports
Description: Provides access to materials related to African American culture and identity. Includes pamphlets, newspapers and periodicals, correspondence, official records, reports and oral histories, revealing the prevalent challenges of racism, discrimination and integration.
Focuses predominantly on Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, New York, and towns and cities in North Carolina.
Dates: 1420 - 1920
Document Types: Audio; Correspondence; Diaries; Film; Government Documents; Logbooks; Maps; Printed Books; Scientific Papers and Surveys
Description: Primary source documents covering five centuries of colonization, journeys, scientific discoveries, the expansion of European colonialism, conflict over territories and trade routes, and decades-long search and rescue attempts.
Includes rare manuscript and early printed material, illustrated maps and documents, diaries and ships' logs. Covers the earliest voyages of Vasco da Gama, the opening of trade with the Spice Islands, the colonization of the Americas and Australasia, the search for the Northwest and Northeast Passages, and finally the race for the Poles.
Dates: 1493 - 1945
Document Types: Artwork; Book; Business and finance documents; Correspondence; Diaries; Maps; Military and Government Documents; Newspapers and Magazines; Objects
Description: Sourced from the Gilder Lehrman Collection, American History, 1493-1945 provides access to documents on American History from the earliest settlers to the mid-twentieth century.
Dates: 1834-1966
Document Types: Correspondence; Dispatches; Reports; Treaties
Description: Official British government correspondence concerning Africa from the Foreign Office and the Colonial Office
Includes correspondence, some one-page letters or telegrams, others large volumes or texts of treaties. All items marked Confidential Print were printed and circulated immediately to leading officials in the Foreign Office, to the Cabinet and to heads of British missions abroad. All documents are fully text-searchable, and the set includes collection of 300 maps separated from their parent print.
Dates: 1833-1969
Document Types: Correspondence; Dispatches; Reports; Treaties
Description: This collection consists of the Confidential Print for Central and South America and the French- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean. Topics covered include slavery and the slave trade, immigration, relations with indigenous peoples, wars and territorial disputes, the fall of the Brazilian monarchy, British business and financial interests, industrial development, the building of the Panama Canal, and the rise to power of populist rulers such as Perón in Argentina and Vargas in Brazil.
Dates: 1839-1969
Document Types: Correspondence; Dispatches; Reports; Treaties
Description: Covers a broad sweep of history from c. 1839 to 1969, taking in the countries of the Arabian peninsula, the Levant, Iraq, Turkey and former Ottoman lands in Europe, Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt and Sudan. Materials include reports, dispatches, correspondence, descriptions of leading personalities, political summaries, and economic analyses.
Dates: 1824-1961
Document Types: Correspondence; Dispatches; Reports; Treaties
Description: This collection consists of the Confidential Print for the United States, Canada and the English-speaking Caribbean, with some coverage of Central and South America, and covers such topics as slavery, Prohibition, the First and Second World Wars, racial segregation, territorial disputes, the League of Nations, McCarthyism and the nuclear bomb.
The Confidential Print series was issued by the British Government between 1820 and 1970, and originated out of a need to preserve the most important papers generated by the Foreign and Colonial Offices. These range from single-page letters or telegrams to comprehensive dispatches, investigative reports and texts of treaties. All items marked ‘Confidential Print’ were printed and circulated immediately to leading officials in the Foreign Office, to the Cabinet and to heads of British missions abroad.
Dates: 1600-1947
Document Types: Charter; Consultations; Correspondence; Diaries; Business and Financial Documents; Legal Documents; Printed Books; Trading Journals; Treaties
Description: Collection of India Office Records from the British Library, London. Includes royal charters, correspondence, trading diaries, minutes of council meetings and reports of expeditions, among other document types. Charts the history of British trade and rule in the Indian subcontinent and beyond from 1600 to 1947.
From sixteenth century origins as a trading venture to the East Indies, through to its rise a powerful company and de facto ruler of India, to its demise amid allegations of greed and corruption, the East India Company was an extraordinary force in global history for three centuries. Includes access to modules I-V.
