We are excited to begin the new year by presenting you with the archives of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) covering 1482-2010.
Funded by research funding from our success in the last Research Excellence Framework exercise, this archive of historical geography is extensive and includes Maps, Atlases, Charts and Plans; Expedition Reports; Fieldnotes, Correspondence and Diaries; Grey Literature; Photographs, Artwork and Illustrations; Journal Manuscripts; Photographs; Proceedings, Lectures, and Ephemera. The collection spans a wide variety of interdisciplinary research areas, and supports educational needs in Anthropology, Area Studies; Cartography and Visualizations, Colonial, Post-Colonial & Decolonisation Studies; Development Studies; Environmental Degradation; Historical & Cultural Geography; Historical Sociology; Human Geography; Identity, Gender & Ethnic Studies; Geology; International Relations; Trade and Commerce, and Law and Policy relating to Colonization and over a hundred special collections.

Gale Primary Sources and AM are both fantastic sources of primary resources for anyone studying the history of many subjects. Documentary sources run the gamut from British and US intelligence to crime, punishment and popular culture in the 19th century, and from the history of sexuality to political extremism, taking in many 18th and 19 century British and US newspapers along the way.

We are delighted to announce that we have just added another eresource from AM Digital (formerly Adam Matthew) that is very relevant to Portsmouth: Life at sea. This new database gives you access to three centuries of archives from the UK and America that chronicle the lives of ordinary seamen, merchants, whalers, and pirates.

Artist's impression of librarians upon the arrival of new eresources

Good news, everybody! We now have many more information resources of interest to surprisingly wide audiences, from everything tangentially related to computing to resources that help diversify the curriculum and more archives on British history from Victoriana to the modern day. Whether you are into History, Design, or Electronic Engineering, we have something new here for you.

Summer is here, the weather is great (today!) and we all have a little more time to relax and take a break. We will be open over the summer though, so pop in, say hi, and pick up some holiday …

What’s on in the Library over the Summer Read more »

Lauded by LGBTQ+ celebrities from activist Peter Tatchell to author Patrick Gale, the book includes a diverse range of perspectives and topics from a historian’s perspective on the scarcity of recorded LGBTQ+ history to a summary of local newspaper representation of LGBTQ+ issues over the past 120 years, a celebration of the Island’s leading LGBTQ+ heroes and heroines over the past century, as well as critical discussions of the development and impact of the infamous Section 28 and of suicide amongst LGBTQ+ people, pairing factual historical and journalistic research with reflections on personal experience and verbatim oral history extracts from the residents of the Isle of Wight.

Winston Churchill still stands as one of Britain’s most controversial figures. A man of unparalleled drive and ambition, poet, artist, and master of rhetoric, he embodied the last throws of British imperialistic colonialism. Now you can discover the man, his …

Introducing the Churchill Archive Read more »

Search 150 years of scientific discovery The University Library has perpetual access to the British Association for the Advancement of Science – Collections on the History of Science (1830s-1970s) digital archive thanks to an arrangement with Wiley Digital Archives in partnership …

Free Online Training – BAAS Archive Read more »

Discover the slow but inexorable march to freedom for black people in the United States from the slavery abolition movement of the 1790s to the civil rights movements of the 1970s and on into the modern era in the Black …

Discover Black History in the US one historic document at a time Read more »

Until 6 March 2019, we have trial access to Gale Reference Complete, including newspapers, scholarly literature and an archive.  Please let us know if you use it and find it helpful.  This will help us decide whether it is worth subscribing …

Free trial access until 6 March 2019: Gale Reference Complete Read more »