A-Z Databases

Overview

From the rise of Conservatism, the threat of nuclear war, and the AIDS crisis, to rampant consumerism, economic crises, and technological advancements, the 1980s was a turbulent and complex decade in which some individuals reaped significant benefits whilst others experienced severe poverty and hardship. Drawing on material from the late 1970s through to the early 1990s, this resource focuses on the voices of under-represented groups, grassroots organizations, and countercultural movements, addressing themes such as sexuality and identity, Black resistance movements, Indigenous land rights, subcultures, and health and social issues.

These themes are represented within a broad range of sources which feature a variety of perspectives. For example, campaign materials, newspapers and newsletters from grassroots organizations and local communities provide a keen insight into social and political activism during the 1980s, whilst government papers and speeches from the Reagan and Thatcher administrations demonstrate the rise in political conservatism that dominated the decade. Collections of zines highlight the rich creativity and productivity of 80s subcultures, whilst mainstream and consumer culture is epitomised in fashion catalogues, photojournalism and gaming ephemera.

Key themes

Black Resistance Movements
Conflict and Disasters
Consumer Culture and Materialism
Disability Rights
Environmentalism
Feminism
Grassroots Activism and Community Groups
Health and Social Issues
Indigenous Rights
New Media and Technology
Politics and Rise of Conservatism
Popular Culture
Religious Movements and Spiritualism
Sexuality and Identity
Subcultures and Fandom
Threat of Nuclear War

Overview
Africa and the New Imperialism documents the period of rapid colonial expansion by European powers across the African continent during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.  

From the accounts of missionaries and European explorers navigating the interior of the continent in the early nineteenth century; to the rise in European desire for increased power, empire and wealth culminating in the Berlin Conference 1885-1886; to the subsequent power struggles, negotiations and conflicts that raged across the continent at the turn of the twentieth century, the documents within Africa and the New Imperialism charts Africa’s encounters with European imperialist regimes and their impact on the lives of peoples across the continent.

Key Themes
Imperialism 
Slavery and forced labour 
Diplomacy 
Religion and missionaries 
Race and ethnicity 
War and violence 
Resistance to colonialism 
Technology and infrastructure 

Introduction
Amnesty International Archives presents the archival records of the International Secretariat of Amnesty International from the period of 1961-1991. These records are housed at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam. Covering a wide range of human rights concerns and issues, the documents in Amnesty International Archives allow researchers to follow not only the influence Amnesty International had on the global human rights movement in the late twentieth century, but also to chart the internal growth and development of the organisation through the first three decades since its founding in 1961.

By the the mid-1960s Amnesty International’s global presence was growing and, with this growth, came the need to formalise administration. The International Secretariat and International Executive Committee were established to manage the different national groups – called ‘sections’ – which had been formed in several countries and continue to operate today.

The archival material is organised into collections. See the Guide to Collections to find out more about the type of documents in each one, or go to View Documents  to browse by collection.

Key Themes
Themes have been attributed to documents in Amnesty International Archives as metadata tags to enhance browsing functionality.

Activism and Campaigning
Global Politics
Mass Atrocities
Migrants and Refugees
Minority Rights
Mistreatment and Disappearances
Political Prisoners and Prisoners of Conscience (POCs)
Structure and Administration of Amnesty International
Torture and Death Penalty

Off Campus Access: Open Access. Available for everybody for free.

Subject Areas: Gender & Sexuality Studies

Curated collection of Open Acess eBooks on the subjects of Gender & Sexuality Studies.

Format: Full Text
Dates of Coverage: unknown
Update Schedule: unkown
Database Distributor: Fulcrum/Big Ten Academic Alliance

Introduction

This resource comprises more than 6,000 early twentieth-century newsreels produced by the Topical Film Company between 1911 and 1931. The films have been digitised from reels held at the British Film Institute (BFI), which holds the bulk of the collection, and Imperial War Museums (IWM).