Dates: 1650-1920
Document Types: Art; Books; Broadsides; Business and Financial Documents; Correspondence; Diaries; Legal documents; Maps; Photographs
Description: Primary source documents covering the lives of settlers and indigenous peoples in the European and colonial frontier regions of North America, Africa and Australasia.
The earliest documents in this collection are from the seventeenth century but the majority of the material originates from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The material covering North America covers the varied frontier regions from fur trappers in Canada to cowboys in Texas and government in Baja California. It is divided into the frontier regions of the American East, the American Midwest, the American Southwest, California & Mexico and Canada. It covers the exploration of these regions followed by trade with Native peoples, colonial rivalries, expansion of government and new nations and the final settlement and 'closing' of the frontier.
Africa is mainly represented by its frontiers of the south with the British colonial expansion into modern day South Africa. There is also material relating to the exploration of West Africa and the colonial administration of Lagos.
The beginnings of European Australia and New Zealand are covered by British government documents, starting with Arthur Phillip and the penal colony at Sydney. The frontiers of other parts of Australia are also covered by documents from the UK National Archives and some material from Australian archives.
Finally, there is some material relating to Central America, specifically British Honduras (Belize), in the form of the George Arthur Papers. George Arthur’s career here relates to the other regions featured here as he spent time on the Canadian and Australian frontiers.
Dates: 1575-2014
Document Types: Correspondence; Diaries; Ephemera; Financial Documents; Legal Documents; Newspapers Periodicals; Printed books; Speeches
Description: Primary sources documenting the changing representations and lived experiences of gender roles and relations from the nineteenth century to the present. Includes sources for the study of women's suffrage, the feminist movement, the men’s movement, employment, education, the body, the family, and government and politics.
Material has been sourced from across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. Key areas represented in the material include: employment and labor, education, government and legislation, the body, domesticity and the family. Includes records from men’s and women’s organisations and pressure groups, detailing twentieth-century lobbying and activism on a wide array of issues to reveal developing gender relations and prevalent challenges.
Dates: 1554-1984
Document Types: Business and Financial Documents; Correspondence; Court Records; Illustrations; Maps; Oral Histories; Photographs
Description: Collection of primary source documents related to the workings of the early book trade, the printing and publishing community, the establishment of legal requirements for copyright provisions and the history of bookbinding.
Dates: 1800-1980
Document Types: Correspondence; Ephemera; Financial and Legal Papers; Manuscripts; Maps; Oral Histories; Printed Books; Reports; Shipping Papers and Plans
Description: Migration to New Worlds explores the movement of peoples from Great Britain, Ireland, mainland Europe and Asia to the New World and Australasia.
Dates: 1700s-1800s
Document Types: Annotations; Correspondence; Diaries; Financial and Legal Records; Manuscripts; Printed Books; Research Notes
Description: Manuscript collections of the Wordsworth Trust
In addition to William Wordsworth, the resource also includes documents by Dorothy Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Thomas De Quincey and Robert Southey. There are also works by such artists as J.M.W. Turner, John Constable and Benjamin Robert Haydon. The documents (manuscripts, printed verse, correspondence, diaries, travel journals, autograph albums, guide books, fine art and maps) are digitized in color.
Dates: 1400s-2000s
Document Types: Court Records; Diaries; Lists of Slaves; Manuscripts; Maps; Newspapers; Registers; Reports; Ships Logs; Statistics
Description: Designed as a portal for slavery and abolition studies, this resource provides access to documents and collections covering 1490-2007, from libraries and archives across the Atlantic world. Close attention is given to the varieties of slavery, the legacy of slavery, the social-justice perspective and the continued existence of slavery today.
Dates: 1863-1986
Document Types: Correspondence; Ephemera; Legal Documents; Maps; Newspapers; Official Records; Oral Histories; Printed Books; Reports
Description: Provides access to materials related to African American culture and identity. Includes pamphlets, newspapers and periodicals, correspondence, official records, reports and oral histories, revealing the prevalent challenges of racism, discrimination and integration.
Focuses predominantly on Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, New York, and towns and cities in North Carolina.
