New eresources: Drama Online – The Classic Spring Oscar Wilde Collection

Through the support of anonymous donors, Cambridge University now has access to the Classic Spring Oscar Wilde Collection on Drama Online.

The Oscar Wilde Season at the Vaudeville in October 2018 was the first offering from Classic Spring, Dominic Dromgoole’s new theatre company, founded as he left Shakespeare’s Globe. The season revolved around Wilde’s four great Victorian plays, which shocked and redefined British theatre when first performed, and still resonate today.

The available plays are:

LADY WINDERMERE’S FAN

The day of Lady Windermere’s birthday party, and all is perfectly in order. Until her friend Lord Darlington plants a seed of suspicion. Is her husband having an affair? And will the other woman really attend the party? First performed in 1892, Lady Windermere’s Fan explores the ambiguity of upper class morality and the fragile position of women in the late Victorian era. It has always proved one of Wilde’s most popular and witty plays.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

Widely considered one of the funniest plays in English, Wilde’s much loved masterpiece throws love, logic and language into the air to make one of theatre’s most dazzling firework displays. Jack, Algy, Gwendolyn and Cecily discover how unsmooth runs the course of true love, while Lady Bracknell keeps a baleful eye on this mayhem of manners.

A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE

An earnest young American woman, a louche English lord, and an innocent young chap join a house party of fin de siècle fools and grotesques. Nearby a woman lives, cradling a long buried secret. Wilde’s marriage of glittering wit and Ibsenite drama create a vivid new theatrical voice.

AN IDEAL HUSBAND

The Rolls-Royce of English comedies, this entertaining and still topical play brings an act of political sin into the heart of the English home. As an ambitious government minister, Sir Robert Chiltern’s smooth ascent to the top seems assured, until Mrs Cheveley appears in London with damning proof of a previous financial scandal.

Database highlight – Women and Transnational Networks (NCCO)

Cambridge University members have online access to Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO): Women and Transnational Networks on the Gale Primary Sources platform.

Issues of gender and class ignited nineteenth-century debate in the context of suffrage movements, culture, immigration, health and many other concerns. Using a wide array of primary source documents—serials, books, manuscripts, diaries, reports, and visuals—Women and Transnational Networks focuses on issues at the intersection of gender and class from the late-eighteenth century to the era of suffrage in the early-twentieth century, all through a transnational perspective. The collection contains deep information on European and North American movements, but also expands its scope to include collections from other regions.

Researchers and scholars will find rare content related to social reform movements and groups, high and popular culture, literature and the arts, immigration, daily life and religion.

“It was in the month of November, 1877, in the parish of St. Anne’s, Lowell, Mass., as many of you know, that the Girls’ Friendly Society first came into existence and shape in America. It was started by a few persons, who, looking for some mode of influencing Sunday-School girls growing into womanhood, found one in an account given in the Monthly Packet of May, 1875, of the organization ot’ a society in England under that name. The aims and objects of the English society seemed so well suited to our wants, and its construction so well adapted to promote those objects, that a local Girls’ Friendly Society was at once formed, adopting the same rules, and follow¬ ing the same methods.” – Church Work, 1889, Vol.IV (3), p.78.

Also available via the Cambridge E-Resources A-Z

Image credit: Stock Photo ID: 276577 Vintage Photo of the Princess Mary Caravan of The Girls Friendly Society

 

British Library Newspapers Part VI: Ireland, 1783-1950

Cambridge University Libraries now provides access to the digital archive British Library Newspapers Part VI: Ireland, 1783-1950

Access the British Library Newspapers Part VI: Ireland, 1783-1950 archive here or via the Cambridge University Libraries E-resources A-Z.

Although there were fewer restrictions, and they were not subject to the Stamp Acts, the growth of Irish newspapers was slow compared to England throughout the eighteenth century. Many of the earliest publications originated in Dublin, and a provincial press was slower to emerge. From the early 1730s, the Irish press began to develop its own tone as it moved away from adapting and reproducing news from outside of Ireland, and by 1760 there were more than 160 newspapers, dominated by Dublin. This archive begins at the point where the Irish press had started to become ‘Irish’, rather than an extension of the English press; and when provincial and politically motivated publications began to increase in quality and prominence.

The social and legal structures of eighteenth-century Ireland meant that the press was dominated by Protestant businesses until the early nineteenth century when a ‘Catholic press’ emerged. As a result, there was “a limitation on the circulation possibilities of the newspapers, and [Protestant dominance] tended to dictate an editorial content that stressed exclusivity and conservatism”. As the press expanded, a greater variety of newspapers reached the market, bringing with them a greater variety of voices and perspectives. Emergent social, economic, political, and religious ideologies that combined to form the underlying allegiances and divisions in Ireland through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries generated their own publications, which are represented among the selected titles in this archive.

By Keogh Brothers Ltd., photographers [1] – Life goes on…, National Library of Ireland on The Commons, No restrictions, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24252282

Political Extremism and Radicalism

Cambridge University Libraries now provides access to the digital archive Political Extremism and Radicalism

Access the Political Extremism and Radicalism archives here or via the Cambridge University Libraries E-resources A-Z.

