AM publishes unique primary source collections from archives around the world.

University of California, San Diego has access to the following AM collections. Search across all of them via the search box above, or browse the list of links.

African American Communities (AAC)

Focusing predominantly on Atlanta, Chicago, St Louis, Brooklyn, and towns and cities in North Carolina this collection presents multiple aspects of the African American community through personal diaries and scrapbooks, pamphlets, newspapers and periodicals, correspondence, official records and in-depth oral histories, revealing the prevalent challenges of racism, discrimination and integration, and a unique African American culture and identity.

Age of Exploration

Explore five centuries of journeys across the globe, scientific discoveries, the expansion of European colonialism, conflict over territories and trade routes, and decades-long search and rescue attempts in this multi-archive collection dedicated to the history of exploration.

AM Help Centre

Discover hints and tips on how to use the features and functionality contained within Adam Matthew products to aid research and teaching. Watch video tutorials on subjects such as applying filters and performing a search, and read further information on accessibility, terms of use and privacy across all products.

America in World War Two

This digital resource shows how World War Two changed American society and the economy, how it impacted individuals and families, and the legacy of the War in human terms. Follow individuals and their families from enlistment and training, to deployment on the US Home Front, or on campaigns overseas.

American Consumer Culture

Cross-searchable access to essential primary sources for the study of market research, consumerism, business and advertising in America.

American History, 1493-1945

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History holds one of the outstanding collections on American History. It is full of spectacular individual items, but it also has rich veins of manuscript research material. This makes it ideal for teaching survey courses on American History, but equally valuable as a platform for undergraduate essay work and postgraduate research.

American West

Comprised of original manuscripts, rare printed books, maps and ephemeral material from the Everett D.Graff Collection of Western Americana at the Newberry Library, Chicago, American West is a unique online source for the study of westward expansion from the 18th to the 20th century. This dynamic teaching and research resource includes documents from 1718-1968. Tales of frontier life, Native Americans and vigilantes and outlaws can be found, as well as evidence of the growth of urban centres, the environmental impact of westward expansion and life in the borderlands.

Americana

Cross-searchable access to millions of essential American history, literature and cultural primary sources spanning five centuries.

Archives Direct

Archives Direct is a suite of collections sourced from The National Archives, Kew, the official archive of the United Kingdom. Containing diplomatic correspondence, letters, reports, surveys, material from newspapers, statistical analyses, published pamphlets, ephemera, military papers, profiles of prominent individuals, maps and many other types of document, it consists of the history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries from the British state’s point of view.

Archives Direct: Apartheid South Africa 1948-1980

This is an essential resource for the study of the apartheid era in Southern Africa, sourced exclusively from The National Archives, UK. It provides unparalleled analysis of South African politics, trade relations, international opinion and humanitarian dilemmas against a backdrop of waning colonialism and mounting world condemnation.

Archives Direct: Central Asia, Persia and Afghanistan, 1834-1922

This resource provides digital access to official British government records relating to the region, from the decline of the Silk Road, through the diplomatic confrontation between the British and Russian Empires known as the “Great Game”, to the influence of the emergent Soviet Union in the 20th century.

Archives Direct: Confidential Print: Africa, 1834-1966

From coastal trading in the early nineteenth century, through the Conference of Berlin of 1884 and the subsequent Scramble for Africa, to the abuses of the Congo Free State, fights against tropical disease, Italy's defeat by the Abyssinians, World War II, apartheid in South Africa and colonial moves towards independence, this resource covers the modern period of European colonization of the continent.

Archives Direct: Confidential Print: Latin America, 1833-1969

This collection begins in the aftermath of independence for the former Spanish and Portuguese colonies of Latin America, addressing the politics of state-building and the Latin American nations’ establishment of their place in the fast-expanding global economy.

Archives Direct: Confidential Print: Middle East, 1839-1969

From the Egyptian reforms of Muhammad Ali Pasha, the Middle East Conference of 1921, the Mandates of Palestine and Mesopotamia and the Suez Crisis in 1956, to the partition of Palestine, post- Suez Western foreign policy and the Arab-Israeli conflict these government documents inform the volatile situation in the region today.

Archives Direct: Confidential Print: North America, 1824-1961

This collection consists of the Confidential Print for the United States, Canada and the English-speaking Caribbean, with some coverage of Central and South America, and covers such topics as slavery, Prohibition, the First and Second World Wars, racial segregation, territorial disputes, the League of Nations, McCarthyism and the nuclear bomb.

