Eresources news

Reblogged with permission from Languages across Borders

Cambridge University has now access to Latin American Newspapers Series 2, a comprehensive digital archive of historical newspapers published in Latin America and the Caribbean between 1822 and 1922. This resource complements Latin American Newspapers Series 1 (1805-1822), which was launched in Cambridge last March (see our blog post here). To access both series, click here.

This second series offers access to 250 titles from twenty countries (as opposed to just fifty titles in series 1). In addition, series 2 expands the numbers of issues for key titles, filling gaps in the series 1 release. Newspapers are primarily in Spanish or English, with a smaller number in Portuguese.

Series 2 includes titles in eleven countries not featured in series 1, namely Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti (with one title in French), Honduras, Nicaragua, and Paraguay. The number of digitised titles from Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Guatemala, Panamá and Venezuela has increased considerably in relation to series 1. A full list of digitised newspaper titles in series 1 and 2 is available here. Mexico, Bolivia, Venezuela, Panamá and Nicaragua (in this order) boast the largest number of newspaper titles digitised in the combined holdings of both series.

Latin American Newspapers Series 1 and 2 offers an unparallelled record of Latin American politics, society and events during the 19th and 20th centuries through first-hand accounts, letters, advertisements, poetry, obituaries, and other news items.

All newspapers are full text and fully searchable. Additional filtering options include year, decade or custom date ranges, publication name, location, headline, or language.

Records for each title are findable in iDiscover, e.g. Diario de la Guerra.

The Latin American Newspapers Series is part of the World Newspaper Archive (which also includes African Newspapers Series 1 and 2, and South Asian Newspapers). All these five databases can be accessed at Cambridge via the Databases A-Z.

For further information about other Latin American resources we provide, click here for the  A-Z Cambridge libraries LibGuide on Latin American studies.

Sonia Morcillo

We are pleased to announce that Overton has enabled their API for all University members that have an Overton account –

All registered users on the Cambridge license have now access to Overton’s API.

It can be  accessed from the web interface using Overton’s Export menu ( Export / Generate an API call) . 

Once you click on this, it will open up a new webpage and the key will be contained in the url.

Here is also a link to the swagger: https://app.overton.io/swagger.php and a couple of guides on how to use it  as well as using it in PowerBI. (it is rate-limited to 1/second).

The above information is also directly available from the web interface if you hover on the Help Tab :

Access Overton directly or via the Cambridge University Libraries A-Z. New users will be prompted to create an account with their @cam.ac.uk email and then can login at app.overton.io

Our trial access to the Brill Primary Source British Colonial Policy and Intelligence Files on Asia and the Middle East, c. 1880–1950 has been extended until 30 June 2025.

Please tell us what you think about this resource using our feedback form.

British Colonial Policy and Intelligence Files on Asia and the Middle East, c. 1880–c. 1950 is a primary source database comprising fourteen collections of historical British government documents pertaining to various countries in Asia and the Middle East on which intelligence was gathered, such as India, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Persia/Iran. The original documents are part of the Oriental & India Office Collections (OIOC, now part of the Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections), British Library, London.

“Report on tour to Ranong“. British Intelligence on Siam (Thailand) and Mainland Southeast Asia, c. 1887–1948. Leiden: De Gruyter, 2024.

The following collections are included –

British Intelligence and Policy on Persia (Iran), c. 1900–1949
British Intelligence Files on the Chinese in Tibet (c. 1900–1950)
British Intelligence on Afghanistan and Its Frontiers, c. 1888–1946
British Intelligence on Russia in Central Asia, c. 1865–1949
British Intelligence on Siam (Thailand) and Mainland Southeast Asia, c. 1887–1948
British Intelligence on the Gulf Arab States, c. 1914–1948
British Intelligence on The North-West Frontier, 1901–1949
British Intelligence on Yemen, c. 1880–1967
British Military Intelligence on China and the Boxer Rising, c. 1880–1930
Delineating British Burma, c. 1826–1949
Indian Political Intelligence Files, 1912–1950
The Creation of Modern Iraq, c. 1914–1921
The Creation of Modern Saudi Arabia, c. 1914–1939
The Rise of Modern Turkey, c. 1906–1939

You can also access this trial via the Databases AZ.