Liberal democracies of North America, Europe and Australasia throughout the twentieth century have experienced a variety of forms of extremism and radicalism that have shaped mainstream political thinking as well as cultural norms.  

To comprehend modern governmental and societal systems researchers must understand the environment that created them, their origins, and their adversaries.  In the series Political Extremism and Radicalism Gale provides insight on unorthodox (by contemporary standards), fringe groups from both the right and left of the political spectrum through rare, hard to access primary sources.  

Content supports scholars and students answering questions on philosophical, social, political and economic ideologies as well as on contemporary issues surrounding gender, sexuality, race, religion, civil rights, universal suffrage, and much more.

By unknown – Tuscaloosa Independent Monitor or Independent Monitor,’, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=242275

State Papers Online Colonial: Asia Part I: Far East, Hong Kong, and Wei-Hai-Wei

Cambridge University Libraries now provides access to the digital archive State Papers Online Colonial: Asia Part I: Far East, Hong Kong, and Wei-Hai-Wei

Access the State Papers Online Colonial: Asia Part I: Far East, Hong Kong, and Wei-Hai-Wei archives here or via the Cambridge University Libraries E-resources A-Z.

State Papers Online Colonial: Asia, Part I: Far East, Hong Kong, and Wei-Hai-Wei is the first part of a major new programme bringing the British Colonial Office files to a global audience.  State Papers Online Colonial Asia will eventually be comprised of four parts and is the digitisation of the British Colonial Office’s files (CO series) of documents now housed in The National Archives in the United Kingdom.

These working files bear witness to the two very different sides in the colonial relationship: a British Government whose main priority was the acquisition of commodities, wealth and labour; and the local people living under colonial rule and British-style institutions for law, health, education, policing, defence, agriculture and industry.

All of the documents have been imaged in colour, which will enable users to clearly read the
annotations in different colours by Colonial Office officers and ministers commenting on the documents, bringing an extra insight into the thoughts and actions of the time. 

By Unknown author – C. P. Lucas: A Historical Geography of the British Colonies, Second Edition, Volume I: The Mediterranean and Eastern Colonies,. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1906., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46400911

China and the Modern World: Hong Kong, Britain, and China Part II: 1965-1993

Cambridge University Libraries now provides access to the digital archive China and the Modern World: Hong Kong, Britain, and China Part II: 1965-1933.

This follows the purchase of the archive China and the Modern World: Hong Kong, Britain, and China Part I: 1841-1951.

Access the China and the Modern World archives here or via the Cambridge University Libraries E-resources A-Z.

Digitised primarily from the records of British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO 40), this collection continues where Hong Kong, Britain and China, 1841–1951 (Part I) left off, and documents the process of Hong Kong manoeuvring, surviving, thriving, and transforming into a modern international metropolis and financial centre in the wider context of the Cold War.

Consisting of all declassified volumes—that are directly related to Hong Kong and those that affect all British colonies or territories—from the National Archives classes FCO 40 and 21, China and the Modern World: Hong Kong, Britain and China Part II, 1965–1993 provides scholars with essential reference material for researching Hong Kong and its interactions with mainland China, UK, US, Taiwan, and other parts of Asia. It will appeal to students and researchers around the world, particularly in Asia Pacific, Britain, Europe, and North America, who are engaged in researching the twentieth-century history of China, Britain and British Commonwealth, and Sino-British relations during the era of Cold War.

By Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29153071

New eresource – Gale Business Insights

Cambridge University members now have access to Gale Business: Insights, which provides an extensive collection of business intelligence, combining Gale reference content with respected business sources and full-text periodicals to help researchers understand today’s global business environment.

Users can access more than 430,000 detailed company profiles with company financial data, in-depth country overviews, and comprehensive industry profiles to stay current with the ever-evolving business landscape.

While this global database is a valuable resource for students, Gale Business: Insights also offers relevant information to educate and accelerate the business activities of budding entrepreneurs, small business owners, financial planners, and established business professionals.

Also available to access via the Databases A-Z.

New eresources – JSTOR collections (Lives of Literature, Security Studies, Sustainability, Arts & Sciences XV)

We are pleased to announce that Cambridge University members now have permanent access to the JSTOR collections Arts & Science XV, Lives of Literature, Security Studies, and Sustainability.

All of our JSTOR databases are listed in the A-Z Databases.

Arts & Sciences Collection XV

Collection XV has been added to our library in addition to collections I to XIV that are already available to us. A title list for this collection is available here. Now, when you search the JSTOR platform, you will have full text access to all of the collections.

Lives of Literature

JSTOR Lives of Literature is a collection of academic journals devoted to the deep study of writers and texts associated with core literary movements. Key topics include: Medieval Authors & Texts; Modernist Authors; Victorian, Edwardian & Gothic Authors; and Literary Theorists.

A complete title list is available to view here.

