Our collections

Directly compare official records with popular sources to explore the political and social issues of the decade.

Study military conflicts, political and diplomatic rivalries, exploration, Christian missions, technological advancements, slavery and encounters between European colonisers and African communities during this major period of colonial expansion.

From communal struggle to creative outpourings: uncover the everyday lives of African Americans spanning two turbulent centuries.

Explore five centuries of journeys across the globe, scientific discoveries, the expansion of European colonialism, conflict over territories and trade routes and decades-long search and rescue attempts in this multi-archive collection dedicated to the history of exploration.

The stories of American military personnel and civilians during the Second World War through their oral histories, correspondence, diaries, photographs, artefacts and military records. This digital resource offers an insight into the personal experiences of those involved in the conflict, both on the United States home front and on deployment overseas in Europe, the Mediterranean, the Pacific, China, Burma and India.

The digital archive of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, which holds one of the outstanding collections on American History. It is full of spectacular individual items, but it also has rich veins of manuscript research material. This makes it ideal for teaching survey courses on American History, but equally valuable as a platform for undergraduate essay work and postgraduate research.

Comprised of original manuscripts, rare printed books, maps and ephemeral material from the Everett D Graff Collection of Western Americana at the Newberry Library in Chicago, American West is a source for the study of westward US expansion from the 18th to the 20th century. Including documents from 1718-1968, it has tales of frontier life, Native Americans, vigilantes and outlaws, as well as evidence of the growth of urban centres, the environmental impact of westward expansion and life in the borderlands.

Explore the rise of the global human rights movement during the second half of the twentieth century through the International Secretariat records of Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Amnesty International.

This exciting new video resource comprises around 7,000 early twentieth century Topical Budget newsreels drawn from British Film Institute and Imperial War Museums.

Explore the history of twentieth century broadcasting in America through the papers of early pioneer, David Sarnoff, and the Radio Corporation of America.

A collection of rare books, games, ephemera and artwork from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that reveals the socio-cultural history of these times. Showcasing innovative new publishing methods characteristic of the golden age of children’s literature, from mass-produced chapbooks to richly illustrated ‘book-beautifuls’, this resource examines the way in which new concepts were introduced to young readers, encouraging an engagement with the imagination which went on to fundamentally shape established notions of childhood.