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In the world of government propaganda, nothing is ever as it seems. See how government messaging changed across the 20th century with this unique insight into what successive British governments wanted their citizens to know, think, and do with primary historical sources from our premium database British Government Information and Propaganda, 1939-2009.

From posters and stickers to pamphlets and guidance booklets, this fully searchable online archive provides a unique insight into what successive British governments wanted their citizens to know, think, and do, as well as how their methods and media of achieving their aims changed over time. It also reveals the image of Britain that different governments chose to project to the rest of the world.

February is Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans, Queer, Intersex and Asexual (and all the other strands of sexual and gender diversity) awareness month. I will be posting regularly here on the Library blog about the history of how the understanding of sexual diversity developed since the concept of sexuality was discovered or perhaps invented in the nineteenth century, through the fight to develop greater awareness, tolerance and freedoms for all people throughout the twentieth century and then looking at the state of LGBTQIA+ rights today.

I’d like to start this LGBTQIA+ History Month with a focus on some largely forgotten LGBTQIA+ artists. There are several art exhibitions featuring works by LGBTQIA+ artists that you can visit between February and April 2024, including several in London and one in nearby Chichester you could visit, any of which will make for a pleasant day out.

Join me for a jaunt down memory lane back to the days when you were taking your first steps and I was already feeling old. I’ve found a website that recaptures the feel and content of the last vestiges of the early web, which made me reflect on how we got from there to where we are now. The journey turns out to tell the half-forgotten and twisted tale of the rise of the dangerous loner from the dark alleys of the early internet to political centre stage.

On the other hand, if all you want is to take a gander at early 2000s websites, I promise you will not be disappointed. One thing is for certain: you will never It’s clearly a labour of love and well worth a look. I promise you one thing: you will never feel badly again about the design of any website you create after seeing what people proudly put their names to 20 years ago!

Learn directly from the experts from ProQuest how to trace the development of British politics from the 17th century onwards and explore the vast tracts of magazines and periodicals from nineteenth century penny dreadfuls to richly illustrated family magazines, temperance campaigns, political satire and twentieth century popular journalism. This webinar will have something of interest for everyone from history, politics and social science students through to journalists, typographers, and layout designers interested in the history of their arts.

If you are using primary historical sources in your studies, join our Gale primary sources reps at their drop-in running in the Libary Atrium today between 11 am and 3 pm. Jo and Charlotte will be offering tailored advice on finding the best evidence for your research from the extensive and diverse collections of primary sources available.

Looking back over the Black History Month blog posts from last year, you will find descriptions of the many powerful Black women who successfully overcame the frightening violence and persecution that followed the uptick in racism and fearmongering in the 1950s following the post-war economic collapse. Figures such as Mavis Best who changed the law from a tool of persecution to a standard for equality that gave police sweeping powers of arrest without cause and allowed them to intimidate Black people with the threat of arbitrary arrest and instigated the Race Relations Act of 1965 that replaced colonial laws and established equal rights in law for everyone, regardless of their ethnicity. These figures are so important that I wanted to revisit them again briefly here.