Newly purchased collections from Adam Matthew Digital:
The Victorian Popular Culture Portal is comprised of three separate sections:
Spiritualism, Sensation and Magic
Circuses, Sideshows and Freaks
Music Hall, Theatre and Popular Entertainment
Taking its cue from the source material, the innovative portal interface welcomes readers into the darkened halls, small backrooms and travelling venues that hosted everything from spectacular shows and bawdy burlesque, to the world of magic and spiritualist séances.
It describes popular entertainment in America, Britain and Europe in the period from 1779 to 1930 and shows how interconnected these worlds were.
Foreign Office Files for China (Part 1):
Complete FO 371 and FCO 21 files from The National Archives, Kew
Available in three sections covering the periods 1949-1956; 1957-1966; and 1967-1980; this project addresses a crucial period in Chinese history, from the foundation of the People’s Republic, in 1949, to the death of Zhou Enlai and Mao, the arrest of the Gang of Four and the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976.
Made available are the complete British Foreign Office Files dealing with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan in this period. These files are particularly important because Britain was one of the first countries to recognise Communist China.
Mass Observation Online: (new content added)
Mass Observation Online offers revolutionary access to one of the most important archives for the study of Social History in the modern era. The material covers:
The end of the ‘Hungry Thirties’ when the impact of the Depression was still being felt;
The onset of war, the Blitz and war on the home front;
The post war world, with the rise of consumerism and television.
The archive has always been immensely popular with students because it offers immediate and engaging evidence of major trends such as the increasing role of women in work, the birth of the welfare state, anti-Semitism and anti-communism, the growth of secularism and the increasing importance of radio, television and cinema in people’s lives. Through interviews, overheard conversations, directive responses and diary entries it offers brilliant cameos describing life in the jazz halls, what people thought of the movies they saw, how people survived the random terror of the Blitz, and where they lived and worked.
Also purchased but available not yet available, coming fall 2010:
London Low Life:
Sources from the Lilly Library, Indiana University
This collection brings to life the teeming streets of Victorian London, inviting students and scholars to explore the gin palaces, brothels and East End slums of the nineteenth century’s greatest city.
From salacious ‘swell’s guides’ to scandalous broadsides and subversive posters, the material sold and exchanged on London’s bustling thoroughfares offers an unparalleled insight into the dark underworld of the city. Children’s chapbooks, street cries, slang dictionaries and ballads were all part of a vibrant culture of street literature.
This is also an incredible visual resource for students and scholars of London, with many full colour maps, cartoons, sketches and a full set of the essential Tallis’ Street Views of London – a unique resource for the study of London architecture and commerce. We also include George Gissing's famous London scrapbooks from the Pforzheimer Collection, containing his research for London novels such as New Grub Street and The Netherworld