The collections span more than six centuries and include scholarly journals and magazines, digitised archives and manuscripts, historical texts, government publications, audiovisual material and music scores. Particularly rich areas include Art, Black Studies, English Literature, Anthropology & Ethnology, Women’s Studies, Popular Culture, Performing Arts and Music, alongside extensive material for global and international studies.

The scale and diversity of these collections offer new opportunities for research and teaching across the Humanities and Social Sciences. They provide access to voices, histories and cultural perspectives that have often been underrepresented in traditional collections, while enabling researchers and students to explore subjects across disciplinary boundaries.

This significant expansion of Oxford’s digital collections will support established areas of teaching and research as well as emerging and interdisciplinary fields.

Below are some key highlight for American Studies.

ProQuest One History

• History Vault – History Vault provides access to millions of primary source, cross-searchable, full-text/full-image documents on the most widely studied topics in 19th and 20th-century American history. The collection is organised around 9 subject areas, with a total of 77 individual databases. Highlights include key African American Civil Rights organisation records (CORE, SNCC, NAACP and SCLC), as well as major social movements covering the Progressive Era, women’s suffrage, labor movements and anti-Vietnam war protest movements. Modern US Government records and slavery plantation records are also included.
• US History Collections – The U.S. History Collection brings together a selection of curated sets from Alexander Street made of primary sources. Topics covered include Native American History, American Civil War letters and diaries, and materials from the Gilded Age. This collection also includes American History in Video, a video collection that includes documentaries and newsreels with coverage from the 1890s to the 2000s.

ProQuest One Global Studies and International Relations

The above collection expands our current collections from the Digital National Security Archive (DNSA), as well as providing the following collections:

• The Sixties: Primary Sources and Personal Narratives – brings the 1960s alive through diaries, letters, autobiographies and other memoirs, written and oral histories, manifestos, government documents, memorabilia, and scholarly commentary. Includes 125,000 pages of text and 50 hours of video.
• Alt-Press Watch – includes full-text newspapers and magazines from alternative, independent presses.
• Communist, Leftist, Socialist and Radical newspapers and periodical archival collections.
• Secondary source collections from a wide range of topics, including Aging, Immigration, Disability, Environmental Studies, Food Studies, Revolution and Protest.

ProQuest One Black Studies

Alongside access to the African American focused databases from History Vault, ProQuest One Black Studies also includes the following:

• Ten key African American Newspapers: Atlanta Daily World (1931–2010); Baltimore Afro-American (1893–2010); Chicago Defender (1910–2010); Cleveland Call and Post (1934–2010); Los Angeles Sentinel (1934–2010); Michigan Chronicle (1936–2010); New York Amsterdam News (1922–2010); Norfolk Journal and Guide (1916–2010); Philadelphia Tribune (1912–2010); Pittsburgh Courier (1911–2010) [Note: some titles we already have some access to, but the above extends the date coverage]
• Periodicals and pamphlets related to Slavery
• Supreme court cases related to civil rights and race, 1830-present.
• Commission on Minority Business Development
• Secondary and reference resources such as the Black Literature Index
• Videos from Black Studies in Video and selected materials from the African Diaspora Collections.

ProQuest One Women’s Studies

This database brings together ProQuest’s award-winning Women’s Studies, Men’s and Masculinity Studies, and LGBTQ+ Studies content into one destination for research, teaching, and learning purposes. This database combines primary and secondary sources, including a wealth of historical magazines and periodicals, faculty-curated collections from Women and Social Movements and Queer Pasts, archival documents and collections, key government materials, videos, scholarly journals, and essays by top scholars in Gender Studies.

Key highlights include Manuscript Women’s Letters and Diaries, as well as Women and Social Movements in Modern Empires Since 1920, which complements our collections Women and Social Movements, International and Women and Social Movements in the United States.

ProQuest One Entertainment & Popular Culture

• Twentieth Century Advice Literature: North American Guides on Race, Gender, Sex, and the Family -provides a window into American social history by bringing together instructional, prescriptive, behavioral, and etiquette. When complete, the collection will contain 150,000 pages of fully searchable handbooks, manuals, textbooks, etiquette guides, self-help books, instructional pamphlets, and how-to books. 
• Magazine Archives for the Hollywood Reporter, Rolling Stone, Daily Variety and Archie Comics.
• Archival magazine collections focused on the Entertainment Industry, Health & Fitness, Youth & Popular Culture, Children’s Magazines and underground and independent comics and graphic novels.
• Popular Culture Studies in Video – covering a wide range of popular culture topics.