Topical Budget was a silent newsreel produced by the Topical Film Company, one of the most significant newsreel companies operating in Britain in the early twentieth century. Initially an independent company, it was purchased in 1917 by the War Office Cinematograph Committee and used as a propaganda tool during the First World War, helping to maintain the morale of the British public, before being purchased again after the war by newspaper owner Edward Hulton in 1919. Under Hulton’s ownership, Topical Budget reached a peak audience of 5 million, before slowly declining in popularity until its closure in 1931.

An early precursor of modern TV news programmes, newsreels were short-form, visual news content intended to inform and entertain the public. Black and white and entirely silent, they relied on title and intertitle cards to contextualise the footage. They were originally shown in cinemas across Britain, with new issues produced twice a week and each issue containing between 4 and 7 stories, most of which only one or two minutes in length.

British Newsreels is an entirely video resource which collates and presents the vast majority of surviving Topical Budget films together for the first time, accompanied by contextual and pedagogical features from experts in the fields of early film history and early twentieth-century society, and fully accessible descriptive transcripts for each film.

Key Themes
The newsreels in this resource have each been tagged with one or more themes, allowing users to easily browse the most useful content according to their individual research needs.

The following themes have been added:

Anglo-Irish relations
Arts, popular culture and entertainment
British Empire and international relations
British government, politics and politicians
British royal family and royal visits
Celebrations and ceremonies
Celebrities, aristocrats and socialites
Children, youth groups and education
Communities, local customs and events
Disasters and emergency services
Employment, industry and agriculture
First World War
Health and welfare
International affairs and world news
Memorial services and remembrance
Military displays, parades and inspections
Pioneers and record breakers
Race and multiculturalism
Religious services, events and festivals
Science, technology and engineering
Shows and exhibitions
Sport and leisure
Weather and the environment
Women and gender

Introduction
This resource enables research into the development of mass broadcasting through the papers of pioneer David Sarnoff. Sarnoff’s work with RCA pushed the company to become a broadcasting, home media and technological powerhouse of the twentieth century. The American public’s acceptance of mass media, fuelled by constant developments in radio and television technology, changed forever the consumer culture landscape of North America.

The rise of large media corporations transformed radio from a one-to-one communication tool to a means of broadcasting ideas and information to the masses. The papers in this resource provide insight into the impact of broadcasting innovations on advertising, consumer culture, global conflicts, and the Space Race. Sarnoff’s personal papers, from Hagley Museum and Library, are supplemented with official and legal company records, trade catalogues and advertisements. Wider industry pamphlets from Special Collections and University Archives, University of Maryland, track the evolving relationship between broadcasters, legislators, and a new mass audience, with debates over censorship, ethics, marketing techniques and the impact of broadcasting on demographics such as children.

The bulk of the material spans the 1920s to the 1970s, representing the decades of David Sarnoff’s career at RCA. Some additional content covers pre-1920s broadcasting developments, and the final years of RCA before its sale in 1986.

Key themes

Advertising, Market Research and the Consumer
Art, Music and Culture
Broadcasting and Media Industry
Censorship and Ethics
Commercial Competition and Patent Disputes
Communications and Satellites
Consumer Radio
Electronic Technologies, Inventions and Product Development
Entertainment and Leisure
Government and Politics
Military and Warfare
Radio Stations and Infrastructure
RCA Corporate History
Sound Recording Industry
Television
The Space Race
Women in Broadcasting

Off Campus Access: Authenticate with your MyDenison login.

First published in 1902, the Cambridge Histories is a globally respected series of over 400 volumes spanning fifteen subject areas across the humanities and social sciences, with a concentration on political and cultural history, literature, philosophy, religious studies, music and the arts.

Presenting history as a continuous and evolutionary process, the Cambridge Histories offer a big picture perspective in each subject area, making them essential reading for anyone researching or studying a subject that has an historical element.

Format: Ebooks
Coverage Dates: Varies
Database Producer: Cambridge University Press

Off Campus Access: Authenticate with your MyDenison login.

Subject: Central Asia History

This collection belongs to AM Explorer.