Overton, the database of policy documents and the relationships between them, have recently launched a new policy source taxonomy which may help refine more accurately the type of policy organisations of interest for your research project. The new taxonomy system contains a more granular set of categorisations across three levels:

• 1st level is now Public Sector, Private Sector and Third Sector
• 2nd level is organisation type which provides more description of the policy organisation
• 3rd level allow users to choose specific policy organisation functions

Overton have also updated and improved their SDG filter. It now uses an advanced multi-label approach, which allows a single classifier to predict multiple categories at the same time. This means the classifier can simultaneously categorize policy documents into multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their corresponding targets. As input it uses the new document descriptions and uses ModernBERT, a powerful language model known for its ability to understand the context of text, and organises the classification process hierarchically.

Find out more about these updates in their recent blog post.

Access Overton directly or via the Cambridge University Libraries A-Z. You will be prompted to create an account with your @cam.ac.uk email and then can login at app.overton.io

Characteristics of Overton Index’s data

We are pleased to announce that Cambridge users now have trial access to Guanzhen Yunjian Qing Palace Archives 观箴云简清宫档案

Trial access is active until 3 June 2025.

Please tell us what you think about this resource using our feedback form.

Guanzhen Yunjian Qing Palace Archives 观箴云简清宫档案 is a full-text database containing 250,000 Qing Palace diary entries organised into eight sections including –

Qing Palace Household Department Workshop Records 《清宫内务府造办处活计档》

Secret Palace Pearl Forest 《秘殿珠林》

Shiqu Baoji 《石渠宝笈》

Qing Palace Porcelain Archives 《清宫瓷器档案》

Qing Dynasty Imperial Poems 《清代御制诗》

Qing Palace Furnishings Archives 《清宫陈设档案》

Qing Dynasty Royal Furnishings Secret Archives Jingming Garden Volume 《清代皇家陈设秘档静明园卷》

Qing Palace Summer Palace Archives Furnishings Collection Volume 《清宫颐和园档案陈设档收藏卷》

Please note that access is via IP recognition – just click on the red login bar to access the database, username and password not needed (screenshot above). We recommend using Google Chrome for this resource.

This trial allows 5 concurrent users, so please remember to exit the database when you finish.

Also available to access via the Databases AZ.

Members of the University of Cambridge now have trial access, both remotely and on campus, to 5 collections from British Archives Online. The collections being trialled are Colonial Africa in Official Statistics, 1821–1953, Communisms and the Cold War, 1944–1986, London Life, 1965–1966, Slavery, Exploitation, and Trade in the West Indies, 1759–1832, and The Sphere, 1900–1964.

Trial access is available until 30th June 2025.
Downloading is not available. Access to the trial collections will be read only.

Send us you thoughts about these collections using the feedback form.

Descriptions from the British Online Archives platform for the collections available in the trial are provided below.

Colonial Africa in Official Statistics, 1821–1953
The brutal division and colonisation of Africa by European powers is commonly referred to as the “Scramble for Africa”.
The United Kingdom controlled the largest portion of territory. British colonial regulations required each colony to submit a “Blue Book” to the Colonial Office on an annual basis. The aim was to standardise statistical reports, primarily those relating to economic development, as well as demographic, ecclesiastical, and public records.

This collection contains Blue Books and other archival material from thirteen British colonies and protectorates in Africa compiled during the period 1821–1953. The standardised nature of the Blue Books allows for comparisons to be drawn geographically (i.e. between colonies) and over time on issues and trends such as the slave trade, economic policy, education, and public health.  

Communisms and the Cold War, 1944–1986
Learn how the Soviet Union, China, and Yugoslavia vied for the loyalty of Western communists.
This collection contains reports and other records compiled by the Communist Party of Great Britain’s (CPGB) International Department between 1944 and 1986. 

The majority of the documents cover the Sino-Soviet split and the Chinese-Indian disputes of the 1960s and 1970s. There are also materials relating to Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe, the left in Western Europe, and anti-colonial movements in the developing world. They provide a fascinating insight into the competing power blocs which arose throughout the communist world during the Cold War and how British communists reacted to the resulting, internecine disputes.

London Life, 1965–1966
 Throughout its brief existence, it proved adept at conveying the spirit of the “Swinging Sixties” in the world’s “capital of cool”. Encompassing nearly 5,000 images, this collection contains all 63 issues of London Life, published between October 1965 and December of the following year. 

London Life covered a wide range of topics, from music and film to sexuality and the thriving nightlife of London’s West End. It likewise captured the increasingly cosmopolitan nature of British society, documenting the emergence of a more diverse media landscape and audience. Featuring interviews with cultural icons, such as Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger, as well as contributions from rising stars, such as the supermodel, Jean Shrimpton, and the popular entertainer, Anita Harris, London Life remains emblematic of 1960s counterculture. This collection contains essential material for those interested in the cultural history of the 1960s and, more specifically, in Britain’s cultural revolution and the advent of its “permissive society”.