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 September 2026 intake.

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).

The graphic history books on display include:

• Freedom was in sight! : a graphic history of Reconstruction in the Washington, D.C., region 
• Monumental : Oscar Dunn and his radical fight in Reconstruction Louisiana 
• March : the complete trilogy in one volume 
• Run home if you don’t want to be killed : the Detroit uprising of 1943 
• Black coal and red bandanas 
• Doom towns : the people and landscapes of atomic testing : a graphic history 
• The first black Marines : an oral history, a graphic history 
• A people’s history of American empire : a graphic adaptation 

The books about the history of comics include:

• The content of our caricature : African American comic art and political belonging 
• The Brooklyn thrill-kill gang and the great comic book scare of the 1950s 
• Comic books and American cultural history : an anthology 
• Secret identity crisis : comic books and the unmasking of Cold War America 
• Drawing the past : comics and the historical imagination in the United States 
• Comic strips and consumer culture, 1890-1945 
• The ten-cent plague : the great comic-book scare and how it changed America 
• Comic book nation : the transformation of youth culture in America

Readers interested in the study of comic books may also wish to explore the digital resources collected in the Library of Congress’ research guide on comics and comic books.

The display can be found on the ground floor of the library, near the staircase. Many of the books on display are loanable, and some are available as ebooks.

If you have any questions about using the Vere Harmsworth Library, please email vhl@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

This follows a previous trial of Sex & Sexuality, held earlier in the year.

About Sex and Sexuality

Please be aware that this resource contains material of a sexually explicit nature. Content includes, but is not limited to, descriptions and imagery of sexual violence; non-consensual sexual activity; sexual activity including minors; surgery and suicide.

Sex & Sexuality allows researchers to explore changing attitudes to human sexuality, gender and sexual behaviour.

Module I is sourced solely from the Kinsey Institute Library and Special Collections

About Module I

Collections sourced from the Kinsey Institute Library and Special Collections include:

• The personal and professional correspondence of Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey, founder and Director of the Institute (1935-1956)
• Professional and personal correspondence of the 2nd-3rd Directors of the Institute.
• Articles and correspondence related to “The Kinsey Report”, a sexual advice column from the 1980s-early 90s.
• Annual reports from the founding up to the 1980s.
• Papers of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex (SSSS)
• The Alice Field Collection, related to the New York City Sex Offenders study and cases in the Wayward Minors’ Court and the Women’s Court.
• The Papers of Harry Benjamin, a German-American endocrinologist and sexologist best known for his pathbreaking work on what was called in the mid-twentieth century “transsexualism.”
• The James W. Edwards Collection, an, anthropologist and East Asian researcher, with research interests in prostitution, Chinese and Asian sexuality, AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases, homosexuality, birth control and family planning
• Dr John Money Exchange Correspondence Collection,  a New Zealand born psychologist, sexologist and author, specializing in research into sexual identity and biology of gender.
• “The Vertical Files” – a collection of mixed periodicals, newsletters and other ephemera, spanning the years 1926-2015, connected to the Institute, or related to sexology or human sexual behaviour.

Oxford University members can access the resource via this link. Note that you will need your Oxford SSO to access.

Essential works in the Rothermere American Institute (RAI) Foyer will require the installation of scaffolding in the Foyer on Wednesday 8th July, and removal of the scaffolding on Tuesday 14th July.

Entry into the RAI building and the Library will be maintained, but the automated door (on the far right as you approach the building entrance) will be unavailable. The revolving door and manual door on the far left will remain available. Signage detailing how to contact Library staff for assistance will be provided outside, for any building users unable to access the building.

Access to the RAI basement level will be restricted.

The Library will remain open as per our currently advertised opening hours (9am-5pm). However, Readers should expect noise disruption whilst the scaffolding works are taking place. It is recommended that Readers sit on the western side of the Library (the side where the Group Study Rooms are located, closest to Rhodes House) and avoid the Mezzanine level. Readers may also request soft earbuds from the Library Enquiry Desk.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused during these works. If you have any questions about the works, or using the library during this time, please email vhl@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

The new seating includes a 3-seated sofa and an armchair, as well as three adjustable laptop tables. The tables are adjustable by height, swivel and tilt, giving readers plenty of options to rest their books, laptops, tablets or other items!

The new furniture and tables were funded via the wider Bodleian Libraries project to Improve Reader Spaces, as part of the Bodleian Libraries Strategy 2022-27.

