British Online Archives

Our latest “Document of the Week” was chosen by our Senior Curator, Dr Mary Wills. It is an engraving depicting the reform meeting in Manchester in 1819 which became known as “Peterloo”.

Read the full post here: https://hubs.li/Q04sm-BM0

Our latest “Document of the Week”, chosen by our Editor, Nishah Malik, is an article titled “Future of Pakistan”. With the 79th anniversary of the partition of the Indian subcontinent falling this week, it is important to reflect upon on the political consequences of partition, nationalism, and state-building in South Asia.

Read the full post here: https://hubs.li/Q04smZHF0

Our latest “Document of the Week” was chosen by our Senior Curator, Dr Charlie Hall. It is an 1896 order for the arrest of Robert Baden-Powell, later the founder of the Boy Scout movement, for his actions during the Second Matabele War.

Read the full post here: https://hubs.li/Q04r6lmM0

In light of America’s 250th independence anniversary, our Academic Liaison Manager, Dr Catherine Bateson, explores a page from the Proceedings of the US Continental Congress in July 1775.

Read the full post here: https://hubs.li/Q04pMVnx0

We’re happy to announce that we have a new primary source collection coming soon—The Strand Magazine, 1891–1930.

Founded by George Newnes, the first issue appeared in January 1891, selling over 300,000 copies. The magazine soon attracted nearly half a million readers per month.

The Strand developed into something of a British cultural institution, blending literary sophistication with broad, popular appeal. Its pages are associated, famously, with Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes, and the character’s faithful sidekick and biographer, Dr John H. Watson. Conan Doyle's ingenious plots, combined with Sidney Paget’s iconic illustrations, transformed Holmes into an international literary phenomenon and helped to establish the enduring reputation of The Strand. The magazine published work by many leading writers of the period, including Agatha Christie, Graham Greene, Rudyard Kipling, Edith Nesbit, Dorothy L. Sayers, W. Somerset Maugham, Leo Tolstoy, H. G. Wells, and P. G. Wodehouse.

Comprising editions of The Strand that were published monthly between 1891 and 1930, this collection will be an invaluable resource for those exploring the history of British illustrated publishing, as well as associated trends and themes, such as the cultural and social history of the late-Victorian and Edwardian eras.

You can learn more about this forthcoming resource and register your interest by visiting the collection landing page at https://hubs.li/Q04qDxw30.

You can explore our full range of unique primary source collections at https://hubs.li/Q04qDs680.

The Strand Magazine, 1891–1930 - Overview The Strand Magazine was one of the most influential and popular illustrated monthly periodicals of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Founded by George Newnes in 1890, the first issue appeared in January 1891, selling over 300,000 copies...

Our latest “Document of the Week”, chosen by our Editor, Nishah Malik, offers a striking glimpse into the consumer revolution that transformed British homes in the post-war years. Published in The Tatler and Bystander on 23 March 1955, this colourful advertisement for the English Electric EA.83 refrigerator is more than a simple sales pitch.

Read the full post here: https://hubs.ly/Q04nVHm70

We’re happy to announce that we have published a new primary source collection—Germany, 1920–1969: British Foreign Office Confidential Print.

The twentieth century was a time of great change and turmoil for Germany. In just fifty years, it experienced post-war revolution, an experiment with liberal democracy, the rise of Hi**er and the N**i Party, the establishment of a brutal dictatorship, the horrors of war and genocide, occupation by foreign powers, and division into two ideologically-opposed states.
Comprising over 55,000 images sourced from The National Archives (UK), Germany, 1920–1969: British Foreign Office Confidential Print surveys material relating to Germany and its nearest neighbours. It contains a wide variety of documents, all of which were selected by the Foreign Office for inclusion in its Confidential Print series, on the basis of their significance.

The government files in this collection reveal how well-informed British officials and diplomats perceived, interpreted, and responded to Germany throughout much of this critical period, offering an unrivalled English-language insight into the frequent and significant changes which Germany experienced during that time.
You can learn more about this unique resource by visiting the collection landing page at https://hubs.li/Q04pZSLC0.

You can explore our full range of primary source collections at https://hubs.li/Q04pZV8q0.

So as to ensure that our collections remain accessible and affordable, we launched our new Purchasing Scheme during the spring. It provides institutions with the opportunity to get a 20% discount on 20 of our most popular collections!

Every collection on the scheme is available as a one-off perpetual purchase!

We’d just like to highlight that the scheme will close on 31 July, so there is still time to make great savings on an excellent range of our unique primary source collections.

You can find out more about the scheme by visiting https://hubs.li/Q04phDMq0

You can explore our full range of collections by visiting https://hubs.li/Q04phv1b0

Our latest “Document of the Week” was chosen by our Senior Curator, Dr Mary Wills. It is a fifteenth-century Latin manuscript exploring the practice of palmistry, or palm reading.

Read the full post here: https://hubs.li/Q04nV5NV0

Our latest "Document of the Week" was chosen by our Editorial Assistant, Chloe Haney. It is an article from West Africa Magazine about Annie Jiagge, née Baeta, the first female magistrate in the Gold Coast/Ghana.

Read the full post here: https://hubs.li/Q04ncpgR0