Dates: 1493 - 1945
Document Types: Artwork; Book; Business and finance documents; Correspondence; Diaries; Maps; Military and Government Documents; Newspapers and Magazines; Objects
Description: Sourced from the Gilder Lehrman Collection, American History, 1493-1945 provides access to documents on American History from the earliest settlers to the mid-twentieth century.
Dates: 1948-1980
Document Types: Correspondence; Dispatches; Reports; Legal papers; Biographies
Description: Apartheid South Africa makes available British government files from the Foreign, Colonial, Dominion and Foreign and Commonwealth Offices spanning the period 1948 to 1980.
Includes letters, diplomatic dispatches, reports, trial papers, activists’ biographies and first-hand accounts.
Dates: 1834-1966
Document Types: Correspondence; Dispatches; Reports; Treaties
Description: Official British government correspondence concerning Africa from the Foreign Office and the Colonial Office
Includes correspondence, some one-page letters or telegrams, others large volumes or texts of treaties. All items marked Confidential Print were printed and circulated immediately to leading officials in the Foreign Office, to the Cabinet and to heads of British missions abroad. All documents are fully text-searchable, and the set includes collection of 300 maps separated from their parent print.
Dates: 1833-1969
Document Types: Correspondence; Dispatches; Reports; Treaties
Description: This collection consists of the Confidential Print for Central and South America and the French- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean. Topics covered include slavery and the slave trade, immigration, relations with indigenous peoples, wars and territorial disputes, the fall of the Brazilian monarchy, British business and financial interests, industrial development, the building of the Panama Canal, and the rise to power of populist rulers such as Perón in Argentina and Vargas in Brazil.
Dates: 1839-1969
Document Types: Correspondence; Dispatches; Reports; Treaties
Description: Covers a broad sweep of history from c. 1839 to 1969, taking in the countries of the Arabian peninsula, the Levant, Iraq, Turkey and former Ottoman lands in Europe, Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt and Sudan. Materials include reports, dispatches, correspondence, descriptions of leading personalities, political summaries, and economic analyses.
Dates: 1824-1961
Document Types: Correspondence; Dispatches; Reports; Treaties
Description: This collection consists of the Confidential Print for the United States, Canada and the English-speaking Caribbean, with some coverage of Central and South America, and covers such topics as slavery, Prohibition, the First and Second World Wars, racial segregation, territorial disputes, the League of Nations, McCarthyism and the nuclear bomb.
The Confidential Print series was issued by the British Government between 1820 and 1970, and originated out of a need to preserve the most important papers generated by the Foreign and Colonial Offices. These range from single-page letters or telegrams to comprehensive dispatches, investigative reports and texts of treaties. All items marked ‘Confidential Print’ were printed and circulated immediately to leading officials in the Foreign Office, to the Cabinet and to heads of British missions abroad.
Dates: 1600-1947
Document Types: Charter; Consultations; Correspondence; Diaries; Business and Financial Documents; Legal Documents; Printed Books; Trading Journals; Treaties
Description: Collection of India Office Records from the British Library, London. Includes royal charters, correspondence, trading diaries, minutes of council meetings and reports of expeditions, among other document types. Charts the history of British trade and rule in the Indian subcontinent and beyond from 1600 to 1947.
From sixteenth century origins as a trading venture to the East Indies, through to its rise a powerful company and de facto ruler of India, to its demise amid allegations of greed and corruption, the East India Company was an extraordinary force in global history for three centuries. Includes access to modules I-V.
Dates: 1919-1980
Document Types: Government documents; dispatches; correspondence; Newspaper cuttings; Maps; Reports
Description: British Foreign Office files dealing with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan between 1919 and 1980.