Please note that this area will still be under Bodleian Libraries Regulations and Rules of Conduct for Readers, meaning that Readers sat in this area will not be allowed to eat or drink uncovered drinks in this area, and must maintain a quiet atmosphere to allow their fellow Readers to study.

Give us your thoughts on the new comfy seating area! – Fill in our online form

Many of our titles this year focus on aspects of the history of the gay rights movement. These include An Angel in Sodom : Henry Gerber and the Birth of the Gay Rights Movement, Let the record show : a political history of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 and The engagement : a quarter century of defending, defining, and expanding marriage in America.

Meanwhile, Coming out Republican : a history of the gay right and Communists in closets : queering the history 1930s-1990s examine the history of queer identities within specific political movements, and Aberrations in black : toward a queer of color critique discusses the intersection between race and sexuality in the field of sociology. The Politicization of Trans Identity: An Analysis of Backlash, Scapegoating, and Dog-Whistling from Obergefell to Bostock and American teenager : how trans kids are surviving hate and finding joy in a turbulent era examine the current landscape of trans rights in the United States.

Other titles on display include:

• American scare : Florida’s hidden cold war on Black and queer lives
• Has the Gay movement failed? 
• Irresistible revolution : confronting race, class and the assumption of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender politics
• Out in the union : a labor history of queer America 
• Rethinking the gay and lesbian movement 
• Safe space : gay neighborhood history and the politics of violence
• The case for gay reparations 

Readers may also be interested in the following online resources:

• The Library of Congress’s LGBTQ+ Studies Web Archive collects and preserves online content which documents LGBTQ+ history, scholarship, and culture in the United States and around the world.
• The Bodleian’s LGBTQ+ History Resources LibGuide directs users to a wide range of information resources, mostly freely available online, grouped by topic, period and format.
• The LGBTQIA+ Archives are a free, searchable digital archive of LGBTQIA+ historical resources. The “Archives & Resources” link at the bottom of the homepage also provides links to many other websites, archives and projects.

The display can be found on the ground floor of the library, near the staircase. Many of the books on display are loanable, and some are available as ebooks.

If you have any questions about working in the Vere Harmsworth Library, please email vhl@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

The display features two works by Perkins herself: The Roosevelt I knew, and People at work. Readers will also find biographies including Madam Secretary, Frances Perkins and Frances Perkins : a member of the Cabinet, and contextualising works such as Nothing to fear : FDR’s inner circle and the hundred days that created modern America, Challenge and change : a brief history [of the U.S. Department of Labor, 1913-1963, and For the many : American feminists and the global fight for democratic equality.

Library staff have also selected online resources which may be of interest to those wanting to learn more about Perkins’ life and legacy. The Library of Congress research guide and the Frances Perkins Center website both provide biographical information and links to a range of other resources for further research. Readers may also be interested in Time magazine’s August 1933 article, Labor: Truce at a Crisis, which discusses her appointment as Secretary of Labor, or in chapter 3 of U.S. Department of Labor: the first seventy-five years, which discusses the period 1933-1945 during which Perkins served in that role.

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.

UPDATE: The scaffolding will be removed from the RAI Foyer on the morning of Thursday 9th April. As before, access into the building will be maintained, but the automated door will be out of use. Readers should expect some noise disturbance from the foyer during this time. [8.4.2026]

UPDATE: the scaffolding has been installed in the RAI Foyer, but the essential works have not yet been completed. The scaffolding remains in place, but access into the building is maintained, and the automated door can be used. We will continue to provide updates for when the scaffolding will be removed. [7.4.2026]

Essential works in the Rothermere American Institute (RAI) Foyer, will require the installation of scaffolding in the Foyer on the 2nd April, and removal of the scaffolding on the 7th April.

Entry into the RAI building and the Library will be maintained, but the automated door (on the far right as you approach the building entrance) will be unavailable. The revolving door and manual door on the far left will remain available. Signage will be provided outside for building users who are unable to access the building.

Access to the RAI basement level will be restricted.

The Library will remain open as per our currently advertised opening hours (9am-7pm). However, Readers should expect noise disruption whilst the scaffolding works are taking place. It is recommended that Readers sit on the western side of the Library (the side where the Group Study Rooms are located, closest to Rhodes House) and avoid the Mezzanine level. Readers may also request soft earbuds from the Library Enquiry Desk.