Archives Direct: Foreign Office Files for China, 1919-1980

Formerly restricted British Foreign Office files dealing with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan between 1919 and 1980. Featuring diplomatic dispatches, letters, newspaper cuttings, political pamphlets, reports of court cases and other materials, this collection represents a constant exchange of information between London and the British embassies and consulates. Due to the unique nature of the relationship between Britain and China, these formerly restricted first-hand accounts provide unprecedented levels of detail into a turbulent period in Chinese history.

Archives Direct: Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, 1947-1980

Survey the high politics of Independence and Partition, social and cultural interchange after 1947 and the ramifications that these changes continue to have throughout South Asia today. This is an outstanding resource for the political and social history of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan in this period, featuring essential content on Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and Kashmir, as well as other frontier regions.

Archives Direct: Foreign Office Files for Japan, 1919-1952

Discover Japan’s rise to modernity and its relations with global superpowers through official British Government documents from The National Archives, UK. This collection provides significant insight into the events between First World War victory and Second World War defeat, crucial to understanding the political journey of Japan during this period.

Archives Direct: Foreign Office Files for Middle East, 1971-1981

From invasions and civil wars to revolutions and revolts, explore a rich period of Middle Eastern history. The Middle East in the 1970s was characterised by its conflicts, with a cast of political figures whose influence can still be felt today. Providing an invaluable resource for researchers and students seeking to understand the modern Middle East, this collection contains complete runs of Foreign Office files, providing an expansive view of key events and their global political impact.

Archives Direct: Foreign Office Files for South East Asia, 1963-1980

Explore the history of Southeast Asia from 1963-1980 through official government documents from The National Archives, UK. Discover the struggle for independence against a backdrop of conflict and a shifting political landscape. This collection offers an insight into the significant changes that took place in Southeast Asia during 1963-1980, including the creation of Malaysia and the response to this from the wider region.

Archives Direct: Macmillan Cabinet Papers, 1957-1963

This digital collection casts new light on Britain's relationship with the EEC, Anglo-American ties, the Cold War, Decolonisation, and issues of public and political morality. Macmillan Cabinet Papers, 1957-1963 provides complete coverage of the Cabinet conclusions (minutes) and memoranda of Harold Macmillan’s government, plus selected minutes and memoranda of policy committees.

Archives Direct: The Nixon Years, 1969-1974

Review top level Anglo­ American discussions and briefing papers, and research social conditions, domestic reforms, trade, culture and the environment. These files allow scholars and researchers the opportunity to assess, from a British, European and Commonwealth perspective, Nixon’s handling of numerous Cold War crises, his administration’s notable achievements, as well as his increasingly controversial activities and unorthodox use of executive powers culminating in Watergate and resignation.

Children's Literature and Culture

Explore the golden age of children’s literature and chart the evolution from chapbooks to the ‘book beautifuls’ of the early twentieth century. This digital resource showcases a broad range of richly illustrated primary source material which reveals the history and literature of childhood between the 1820s and 1920s.

China Studies

Cross-searchable access to a vast range of primary sources relating to China's history, literature and culture spanning three centuries.

China, America and the Pacific

Covering the 18th and 19th centuries, China, America and the Pacific provides primary source materials for the study of the history of North American trade and cultural exchange with China. This collection also provides coverage of China’s economic dealings with the whole of East Asia and the Pacific.

China: Culture and Society

Spanning three centuries (c1750-1929), this digital collection makes available for the first time extremely rare pamphlets from the Charles W. Wason Collection on East Asia, at Cornell University Library; one of the oldest and most distinctive collections of its kind, and a very rich source for research on China.

China: Trade, Politics and Culture

This digital collection answers the need for clear, intelligible and informative English-language sources relating to China and the West, which can be used in the classroom. It would also benefit independent projects on any aspect of Chinese history during the country's monumental social and political upheaval.

Church Missionary Society Periodicals

Discover two hundred years of worldwide missionary history. This online portal makes available periodicals from the Church Missionary Society Archive, a vital collection for students, researchers and teachers of missiology, world Christianity and global history.

Colonial America

The complete CO 5 files from the National Archives, UK, 1606-1822, Colonial America is a 'game changing' development for historians and researchers of early America, the Atlantic world, the Caribbean and the nascent British Empire. Colonial America enables online access to the vast archive of circa 70,000 documents of manuscript materials for the first time.

Colonial Caribbean

This extensive digital resource covers three centuries of Caribbean history. Drawn from the vast archives of the British Colonial Office, this is simply an essential resource for all students and researchers of the Caribbean and British colonial rule.