Slavery, Exploitation, and Trade in the West Indies, 1759–1832
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Jamaica was the largest and most profitable island in Britain’s West Indian plantation economy. An estimated one million enslaved Africans were forcibly shipped there to work on the island’s plantations, from which sugar was the main export. In 1759, Nathaniel Phillips of Slebech in Pembrokeshire moved to Jamaica. In 1761, he bought half of the Pleasant Hill plantation. During his time on the island he acquired four plantations and owned hundreds of enslaved people. Phillips’ papers form part of the Slebech Estate records held at the National Library of Wales. They provide numerous, albeit unsettling, insights into the history of slavery in Jamaica.

The documents in this collection date from 1759 to 1832. They cover Phillips’ arrival in Jamaica, his purchase of Pleasant Hill, his return to England as an absentee plantation owner in 1789, his death in 1813, and the subsequent division of his assets between his family. The collection contains a wealth of information regarding his financial activities in the West Indies and, importantly, the documents shed light on the experiences of enslaved people on his plantations

The Sphere, 1900–1964
Established in 1900 and in circulation until 1964.
This collection includes nearly 160,000 images and almost 4,000 issues from The Sphere, published between January 1900 and June 1964.

The Sphere reflected a patriotic and staunchly pro-establishment position, expressing support for the British monarchy and for the empire. The publication reported extensively on world events, such as the rise of communism, the First and Second World Wars, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. It printed articles discussing a wide range of prominent personalities from the arts, sciences, and politics—from John Ruskin to Albert Einstein; from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Golda Meir. It also featured contributions from well-known literary figures, such as the acclaimed children’s author, A. A. Milne, and the prolific journalist, Charles Graves. This collection contains vital material for researchers and students of British society, military history, and the legacies of colonialism.

Cambridge University members now have trial access to Kamakura Ibun and Heian Ibun 鎌倉遺文 & 平安遺文 from JapanKnowledge.

Trial access is active until 23 May 2025.

Please tell us what you think about this resource using our feedback form.

Kamakura Ibun (Collection of Historical Materials of the Kamakura Period) – this collection comprises 42 volumes and four volumes of supplementary materials published by Takeuchi Rizo (1907-1997, former head of the Historiographical Institute of the University of Tokyo) over a period of 24 years from 1971(Showa 46). This is a complete collection of all roughly 36,000 antique texts from the Kamakura period. Full-text search and full-page view are enabled. 

Heian Ibun (Collection of Historical Materials of the Heian Period) – this is the latest digital edition of the renowned collection of historical materials indispensable for the study of the Heian period. Started in 1947, 11 volumes were published for over 20 years. These materials were a milestone in the history of historiography that brought about dramatic developments in Japan’s historiographical research into the Heian period. A type-page of the book can be browsed on the same screen as a keyword search. Illustrations, genealogical charts and other graphic material are also displayed.

Example of a family tree

Cambridge University members now have trial access to the Chinese Historical Local Archives Database 中国地方历史文献数据库.

Trial access is active until 31 July 2025.

Please tell us what you think about this resource using our feedback form.

The Chinese Historical Local Archives Database 中国地方历史文献数据库 contains documents that originate mainly from private collections in the provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, and Jiangxi. The archives includes contracts, private and company ledgers, examination documents, medical prescriptions, local theatre and opera material, court records, letters and family records. The majority of the documents date from the Qing and Republican period, and have been arranged according to regions.

You can also access this trial via the Databases AZ.

【名称】藥方 【档案号】01100412050043

We are pleased to announce that Cambridge users now have trial access to the Brill Primary Source British Colonial Policy and Intelligence Files on Asia and the Middle East, c. 1880–1950.

This trial is active until 28 May 2025 (and we are aiming to have this extended to end of June).

Please tell us what you think about this resource using our feedback form.

British Colonial Policy and Intelligence Files on Asia and the Middle East, c. 1880–c. 1950 is a primary source database comprising fourteen collections of historical British government documents pertaining to various countries in Asia and the Middle East on which intelligence was gathered, such as India, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Persia/Iran. The original documents are part of the Oriental & India Office Collections (OIOC, now part of the Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections), British Library, London.

