Databases

With material from Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, North America and The Pacific, the Informit Indigenous Collection is a platform for Indigenous worldviews, covering both topical and historical issues within Indigenous studies. The multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary framework provides access to emergent and groundbreaking research within the global community, and offers scope for critical international engagement and debate.

Showcases popular and lesser-known periodicals published during the interwar period. With articles covering culture, entertainment, fashion, home and family life, world current affairs, class, social and welfare issues, these historically significant and highly visual magazines provide a rich insight into these dynamic yet turbulent decades, as well as allowing examination of a burgeoning media industry that both shaped and reflected society.

An online bibliographyof secondary source material pertaining to the Renaissance and Medieval periods in Europe from 400 to 1700. Citations for books and journal material (articles, reviews, review articles, bibliographies, catalogues, abstracts and discographies) are included, as are citations for dissertation abstracts and essays in books (including entries in conference proceedings, festschriften, encyclopedias and exhibition catalogues).

Collection contains digitized primary source material from the archives of the J. Walter Thompson Company (JWT), one of the largest and oldest advertising agencies in the world. The documents reveal the history, operation, policies and achievements of the company and its role in shaping twentieth-century culture, society, business, marketing, consumer and economic history as well as human psychology.

A large number of brands, companies, and industries are covered from automobiles to travel and tourism. Nine major clients are featured in the collection: Kodak, Kellogg, Kraft, Oscar Mayer, Pan Am, R.T. French, Scott Paper Company, United States Marine Corps, and White Castle. Materials include market research reports, presentations, meeting minutes, scripts for advertisements, correspondence, proofs of advertisements, and more.

Digitized from originals held by the Library's Research Collections.  David Diamant is the pseudonym of David Erlich, a Jewish communist and committed member of the underground resistance during World War II. This collection consists of original documents collected by Diamant over a period of approximately 30 years dealing primarily with the Jewish segment of the French underground resistance; many of the documents originate with communist groups, and some deal with Polish groups. Most of the documents are in French, while some are in Yiddish.

JSTOR provides access to a digital archive of journals in the areas of Arts, Business, Economics, and Sciences. JSTOR includes the entire runs of these journals, from the very first issue to the volumes published a few years ago. With a small number of exceptions - the "Current Scholarship" titles - JSTOR is a backfile collection and excludes the most recent issues (as part of the terms of the agreement with the journal publishers).

McMaster's subscription to  Kanopy provides online access to over 7,000 documentary films from a range of major producers, including PBS, California Newsreel, Kino Lober, Documentary Educational Resources, and many more.  Videos can be integrated with Avenue to Learn and accessed remotely by students.  The majority of the videos are closed captioned, and clip-making is allowed.  Transcripts are also available by clicking on the 'More' tab.

Full screen mode and playback speeds can be adjusted upon clicking the "Play" button of the video.

To access additional features such as creating a Clip/Playlist, Adding comments or sharing via social media, a personal login  (eg. Google) is recommended.

Further information is available at the Kanopy Help page

A database on Greco-Roman antiquity (second millennium B.C. to 800 A.D.) covering a wide spectrum of subjects - language and literature, history, archaeology, philosophy, law, science and technology. It indexes books, articles in journals, conference papers and dissertations in English, French, Spanish, and German languages; 1,500 periodicals are covered. A brief abstract accompanies each article entry.

Provides free, organized access to electronic resources in medieval studies through a World Wide Web server at Georgetown University. The Labyrinth's easy-to-use menus and links provide connections to databases, services, texts, and images on other servers around the world.

Full page and article images with searchable full text back to 1944 of this French language newspaper from France covering leading issues and events, like World War II and the Fifth Republic, to French, European and international politics, society and business.

ProQuest Leftist Newspapers and periodicals is a collection of English-language publications spanning beyond the 20th century (1845-2015) covering Communist, Socialist and Marxist thought, theory and practice. Issues covered include workers’ rights, organized labor, labor strikes, Nazi atrocities, McCarthyism’s rise after WWII, Civil Rights, and modern-day class struggles which give rise to renewed interest in alternative social organizations. This collection includes 145 titles with over 150,000 digitized pages.

Archival runs of 26 of the most influential, longest-running serial publications covering LGBT interests. Includes the pre-eminent US and UK titles – The Advocate and Gay Times, respectively. Chronicles more than six decades of the history and culture of the LGBT community. In addition to LGBT/gender/sexuality studies, this material also serves related disciplines such as sociology, political science, psychology, health, and the arts.Subject coverage includes gay rights, gay culture, gay literature/art, gay rights movement, gender identity, gender studies, lesbianism, LGBT activism, LGBT studies, social history and transgender community.

Provides indexing and abstracts for more than 190 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender-specific core periodicals, with fulltext for 120  of the most important and historically significant journals, magazines and regional newspapers. In addition, it contains more than 330 LGBT-specific core books and reference works, grey literature, including newsletters, case studies, speeches, etc. and a specialized LGBT thesaurus containing over 6,400 terms. Disciplines covered by LGBT Life include civil liberties, culture, employment, family, history, politics, psychology, religion, sociology and more.

The Libris database provides word, title, author and subject access to material published in a number of Canadian periodicals of historical significance, including Maclean's Magazine, The Financial Post, The Monetary Times of Canada, Massey's Magazine, The Canadian Bookman, The Canadian Magazine, Saturday Night and The University Magazine.