The six parts of this collection make available all British Foreign Office files dealing with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan between 1919 and 1980:
1919-1929: Kuomintang, CCP and the Third International
1930-1937: The Long March, civil war in China and the Manchurian Crisis
1938-1948: Open Door, Japanese war and the seeds of communist victory
1949-1956: The Communist revolution
1957-1966: The Great Leap Forward
1967-1980: The Cultural Revolution
Dates: 1947-1980
Document Types: Reports; Dispatches; Correspondence; Newspaper Cuttings; Maps; Photographs; Analyses; Statistics
Description: This collection of files from the Foreign Office (later the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) and Dominions Office focuses on the political and social history of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Consists of the complete run of documents in the series DO 133, DO 134 and FCO 37, as well as all documents covering the Indian subcontinent in the FO 371 series. Events covered include independence and partition, the Indian annexation of Hyderabad and Goa, war between India and Pakistan, tensions and war between India and China, the consolidation of power of the Congress Party in India, military rule in Pakistan, the turbulent independence of Bangladesh and the development of nuclear weapons in the region.
The files address these events from the standpoint of British officialdom. In addition to high politics, they deal with such issues as economic and industrial development, trade, migration, visits to South Asia by British politicians and by South Asian politicians to Britain and elsewhere, education, administrative reorganisation, conflict over language, aid, political parties, agriculture and irrigation, and television and the press. Together they form a resource of fundamental value to scholars and students of modern South Asia.
Dates: 1919-1952
Document Types: Correspondence; Reports; Dispatches; Profiles; Political Summaries; Analyses; Maps
Description: Primary source materials documenting the shifting nature of Anglo-Japanese relations in the first half of the twentieth century.
Includes access to three modules:
Japan, 1931-1945: Japanese Imperialism and the War in the Pacific:
Section one begins in 1931, as Japan invades Manchuria. This incident, and continued Japanese activities in the region, would lead to their dramatic withdrawal from the League of Nations and further alienation from the western powers they had allied with during the First World War. The files in this section document the decline in relations, through war in the Pacific, up until Japanese surrender on board the US Missouri in 1945.
Japan, 1946-1952: Occupation of Japan:
From 1946-1952 Japan was occupied by Allied Powers. The files for this period offer a British perspective on the creation of a democratic state in Japan and the enforcement of a new constitution. They include key British communications and reports covering topics such as war crime trials, reparations, and Japan’s economic recovery. They conclude in 1952, the year the Treaty of San Francisco normalized Anglo-Japanese relations and the first post-war British Ambassador to Japan, Esler Dening, was appointed.
Japan and Great Power Status, 1919-1930:
In 1919, as a vital member of the Allied Powers, Japan found itself occupying a new position of international power within a reorganized world order. The files in this section trace the development of this power and Japan’s relationship with the West during a decade of turbulent economic, political and social change in the wake of the First World War. Beginning with the Paris Peace Conference and the ‘Shantung Question’, the files offer insight into the events of the 1920s, from the termination of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, the devastation of the Kantō Earthquake, and the end of the Taishō democracy, to the beginning of the Shōwa period, financial crisis and Japan’s increasingly imperialist policies in Manchuria.
Dates: 1971-1981
Document Types: Correspondence; Reports; Dispatches; Profiles; Political Summaries; Analyses; Maps; Printed media
Description: Resource for primary source documents covering the events in the Middle East during the 1970s. Includes diplomatic correspondence, minutes, reports, political summaries and personality profiles.
Module 1: Middle East, 1971-1974: The 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Oil Crisis
Explores the politics of the Middle East region in the run-up to the Arab-Israeli War and its effect on global industry, political relations and social stability, as well as providing in-depth coverage of separate conflicts in Cyprus, internal and external political relationships, and details about military exports.
Module 2, 1975-1978: The Lebanese Civil War and the Camp David Accords
The Foreign Office files in Module 2 tackle the aftermath of the Arab-Israel War, tracing the successes and failures of the prolonged peace talks led by Henry Kissinger, which conclude with the historic Camp David Accords in 1978. This module explores the economic and political impact this conflict had on the UK’s relationships with other Middle East nations, as well as continuing to track the progress of peace talks between Cyprus and Turkey. These files also contain reports on the devastating civil war in Lebanon and its impact on the region, as well as assessing the political climate in Iran in the run up to the revolution.
