History

This database contains the following collections:

The Security Service (MI5): KV 2, KV 3 & KV 4
Personal, Subject and Policy files dating from 1905-1978. MI5 handled intelligence gathering within the British Empire and the Commonwealth. The selected subseries of KV 2 holds personal files on subjects of Secret Service enquiries, whilst KV 3 contains subject files on espionage activities of groups or other intelligence organisations, including the only subject files known to have survived from the First World War period. KV 4 holds section histories and policy files.

The Ministry of Defence: Communications and Intelligence Records: DEFE 21, DEFE 26, DEFE 28, DEFE 31, DEFE 41, DEFE 44, DEFE 60, DEFE 62, DEFE 63 & DEFE 64
These series include registered files, reports and memoranda of the Directorate of Scientific Intelligence, the Defence Intelligence Staff and the Defence Signals Staff focused on the technical and scientific interests of the British government from the Second World War to the decades of the Cold War and the Atomic Age. The intelligence assessments and reports include those gathered post-war in Allied-occupied Germany, such as interviews with German scientists. With files dating from 1912-2002, these series bring the coverage up to the end of the twentieth century, and include defence records on the Falklands, the Middle East, UFO incidents and details of Soviet weapon systems.

The Special Operations Executive: HS 7 & HS 8
These are records of the Ministry of Economic Warfare and the Special Operations Executive (SOE), which functioned during WWII to promote sabotage and subversion, and assist resistance groups in enemy occupied territory, famously directed by Winston Churchill to ‘set Europe ablaze!’. Records date from 1935-1988 and include histories & war diaries in HS 7, and headquarters records in HS 8.

The Colonial Office: Intelligence and Security Departments: Registered Files (ISD Series): CO 1035
This series contains registered files of the Colonial Office relating to the security of British colonies, and intelligence on colonial matters and decolonisation, including reports by Security Intelligence Advisors throughout the British Empire, and assessments from the Joint Intelligence Committee. Running from 1954-1966, these files represent a vital piece of the intelligence picture of the global Cold War and decolonisation at the end of Empire.

The Cabinet Office: CAB 56, CAB 121, CAB 176 & CAB 301
The material in these series dates from 1936-1974 and shows how intelligence matters were considered, analysed, and processed through the Cabinet Office. Records from the Joint Intelligence Committee appear alongside Policy and Strategy files from the Special Secret Information Centre, and selected intelligence material from the Cabinet Secretary’s Miscellaneous Papers held in CAB 301.

Started as a City of London news sheet, the FT grew to become one of the best-known and most-respected newspapers in the world. Along the way, it chronicled the critical financial and economic events that shaped the world, from the late nineteenth and entire twentieth centuries to today.

The Financial Times Historical Archive includes:
- The Lex column: a sharp and authoritative voice on corporate and financial matters;
- All classified and display advertising;
- Access to thousands of daily price/stock indexes and currency tables;
- The complete contents of FT Magazine and How to Spend It.

The Library also provides access to the current content of the Financial Times.

Related database: ProQuest Historical Newspapers. Gale Primary Sources enables you to cross-search all Gale newspapers in the Library collection, such as The Times and the Economist.

- The Economist, 1843-2015
- Financial Times Historical Archive 1888-2016 Access guaranteed until March 30, 2022
- The Illustrated London News Historical Archive, 1842-2003 Access guaranteed until March 30, 2022
- The Independent Historical Archive 1986-2016 Access guaranteed until March 30, 2022
- International Herald Tribune Historical Archive, 1888-2013 Access guaranteed until March 30, 2022
- The Telegraph Historical Archive 1855-2016 Access guaranteed until March 30, 2022
- The Times, 1785-2014

Related database: ProQuest Historical Newspapers

The Illustrated London News covered a wide range of subjects on its pages, making it an invaluable resource for multi-disciplinary research. Areas include:
- The Arts - reports and pictures of prominent art figures of the 19th and 20th centuries including: opera singers, vaudeville stars, painters and stars of stage and screen;
- Fashion - the ILN's fashion column provides a unique insight into the styles of the day, from corsets through to flapper dresses. The advertising pages provide a sociological view of fashion, with adverts for mourning clothes, undergarments, evening wear, jewelry and cosmetics;
- Industry and Trade - covers the growth of the industrial North, living conditions experienced by the working man, trade imports from the colonies, strikes, child employment, domestic servants and agriculture;
- Military History - ILN war artists were sent to all corners of the earth to cover the wars of the 19th and 20th centuries including: 1848 revolution in France, the Crimean War, American Civil War, the Boer War, World Wars I and II;
- Science, Medicine and Progress - ILN was keen to enlighten its readers about the latest advances providing engravings of the first letterbox in London, reporting of the laying of the Transatlantic telegraph cable and explanations of the workings of an early light bulb;
- Social History - illustrated coverage of servants, female suffrage, strikes, homes, crime, leisure, emigration, and religion;
- Sport - football, rugby, tennis, cricket to the more unusual cock-fighting, curling and pig-sticking.

Gale Primary Sources enables you to cross-search all Gale newspapers in the Library collection, such as The Times, the Economist and the Telegraph.

After the New York Times company took ownership of the newspaper in 2003, the IHT continued to produce a large amount of unique content until its closure in 2013.

Related databases: The New York Times, The Times Digital Archive.

Over the last thirty years, The Independent has taken strong campaigning positions on issues such as drug legislation, the War on Terror, and the environment.

Gale Primary Sources enables you to cross-search all Gale newspapers in the Library collection, such as The Independent, The Telegraph and the Economist.

Related databases: ProQuest Historical Newspapers, The Times Digital Archive

This database features a wide range of materials, from monographs and individual papers to company records, newspapers, and a variety of government documents, and stemming from archives in the UK and the US. The available materials cover a wide spectrum of subjects related to the history of slavery: legal issues; economics; children and women under slavery; modes of resistance; and much more, from 1490 to 1896. For an overview of the collections and a detailed description of the content of each collection, see this page.

For related databases, see Resources per subdiscipline/History of slavery in the History Guide.

Directed at a wealthy, well-educated readership, the newspaper is commonly associated with traditional Toryism despite its more liberal beginnings, especially in regard to foreign policy.

Gale Primary Sources enables you to cross-search all Gale newspapers in the library collection, such as The Telegraph and The Times.

Documents selected for this database come mostly from presidential libraries, but also from executive agencies such as the Atomic Energy Commission, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Department of Defense, Department of Justice, Department of State, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), National Security Council, and the White House. Presidential records make up the majority of the documents.

Included materials are:
- Cabinet meeting minutes
- CIA intelligence studies and reports
- Correspondence
- Diary entries
- FBI surveillance and intelligence correspondence and memoranda
- Full texts of letters, instructions, and cables sent and received by U.S. diplomatic personnel
- Joint Chiefs papers
- National Security Council policy statements
- Presidential conferences
- State Department political analyses
- Technical studies
- Trade treaties, studies and analyses
- U.S. briefing materials for meetings with foreign heads of state and government officials
- White House Confidential File materials

Of particular importance are the materials that focus solely on female authors, magazines and journals produced by women, and materials from minority groups in the United States. For a quick overview of the collections in this database, click here.

For related databases, see Resources per subdiscipline/Women's/Gender History in the History Guide.