Databases

BBC Monitoring was founded in 1939 at the start of WWII. Its purpose was to listen to radio broadcasts and gather open-source intelligence to help Britain and its allies understand global dynamics and assess emerging global threats and capabilities. Over the next 60 years, the scope of its monitoring grew quickly. Trained specialists transcribed broadcasts of speeches, current aff airs, political discussions, and social and cultural events worldwide. Transcripts, in turn, were translated into English, then read by experts who carefully selected critical content for publication. Finally, selections were summarized and curated into daily reports that comprise the Summary of World Broadcasts. These original daily reports often included commentary and evaluation by subject-matter experts, as well as synopses and specialist briefings. 

This curated selection of primary sources, covering several time periods in American history from 1790-2000, is designed for teaching and learning about the struggles and triumphs of Black Americans. Developed with input from Black history scholars and advisors, its easily discoverable materials are ideal for assignments and special projects focused on U.S. Black history.

A fully cross-searchable gateway to Black Studies including scholarly essays, recent periodicals, historical newspaper articles, reference books, and much more. It combines essential resources for research and teaching in Black Studies, including The Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience, Index to Black Periodicals Full Text, Black Literature Index, and the newspaper Chicago Defender.

Contains approximately 1300 sources from 1100 authors, covering the non-fiction published works of leading African Americans. Where possible the complete published non-fiction works are included, as well as interviews, journal articles, speeches, essays, pamplets, letters and other fugitive material.

Explores and provides historical background on more than thirty key worldwide border areas, including: U.S. and Mexico; the European Union; Afghanistan; Israel; Turkey; The Congo; Argentina; China; Thailand; and others.  At completion, the database will include 100,000 pages of text, 175 hours of video, and 1,000 images. It  is organized around fundamental themes associated with border and migration issues such as border identities, border enforcement and control, border disputes; border criminologies; maritime borders; human trafficking; sea migration; undocumented and unauthorized migration; and global governance of migration.

Includes the immediate experiences of approximately 500 women, as revealed in over 100,000 pages of diaries and letters. Also includes biographies and an extensive annotated bibliography of sources.

Subjects include what women wore, the conditions under which they worked, what they ate, what they read, and how they amused themselves; how frequently they attended church, how they viewed their connection to God, and how they prayed; their relationships with lovers, family and friends.

Approximately 100,000 pages of published letters and diaries, including several thousand pages of previously unpublished materials, drawn from 290 sources, including journal articles, pamphlets, newsletters, monographs, and conference proceedings. All age groups, life stages, and ethnicities, many geographical regions, the famous and the not so famous are represented.

The collection has been developed alongside North American Women's Letters and Diaries, which uses the same software and indexing to provide access to more than 150,000 pages of American material from Colonial times to 1950.

British History Online provides free access to selected core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles. 

Explore the reality of Britain's Home Front in World War II through thousands of primary source documents reporting on and managing every aspect of the civilian population's daily lives, from evacuation to food rationing, and air raids to propaganda.  Sourced from he National Archives U.K. and The History of Advertising Trust, this collection documents the impact of modern warfare on civilian life.

Explore the history of twentieth century broadcasting in America through the papers of early pioneer, David Sarnoff, and the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). Chart how the rise of large media corporations transformed radio from a one-to-one communication tool to a means of broadcasting information and ideas to the masses, and witness the impact of broadcasting innovations, such as television, on advertising, consumer culture, global conflicts, and the Space Race.