The following collections are included –

British Intelligence and Policy on Persia (Iran), c. 1900–1949
British Intelligence Files on the Chinese in Tibet (c. 1900–1950)
British Intelligence on Afghanistan and Its Frontiers, c. 1888–1946
British Intelligence on Russia in Central Asia, c. 1865–1949
British Intelligence on Siam (Thailand) and Mainland Southeast Asia, c. 1887–1948
British Intelligence on the Gulf Arab States, c. 1914–1948
British Intelligence on The North-West Frontier, 1901–1949
British Intelligence on Yemen, c. 1880–1967
British Military Intelligence on China and the Boxer Rising, c. 1880–1930
Delineating British Burma, c. 1826–1949
Indian Political Intelligence Files, 1912–1950
The Creation of Modern Iraq, c. 1914–1921
The Creation of Modern Saudi Arabia, c. 1914–1939
The Rise of Modern Turkey, c. 1906–1939

You can also access this trial via the Databases AZ.

“Report on tour to Ranong“. British Intelligence on Siam (Thailand) and Mainland Southeast Asia, c. 1887–1948. Leiden: De Gruyter, 2024.

Through the support of anonymous donors, Cambridge University now has access to the Bible and Western Christian Literature collection from Bloomsbury.

The Bible and Western Christian Literature is an authoritative resource that explores the Bible’s impact and influence on the development of literature. Moving from the classical period to modern day, students and scholars can chart the course through primary materials, essays, and more. With international contributions that reflect the biblical text itself, this work considers the broader geographical, philosophical, and theological factors as part of the Bible’s role in culture and society.

You can access the Bible and Western Christian Literature and other theology resources we provide via the Databases AZ.

Title records are also available in iDiscover.

See the Theology and Religious Studies LibGuide for more information on resources for this subject.

 

Many are surprised – there’s sun, there’s sea, but there’s definitely no sand on Brighton’s beach. How can there be this much sun and this much sea but no sand? But there’s serials instead.

UKSG is a uniquely energizing conference, for the plenaries, breakouts, the exhibition, and the opportunities for interactions with colleagues and partners in libraries, publishing, and intermediaries. In literally half a week you upload the issues the most urgent for all in the knowledge information industry, and where the future is – complexly – leading, and how and where we can play a part in leading it.

Here are highlights of the United Kingdom Serials Group’s annual conference, mainly for our blog’s librarian-readers.

Cambridge University members now have trial access to the digital archive of the People’s Liberation Army Daily, Jiefangjun Bao Digital Archive 解放军报.

Trial access is active until 2 May 2025.

Please tell us what you think about this resource using our feedback form.

Jiefangjun Bao Digital Archive 解放军报 is the official newspaper of the People’s Republic of China’s Central Military Commission. The publication was established in 1956 and acts as the authoritative mediaof the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to release military news and comprehensive military-related information.

This archive contains all published issues from 1956-present (over 950,000 articles) and offers scholars the most comprehensive collection available for this title. The archive is full text only and includes all content contained in the original published issues.

You can access this trial via the Databases AZ.

We are pleased to announce that Cambridge users now have access to the following extensions to Primary Sources from Gale: 

British Library Newspapers, Part VII: Southeast Asian Newspapers

The Independent Historical Archive, 2017-2021 Supplement

British Library Newspapers, Part VII: Southeast Asian Newspapers

Comprising more than 36 English-language newspapers from the British Library’s prestigious Asia, Pacific, and Africa collections, Part VII of the British Library Newspapers series is an invaluable resource for scholars teaching and studying the British Empire, the colonial and postcolonial history of Southeast Asia, and the history of journalism and publishing in general.

On its own, Part VII offers an essential window into the lives of both the settlers and indigenes, showcasing how the colonial administrations of the British Empire interacted with the native population and promoted the ideas of Western knowledge, culture, and institutions. When combined with Parts I to VI of its parent series, it provides countless possibilities to explore how the opinions of British government representatives, merchants, and locals of Southeast Asia interacted with and, sometimes, clashed against each other in the larger context of the British Empire.

The Independent Historical Archive, 2017-2021 Supplement

In 2016, the Independent became the first national newspaper to go digital only, with its last print edition released on the 26th of March. Since then, readers with access to Independent Premium received a digital replica of the newspaper, an ad-free daily that retains the look and feel of the old print edition. These papers are now a part of the Independent Historical Archive with its new supplement, including all the biggest stories, puzzles, and more.

You can access these two extensions and many more Gale Primary Sources via the Cambridge University Libraries E-resources A-Z.