Please note that the library will also be closed, as previously advertised, on Friday 3rd April and Monday 6th April for the Easter Bank Holidays.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused during these works. If you have any questions about the works, or using the library during this time, please email vhl@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

Over this week, we will be releasing brief blogposts aimed at helping researchers find primary sources on the American Revolutionary War, in a variety of different formats, geographic focus and subject areas. It is intended to help those interested in the War, who may already have some general knowledge on the subject, to dig deeper into the different primary sources available and start their own research journey.

This guide is primarily aimed at Oxford students and researchers, and some resources will require subscription access via SSO or access to the print collections across the Bodleian Libraries, but Open Access resources are also included. This is not meant to be a complete guide nor will it be updated with new resources going forward.

This is Part 3: British and French perspectives and the information has been kindly provided by Isabel Holowaty, History Librarian (Research), who provides subject support for British and Western European History.

The American Revolution through British eyes

The American Revolution was profoundly significant in shaping Britain’s modern history. After the initial shock – the loss of its largest mainland colonies and suffering a humiliating military defeat – the events across the Atlantic ultimately led to a redefining of the limits, priorities, and meaning of British power. Within the British political establishment and public sphere, the Revolution intensified debates about representation and executive power, with the British government and British political discourse primarily framing the conflict as an internal constitutional crisis and rebellion.

Sources for the study of the American Revolution through British eyes include parliamentary and government sources, diplomatic papers and correspondence, writings and speeches of individuals, and the public press.

GOVERNMENTAL AND DIPLOMATIC SOURCES

• Journals of the House of Commons
• Cobbett’s Parliamentary History of Britain
• George III. By the King, a Proclamation, for Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition. Boston: Printed by John Howe, 1775
• Simmons, R. C, and P. D. G Thomas. Proceedings and Debates of the British Parliaments Respecting North America, 1754-1783. Millwood, N.Y: Kraus International Publications, 1982.
• Knox, William. Extra Official State Papers : Addressed to the Right Hon. Lord Rawdon, and the Other Members of the Two Houses of Parliament, Associated for the Preservation of the Constitution and Promoting the Prosperity of the British Empire. Dublin: London printed, Dublin reprinted …, 2018.
• A Complete Collection of All the Protests of the Peers in Parliament, Entered on Their Journals, since the Year 1774, on the Great Questions of the Cause and Issue of the War between Great-Britain and America, &c to the Present Time. London: printed for J. Stockdale, opposite Burlington House, Piccadilly, 1782.
• Dickinson, H. T. British Pamphlets on the American Revolution, 1763-1785. 8 vols. Pickering & Chatto, 2007-
• Moore, Frank. The Diary of the Revolution : A Centennial Volume Embracing the Current Events in Our Country’s History from 1775 to 1781 as Described by American, British, and Tory Cotemporaries. Hartford: J.B. Burr, 1876.
• Burke, Edmund, and James Rivington. The Speech of Edmund Burke, Esquire, on Moving His Resolutions for Conciliation with the Colonies, March 22d, 1775. New-York: Printed by James Rivington, 1775.

THE PUBLIC PRESS

Newspapers are an excellent source to reveal how the American Revolution was understood, debated, and experienced at the time, not just how it unfolded politically or militarily. They provide direct access to contemporary opinion and public debate as published in the press. The press also helps historians trace the circulation of ideas across the Atlantic world. For instance, newspapers frequently reprinted speeches, pamphlets, letters, and reports from Britain, the colonies, and Europe. As such, newspapers are a useful foil to the debates in the political establishment.

Check out our guide to newspaper resources which cover historical national and regional newspapers for Britain & Ireland and France.

• Hinkhouse, Fred Junkin. The Preliminaries of the American Revolution as Seen in the English Press, 1763-1775. New York: Columbia University Press, 1926.
• Bickham, Troy O. Making Headlines : The American Revolution as Seen through the British Press. DeKalb, Ill: Northern Illinois University Press, 2009.
• Grant, Alfred. Our American Brethren : A History of Letters in the British Press during the American Revolution, 1775-1781. Jefferson, N.C ; McFarland, 1995.
• Bickham, Troy O. “Sympathizing with Sedition? George Washington, the British Press, and British Attitudes during the American War of Independence.” The William and Mary Quarterly 59.1 (2002): 101–122.
• The American Revolution from a British Perspective (database) 11 volumes published in Britain and Ireland, related to the American Revolution and related American topics, primarily taken from those listed in Thomas R. Adams’ The American Controversy. Providence : Brown University Press 1980.