Module 3, 1979-1981: The Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War
Module 3 is dominated by conflicts in Iran, with extensive coverage of events surrounding the revolution, the hostage crisis at the United States Embassy, and the beginning of the Iran-Iraq War. These Foreign Office files also continue to examine the on-going peace negotiations between Egypt and Israel, with a particular focus on the Israeli Occupied Territories, and contain a number of personality profiles to accompany yearly country reviews.
Dates: 1575-2014
Document Types: Correspondence; Diaries; Ephemera; Financial Documents; Legal Documents; Newspapers Periodicals; Printed books; Speeches
Description: Primary sources documenting the changing representations and lived experiences of gender roles and relations from the nineteenth century to the present. Includes sources for the study of women's suffrage, the feminist movement, the men’s movement, employment, education, the body, the family, and government and politics.
Material has been sourced from across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. Key areas represented in the material include: employment and labor, education, government and legislation, the body, domesticity and the family. Includes records from men’s and women’s organisations and pressure groups, detailing twentieth-century lobbying and activism on a wide array of issues to reveal developing gender relations and prevalent challenges.
Dates: 1554-1984
Document Types: Business and Financial Documents; Correspondence; Court Records; Illustrations; Maps; Oral Histories; Photographs
Description: Collection of primary source documents related to the workings of the early book trade, the printing and publishing community, the establishment of legal requirements for copyright provisions and the history of bookbinding.
Dates: 1957-1963
Document Types: Records; Correspondence; Key Policy Documents; Financial Documents
Description: Provides coverage of the Cabinet conclusions (minutes) (CAB 128) and memoranda (CAB 129) of Harold Macmillan’s government, as well as selected minutes and memoranda of policy committees (CAB 134).
Dates: 1800-1980
Document Types: Correspondence; Ephemera; Financial and Legal Papers; Manuscripts; Maps; Oral Histories; Printed Books; Reports; Shipping Papers and Plans
Description: Migration to New Worlds explores the movement of peoples from Great Britain, Ireland, mainland Europe and Asia to the New World and Australasia.
Dates: 1969-1974
Document Types: Records; Correspondence; Key Policy Documents; Financial Documents
Description: Provides access to documents from the Nixon presidency, covers topics such as foreign policy, social conditions, domestic reforms, trade, culture and the environment. Also includes files compiled by British Embassy and consular staff.
Dates: 1928-1976
Document Types: Audio; Correspondence; Ephemera; Government and Legal Documents; Interviews; Maps; Memorandum; Photographs; Printed Books; Reports; Surveys and Statistics
Description: Provides access to primary source documents related to prejudice, segregation and racial tensions in America. Includes survey material, interviews and statistics, as well as educational pamphlets, administrative correspondence, and photographs and speeches from the Annual Race Relations Institutes.
Based at Fisk University from 1943-1970, the Race Relations Department and its annual Institute were set up by the American Missionary Association to investigate problem areas in race relations and develop methods for educating communities and preventing conflict. Documenting three pivotal decades in the fight for civil rights, this resource showcases the speeches, reports, surveys and analyses produced by the Department’s staff and Institute participants, including Charles S. Johnson, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., and Thurgood Marshall.
Dates: 1400s-2000s
Document Types: Court Records; Diaries; Lists of Slaves; Manuscripts; Maps; Newspapers; Registers; Reports; Ships Logs; Statistics
Description: Designed as a portal for slavery and abolition studies, this resource provides access to documents and collections covering 1490-2007, from libraries and archives across the Atlantic world. Close attention is given to the varieties of slavery, the legacy of slavery, the social-justice perspective and the continued existence of slavery today.
Dates: 1917-1989
Document Types: Advertisement Film; Documentary Film; Short Film; Feature Film; Party Political Broadcasts
Description: Collection of documentaries, newsreels and features by Soviet, Chinese, Vietnamese, East European, British and Latin American filmmakers, ranging from the early twentieth century to the 1980s.
Dates: 1903-1962
Document Types: Records; Correspondence; Policy Documents; Financial Documents; Police and Prison Records
Description: This collection consists of two elements: A finding aid to women's studies resources in The National Archives, and original documents on the suffrage question in Britain, the Empire and colonial territories.