This collection of Foreign Office files explores the history of Persia (Iran), Central Asia and Afghanistan from the decline of the Silk Road in the first half of the nineteenth century to the establishment of Soviet rule over parts of the region in the early 1920s. It encompasses the era of “The Great Game” - a political and diplomatic confrontation between the Russian and British Empires for influence, territory and trade across a vast region, from the Black Sea in the west to the Pamir Mountains in the east.

Comprised of correspondence, intelligence reports, agents’ diaries, minutes, maps, newspaper excerpts and other materials from the FO 65, FO 106, FO 371 and FO 539 series, this resource forms one of the greatest existing sets of historical documents relating to this region, offering insights not only into the impact of Great Power politics on the region, but also the region’s peoples, cultures and societies.

Date range: 1834-1922
Format: text, image, maps, audio and video
Database Producer: Adam Matthew Digital

Overview

Conflict in Indochina covers the time period of 1959-1979, presenting Foreign Office Files for Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos from The National Archives. These documents follow the ever-changing political landscape in South East Asia across a period of crisis and upheaval during the Second Indochina War, and the impact of the war on wider world politics.

The end of French colonial rule in the Indochina peninsula, following defeat at Điện Biên Phủ at the hands of the Việt Minh, shaped Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia for the years to come. The resulting Geneva Accords of 1954 attempted to bring about a ceasefire by granting independence to Laos and Cambodia, and temporarily split Vietnam into two countries, divided along the 17th parallel. However, the hopes of peacefully re-unifying Vietnam were dashed as Ngô Đình Diệm, president of South Vietnam, refused to hold elections for a unified national government. North and South Vietnam were opposed along national, political and religious identities, and were respectively backed by opposing international ideologies. Conflict soon broke out among South Vietnamese who were sympathetic to the North.

At the same time, Laos was embroiled in a growing civil war, which acted as a covert stage for the Cold War superpowers. It was primarily waged between the Royal Lao Government, who were backed by the United States, and the communist Pathet Lao, who were linked to North Vietnam, Russia and China. A third faction took a neutral stance, demanding an end to the war and an end to government corruption; after briefly holding power in 1961, the Neutralists were ultimately subsumed into the two other factions. As the conflict intensified during the mid-1960s, the United States increased its military involvement in Laos, conducting covert bombing missions.

While Cambodia officially remained neutral through the conflict, North Vietnamese forces used the country as a refuge and as a supply route to their allies fighting in South Vietnam. Civil war and coups d’état within political factions in Cambodia brought the country more directly into the Cold War and Vietnamese conflict in the 1970s.

Conflict in Indochina contains correspondence, telegraphs and reports about key events and themes of the crisis, largely from a quasi-neutral British perspective. Aiming to protect British interests in Malaysia and Singapore, the Foreign Office sought to maintain the status quo in Indochina, attempting to simultaneously prevent the spread of communist influence while also trying to avoid an escalation of conflict that might envelop the rest of South East Asia. In pursuing these goals, the Foreign Office maintained close diplomatic and political relationships with all involved parties, allowing crucial new insights into the internal politics of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Meanwhile, as a major ally to the United States, the Foreign Office received news and information about US strategies, actions and plans, offering new perspectives on American intervention in Indochina.

 

Key Themes

Anglo-American relations

Communist governments and influence of Soviet Union and China

Cultural differences between regions

This database contains both freely available videos and exclusive videos that are only available to the Denison Community. To access exclusive videos in this database, you must create an account.

 

FIRST TIME USERS

1. Create Your Account: Head to the site and click 'Log In' at the top right. Below the login form, click "Don't have an account? Join now!" and sign up using your Denison email. You'll get a confirmation email from Aviary (check your spam if it's not in your inbox).

2. Confirm and Log In: In the confirmation email, click 'Confirm my account' to be taken back to the login page. Log in using your Denison email and the password you selected.

3. Start Exploring: Once logged in, your name will appear at the top right. Navigate using the "Playlists", "Resources", and "Collections" links at the top left to discover videos.