Major newspapers

• The London Gazette: the first official journal of record and the newspaper of the Crown, which presented an official framing of the war and proclamations.
• The Public Advertiser: one of the most widely read London newspapers which published parliamentary news, war reports, and political letters, including radical critiques.
• The London Chronicle: a popular, accessible paper with extensive coverage of military events and colonial affairs; Important for gauging middle-class opinion and war weariness.
• The Morning Chronicle: Often critical of ministerial handling of the war in 1780s and 1790s. From 1789 increasingly sympathetic to opposition Whig views.
• The Gentleman’s Magazine: Highly influential and circulated monthly periodical which reprinted speeches, pamphlet extracts, letters, and news from America. Useful for understanding how American events were digested by a broad reading public.

Some personal views:

• British and Irish Women’s Letters and Diaries 1500-1950 (database)
• Electronic Enlightenment (database of digitised correspondence)
• Eighteenth Century Collections Online (digital library of C18th century publications)
• Smith, Paul H, and Library of Congress. American Revolution Bicentennial Office. English Defenders of American Freedoms, 1774-1778 : Six Pamphlets Attacking British Policy. Washington: Library of Congress, 1972.
• Sainsbury, John. Disaffected Patriots : London Supporters of Revolutionary America 1769-1782. Kingston [Ont: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1987.

USEFUL READINGS

Kamensky, Jane, and Edward G Gray. The Oxford Handbook of the American Revolution. 1st ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.

Conway, Stephen. “From Fellow-Nationals to Foreigners: British Perceptions of the Americans, circa 1739-1783.” The William and Mary Quarterly 59.1 (2002): 65–100.

To find more readings, use the following subject search in SOLO:

“United States — History — Revolution, 1775-1783 — Foreign public opinion, British”

The American Revolution through French eyes

In contrast to Britain, France framed the American Revolution largely as an international struggle and an opportunity to restore strategic balance within Europe, esp. after the Seven Years’ War. The initial diplomatic approach was outwardly neutral combined with some covert encouragement. During the Revolution, France adopted a more overtly critical stance towards Britain and supportive of the American cause, not least for ideological sympathies. Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes and French foreign minister 1774-1787, was the central figure in shaping French diplomatic policy.

French sources

GOVERNMENTAL AND DIPLOMATIC SOURCES

• Assemblée nationale — Archives & historical collections
• Gallica (French Digital Library) > 18^th century diplomatic sources
• Louis XVI et al. Louis XVI and the Comte de Vergennes : Correspondence 1774-1787. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 1998.
• Vergennes, Charles Gravier. Correspondence. Oxford: Electronic Enlightenment Project, 2008.
• Gérard, Conrad Alexandre, Charles Gravier Vergennes, and John J Meng. Despatches and Instructions of Conrad Alexandre Gérard, 1778-1780 : Correspondence of the First French Minister to the United States with the Comte de Vergennes. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1939.
• Écrits autour des Révolutions américaine et française
• Traité d’amitié et de commerce, conclu entre le Roi et les États-Unis de l’Amérique septentrionale, le 6 février 1778 (1778)
• Treaty of Alliance with France / Traité d’alliance (1778)
• Stanley J. Idzerda (ed.), Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers. Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press, 1977.

THE PUBLIC PRESS

Check out our guide to newspaper resources which cover historical national and regional newspapers for France.

Newspapers and Gazettes

• Gazette de France: official newspaper of the monarchy which carefully framed American events.
• Mercure de France: one of the most important literary-political journals which published essays, poems, and commentary celebrating American liberty and figures like Franklin.

Journals and Reviews

• Affiches, annonces et avis divers (via Gallica): regional papers that largely spread enthusiasm for the American cause beyond Paris. The availability of issues for this period is very mixed so you may need to search Gallica in more detail.
• Journal de Paris: the first daily newspaper in France which covered American events in an accessible, non-specialist tone.

Some personal views:

• Electronic Enlightenment (database of digitised correspondence of writers & thinkers)
• Raynal, Guillaume Thomas. The sentiments of a foreigner, on the disputes of Great-Britain with America. Translated from the French. Philadelphia: Printed by James Humphreys, Junior; 1775

USEFUL READINGS

Corwin, Edward S. French Policy and the American Alliance of 1778. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1916.

To find more readings, use the following subject search in SOLO:

“United States History Revolution, 1775-1783 Foreign public opinion, French“

For more guidance on finding resources related to American History, contact bethan.davies@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

For more guidance on finding resources related to British and Western European History, check the online Bodleian guide or contact isabel.holowaty@bodleian.ox.ac.uk or rachel.darcy-brown@bodleian.ox.ac.uk