Security Studies

Explore a wide range of journals, ebooks, and research reports in the field of security studies. This content looks at security studies through a broad lens, encompassing research on international security and peace and conflict studies from all corners of the globe.

Sustainability

Discover a wide range of journals, ebooks, and research reports in the field of sustainability. The subjects of resilience and sustainability are explored broadly, covering research on environmental stresses and their impact on society.

We now have access to all 15 of the Arts & Sciences archive collections along with individual JSTOR collections, including  Global Plants, Hebrew journals (title list) and Struggles for Freedom, Irish Studies, and World Heritage Sites.

Photo by Oladimeji Ajegbile from Pexels

Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/alternative-energy-blade-blue-clouds-414928/

New e-resource : Mail on Sunday Historical Archive, 1982-2011

The Mail on Sunday Historical Archive, 1982-2011 is now available for members of the University of Cambridge to access.

The Mail on Sunday was established in 1982 under the same ownership but editorially separate from the Daily Mail. Now, four decades of British and world history can be explored online through the full run of this generally conservative, sometimes sensationalist tabloid paper and its supplements.

The Mail on Sunday presents detailed reporting and analysis of events in British history from the premiership of Margaret Thatcher to that of David Cameron, and of world events from the Falklands War to international terrorism in the early 21st century.

Launched as the Sunday sister paper to the Daily Mail under the ownership of Lord Rothermere, the Mail on Sunday had three different editors in its first year – initially under Bernard Shrimsley, the paper was taken over by David English, then-editor of the Daily Mail, in order to boost circulation after a disappointing launch. Finally, Stewart Steven was appointed to the role, where he remained for a decade, significantly growing circulation.

The Mail on Sunday Historical Archive, 1982-2011 is available on the Databases A-Z.

Text from the Gale platform.

Image credit:

Title The  Mail on Sunday, Date Sunday,  Dec. 27, 1987, Issue Number 290, Page Number1

New e-resource : Early Arabic Books from the British Library

Early Arabic Books from the British Library is now available for members of the University of Cambridge to access.

Early Arabic Printed Books from the British Library (1475-1900) is the first full-text searchable digital library of early printed books in Arabic script. Covering religious literature, law, science, mathematics, astrology, alchemy, medicine, geography, travel, history, chronicles, and literature, and including European translations of Arabic works and Arabic translations of European books, it exemplifies the long exchange of ideas and learning between Europe and the Arabic-speaking world.

Two lions.,A treatise on animals and the medical properties of the various parts of their bodies, compiled from works of Aristotle and Ibn Bakhtishu’.

Origin of the collection

The British Library’s collection of Arabic printed books was formed partly from the former British Museum Library (which became the British Library in 1973), and partly from the India Office Library. The India Office was set up in 1858 to oversee the administration of the Provinces of British India (today Bangladesh, Burma, India, and Pakistan), as well as Aden and other British territories around the Indian Ocean. It closed in 1947 with the independence of India and Pakistan. The India Office library originated in 1798 as the East India Company’s library which was taken over by the India Office in 1867.

Strengths of the collection

Three fish.,This is an undated translation from Arabic into Persian of the first part of ‘Aja’ib-almakhlukat wa ghara’ib almaujudat’ by the thirteenth century sage al-Kazwini (sometimes rendered as al-Qazwini).

The British Library collection is particularly strong in the following areas:

• Early Arabic printing
• Classical texts of Islamic scholarship
• Arabic literary writing
• Early European publications in Arabic
• Early printings of philosophical and medical works in Spain and Italy
• Rare 18th century publications from presses in the Levant
• Arabic books printed in Alexandria on presses brought into Egypt by the French
• Bulaq printing established by Muhammed ‘Ali in 1822
• Arabic books printed in India from 1867 to 1900
• Early Arabic journals and newspapers
  
  Languages

The collection comprises works printed from 1470 to the end of the 19th century. These include printings of Arabic works on European printing presses until the early 19th century as well as translations of Arabic works into Latin and the languages of Europe, Middle East and India. The main text-searchable languages are Arabic (and this is unique to this product for early Arabic printing), English, French, German, and Latin. All metadata to the works is searchable enabling discovery of content in Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Ottoman Turkish, Persian, and Syriac. Finally there are small quantities of 22 other languages from Italian, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish to Aramaic, Bengali, Gujarati and Urdu. The collection illustrates the extent to which Arabic works were disseminated through Europe and Asia. A study of the printing towns further underlines this point.

Early Arabic Books from the British Library is also available to access via the Databases A-Z.

Text from the Gale platform.

Image credits:

D40039-90 Source: Or. 2784 f.100Caption: Two lions.Title of Work: Kitab Na’t al-hayawan (book of the characteristics of animals).Shelfmark: Or. 2784Author: Aristotle; ibn Bakhtishu’; (joint authorship)Place and date of production: Middle East, 13th centuryCredit: British Library

K90066-58 Source: I.O. ISLAMIC 1919, f.58Caption: Three fish.Title of Work: Aja’ib-almakhlukat wa ghara’ib almaujudatShelfmark: I.O. ISLAMIC 1919Credit: British Library