Accessing Exclusive Videos: If you come across a video with the message 'The organization that is providing access to this resource has set restrictions on its accessibility,' simply click 'Request Access.' A small form will pop up on the screen. Fill in the required fields and submit your request. Then, check your email for a message from fortunoff.archive@yale.edu, which will include a direct link to the video. Please note: You must either be on campus or using the VPN to access videos using these direct links.

Once you've received your email with request approval, you can view all testimonies in the collection.

You can find a video detailing these login instructions here.

 

RETURNING USERS

Log in with your credentials.

 

Questions?

For any questions, feel free to contact eresources@denison.edu or visit the library reference desk for assistance.

 

 

About the Fortunoff Archive

The Fortunoff Archive currently holds more than 4,400 testimonies, which are comprised of over 12,000 recorded hours of videotape. Testimonies were produced in cooperation with thirty-six affiliated projects across North America, South America, Europe, and Israel. The Fortunoff Archive and its affiliates recorded the testimonies of willing individuals with first-hand experience of the Nazi persecutions, including those who were in hiding, survivors, bystanders, resistants, and liberators. Testimonies were recorded in whatever language the witness preferred, and range in length from 30 minutes to over 40 hours (recorded over several sessions).
 

Off Campus Access: Authenticate with your MyDenison login.

Subject: History, war culture

This collection belongs to AM Explorer.

Interwar Culture comprises runs of both prominent and lesser-known periodicals published throughout the interwar period, covering various facets of culture, entertainment, fashion, home and family life, world current affairs, class, social and welfare issues. These historically significant and visually rich magazines provide an important insight into these dynamic yet turbulent decades, as well as allowing examination of a growing media industry that both shaped and reflected society.


Including titles published across Britain, the United States, France and Australia, Interwar Culture brings these fascinating magazines together for the first time, enabling more robust, comparative and critical readings in a highly accessible digital environment.

Date range: 1919 to 1929
Format: Archival Resources, full text
Database Producer: Adam Matthew Digital

Off Campus Access: Authenticate with your MyDenison login.

Collection includes 55 journals, 945 books, and 91 research reports.

Format: Full Text
Dates of Coverage: Varies
Database Distributor: JSTOR

Off Campus Access: Authenticate with your MyDenison login.

Subject Areas: Social Sciences

Curated collection of eBooks exploring the intersection of social identity and place.

Format: Full Text
Database Producer: Lived Places Publishing

Royal Shakespeare Company Archives provides a comprehensive record of the performance history of the Royal Shakespeare Company and its predecessor, the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. Browse and compare almost 1,400 prompt books to uncover how productions took shape, and explore the creative process behind the company's most important presentations in extensive additional documentation including production records, costume designs, music files, and photographs.

New York Times Games is provided by The New York Times. The games library features a variety of engaging puzzles, including crossword puzzles, Spelling Bee, Letter Boxed, Tiles, Vertex, Connections, Sudoku, and Wordle. Suitable for all skill levels.

CURRENT NEW YORK TIMES (NYT) USERS

To activate your Games subscription, log in to NYT with your Denison credentials. Then, visit the Games signup page. Click Redeem.


NON-NEW YORK TIMES (NYT) USERS

Follow the instructions here to create a NYT account. Afterward, follow the steps outlined for CURRENT NEW YORK TIMES USERS mentioned above.

Once your Games subscription has been setup, you can login from any device at: https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords

All Games are available on the web and NYT App. Crossword and Spelling Bee are available in the Crossword App.

What if I have a personal subscription to NYT Games?

You will only be able to access the Denison's provided subscription to games when there are no active subscriptions to games on your account. So, if you have used your Denison email to subscribe to Games in the past, you must wait until your current subscription has ended to activate the institutional subscription linked here. 

Worried about keeping your Crossword streak? As long as you use the same email address, all scores will be retained. The scores are associated with the email address used to register the account.

Questions?
Any questions? Please don't hesitate to contact us at the Library: eresources@denison.edu or (740)587-6682.