A digital history project created by the Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project, based at Northern Illinois University. Collaborating institutions have contributed historical materials, including books, manuscripts, images, maps and other resources, to the Lincoln Project. Each text is reproduced in full, including all prefatory matter and annotation by the original author. Bibliographic details, illustrations, and errata lists are included from each of the editions used.

Hosted by the University of Calgary, the Local Histories collection features books describing the history of Canadian small towns, rural areas, and large cities.

Provides cover-to-cover online access to the prominent Canadian news magazine from its first issue in 1905 through 2015. Published weekly through much of its run, the magazine conveyed both domestic and international news and analysis on a spectrum of subjects of interest to Canadians.  Front and back covers are included, along with all advertisements, providing insight into 20th century social history.

Provides insight into the American consumer boom of the mid-20th century through access to the market research reports and supporting documents of Ernest Dichter, the era’s foremost consumer analyst and market research pioneer.

Includes content on some of America’s best known brands, containing thousands of reports commissioned by advertising agencies and global businesses in a booming era for consumerism, ‘Madison Avenue’ advertising and global brands on consumer goods ranging from tobacco and broadcasting to cars and hotels.

The collection supports researchers of consumer culture, business, advertising, marketing and psychology.

The Mass Observation project collected information about everyday life in Britain during the mid-twentieth century, reflecting attitudes, behaviors, and public opinion. Created by three British researchers as a personal research project, its focus changed as it served the government during the Second World War and then emerged as a market research organization. The findings continue to be valued for their insight into British society, although sometimes criticized for the self-selecting methodology used to collect the data.

The online database provides over 2,000 File Reports (top-level summaries), Day Surveys from 1937-38, Diaries from 1939-67, and a range of Topic collections including: Household Matters and Household Budgeting, 1939-1950; Juvenile Delinquency; Korea, 1950; Radio Listening, 1939-1948; World Outlook, 1945-1950, Film; Reading Habits; Dreams; Religion; Victory Celebrations, and Capital Punishment.

Includes primary sources that can be used to explore the history of illness, treatment and disease on international front lines from 1850 to 1949. Chart scientific advances through hospital records, medical reports and first-hand accounts.

The four conflicts robustly represented are the Crimean War, the American Civil War, the First World War and the Second World War. Many other conflicts also have relevant documents and can be discovered via keyword searching, including the Boer Wars, Spanish-American War and the Spanish Civil War.

Documents are organized into the following themes to facilitate browsing. 

This primary sources database presents manuscripts of some of the most important works of European travel writing from the later medieval period. The chief focus is on journeys to central Asia and the Far East, including accounts of travel to Mongolia, Persia, India, China and South-East Asia; it also includes accounts of travel to and through the Holy Land.

Provides digital access ( full color page-image format) to the backfiles of the following six major US and UK men’s-interest consumer magazines covering contemporary issues and trends in history and society, masculinity, sex roles, literature, sports, fashion, popular culture, entertainment, and more.

• All Sports Illustrated Weekly (1919 to 1930)
• Argosy (1882 to 1978)
• Esquire [UK edition] (1991 to 2015)
• M: The Civilized Man (1983 to 1992)
• National Police Gazette (1845 to 1977)
• Sports Budget (1923 to 1939)

Coverage is from issue 1 through to 2015 (or the publication ceased date), with issues scanned from cover to cover, although there will be some coverage gaps (issues / pages).

The content in this database is sourced from newspapers, journals, and radio and television broadcasts from 19 countries in the Middle East and North Africa as well as other nations with regional political, economic, and security interests. In addition to local and international news, it also includes government-level analysis and commentary. The database covers many topical categories, including the Israeli-Arab conflict, human and civil rights, international relations, terrorism, and others.

Online collection of recorded sound, including folk, popular, classical and world music, speeches, and oral histories, delivered via streaming audio.

Browse by musical instrument, geographic area, or topic, e.g. American folk traditions, blues, bluegrass and old-time country, American Indian traditions, world traditions (by continent), jazz, classical, spoken word, sound effects.

Historical content includes: ballads from the American Revolution, War of 1812, or the American Civil War; freedom and protest songs from the Civil Rights era; songs from the Slave Coast; Canada's history in song. Spoken word content includes: speeches, biography, memoir, drama (e.g. ancient Greek tragedies), poetry, language instruction.

The official archive of the UK government. Facilitates search across archive catalogues held throughout England and dating from the eighth century to the present day. Holds more than 32 million descriptions of records held by The National Archives and more than 2,500 archives across the country.  Over 9 million records are available for download.

A compilation of works of literary merit, and important and significant books on philosophy, Religious Studies, History and other aspects of the Humanities The Bibliography covers the period from 1901-1953.

Features streaming videos of films, clips and trailers from the National Film Board (NFB) collection, including NFB world-renowned documentaries, films that chronicle key moments in the lives of Canadians and works that take a stand on issues of global importance: the environment, human rights, international conflict and more. It also contains acclaimed Canadian dramatic features, documentaries, animated films, and experimental works.

This encyclopedia of the ancient world is intended as an aid to the study of Greek and Roman culture and its multifaceted influence on European and world history.

Provides full page and article images (PDF) with searchable full-text back to the first issue. Includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue.

The most current issues of The New York Times are available online (plain-text) via  Factiva, Nexis Uni and other databases

Provides full page and article images (PDF) with searchable full-text of New York Tribune / Herald Tribune.  Useful for researching key events of the 19th and 20th centuries, from pre-Civil War tensions and U.S. internationalism to the fight for women’s rights and the completion of the Panama Canal. In addition to politics and reform, this newspaper also reports on the arts, New York society, sports, business, finance, and more.