New E-Resource : Bungei Shunju Archives (1942-1950)

We are pleased to announce that Cambridge University members now have access to Bungei Shunju Archives (1942-1950).

Please note our subscription currently includes only the years 1942 to 1950. These issues can provide insight into what major authors and other public figures in Japan were saying during World War II and immediately after the war.

​​From the publisher website:

Bungeishunju is a general monthly magazine founded by the author Kikuchi Kan in January 1923 (Taisho 12). As Kikuchi wrote in his Founding Message, “I’m tired of being asked to say things. I want to say what I am thinking with a sense of freedom, without having to be concerned about readers and editors,” he founded the magazine with the wish to conduct free writing activities that would not be hemmed in by the framework of literary circles. Bungeishunju became a forum for the publication of essays and creative writing by a great number of authors including, of course, Akutagawa Ryunosuke, but also Kume Masao, Kawabata Yasunari, Satomi Ton, Kobayashi Hideo and Naoki Sanjugo.

The publication of articles on current affairs also began in the early Showa period, and what especially caught the attention of the reading public were the round-table discussions. Bungeishunju was able to invite to these the most prominent personalities of the time to speak on a variety of topics.

Also available to access via iDiscover and the Databases A-Z.

This archive is part of JapanKnowledge which has a limit of 4 concurrent users, so please log out when you have finished using the resource.

Davenport Papers and Slave Trade Records from Liverpool (British Online Archives) – Trial access to 6 July 2022

We are very pleased to announce that from today trial access to Slave Trading Records from William Davenport & Co., 1745-1797 and Slave Trade Records from Liverpool, 1754-1792 is available to 6 July 2022 for Cambridge University members.

Please tell us about your use of these resources via this feedback form.

Slave Trading Records from William Davenport & Co., 1745-1797

William Davenport was a Liverpool merchant and British slave trader. From the late 1740s till the early 1790s, he invested regularly in the African slave trade and was a partner in slaving ventures with other leading merchant Liverpool families.

Slave Trade Records from Liverpool, 1754-1792

This collection offers a window into one of the darkest episodes of Britain’s history. Over the course of the 18th century, Liverpool became Britain’s busiest and most profitable slave-trading port in the country. The practice of slavery was abolished in 1807 but not before British merchants had gained unimaginable wealth at the expense of enslaved African people, who were sold to new markets in the Americas.