Defining Gender

Discover five centuries of advice literature from the mid-15th to early 20th century. Research the ideals of social conduct, power distribution within the family, consumption and leisure, education of men and women and gendered perceptions of the body to analyse and challenge the changing views and ideas surrounding traditional gender roles.

Early Modern England

Explore the lived experiences of Early Modern English society, from ordinary people to prominent families. This collection of primary sources looks at two centuries of everyday, political, religious, working, trading and administrative life in England during this pivotal epoch.

East India Company

From 16th-century origins as a trading venture to the East Indies, through to its rise as the world’s most powerful company and de facto ruler of India, to its demise amid allegations of greed and corruption – the East India Company was an extraordinary force in global history for three centuries. This digital resource allows students and researchers to access a vast and remarkable collection of primary source documents from the India Office Records held by the British Library, the single most important archive for the study of the East India Company.

Eighteenth Century Drama

Delve into the theatrical world of eighteenth-century society, and explore how the Larpent plays reflect the politics of the time, the role of women, views on race and religion, opinions on empire, and European and British history.

Eighteenth Century Journals

The first resource of its kind to make digitally available unique and extremely rare eighteenth century periodicals, each chosen to convey the eclecticism and evolution of the publishing world between 1685 and 1835. The Portal consists of five standalone sections, each of which will support research and study on multiple subjects and themes from the period

Empire Online

Spanning five centuries, and charting the rise and fall of empires around the world, Empire Online is a powerful digital resource enabling research of colonial history, politics, culture and society. From Columbus to debates on American Imperialism, Empire Online is driven by a panel of consultant editors from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the USA and has been designed specifically to encourage the use of primary sources in teaching.

Ethnomusicology

Delve into the cultural study of music and explore the rise of Ethnomusicology as a discipline with this essential collection featuring content from the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive and University of Washington. Presenting content from across the globe, this diverse and comprehensive resource features thousands of audio field recordings and interviews, educational recordings, film footage, field notebooks, slides, correspondence and ephemera from over 60 fields of study, including sites in West Africa, North America, South East Asia and more.

Everyday Life and Women in America, 1800-1920

This collection is an unparalleled resource for the study of American social, cultural, and popular history during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It comprises thousands of fully searchable images (alongside transcriptions) of monographs, pamphlets, periodicals and broadsides addressing political, social and gender issues, religion, race, education, employment, marriage, sexuality, home and family life, health, and pastimes.

First World War

Revealing the voices and experiences of the men and women who served in the First World War, this rich and varied collection will be an invaluable source for anyone studying and researching the ‘Great War’. Material is sourced from the Imperial War Museum, the National Archives, UK and more.

Food and Drink in History

From feast to famine, explore five centuries of primary source material documenting the story of food and drink. The materials in this collection illustrate the deep links between food and identity, politics, power, gender, race, and socio-economic status, as well as charting key issues such as agriculture, nutrition, and food production.

Frontier Life

Journey to the far reaches of settler frontiers across the globe. Through a large array of unique documents, this multi-archive collection captures the lives, experiences and colonial encounters of people living at the edges of the Anglophone world from 1650-1920. It ranges across the various colonial frontiers of North America before touching on the settlers of Southern Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Gender: Identity and Social Change

Explore records from men’s and women’s organisations, advice literature and etiquette books to reveal developing gender roles and relations. Gain an insight into changing societal expectations about gender roles through personal diaries and correspondence and explore the life and careers of key figures and pioneers in gender history.

Global Commodities

Discover the histories of fifteen key commodities that changed the world through a wide range of manuscript sources, rare books, maps, advertising memorabilia, paintings, photographs and ephemera. Explore themes of exploration and discovery; imperialism and attempts at monopoly; trade Wars; translocation and economic geography; slavery; mass production; luxury; taste; and the evolution of global branding.

Grand Tour

This digital collection of manuscript, visual and printed works allows students and researchers to explore and compare a range of sources on the history of travel for the first time, including many from private or neglected collections.

India, Raj and Empire

The National Library of Scotland has wonderful collections documenting this history from the foundation of the East India Company in 1615 to the granting of independence for India and Pakistan in 1947.

Indigenous Histories and Cultures

From early contacts between European settlers and American Indians and the subsequent political, social and cultural effects of those encounters on American Indian life, these materials tell both the historical and the personal stories of the colonization of the Americas. Continuing through to the modern era, and told against the backdrop of the 19th century expansion into the ‘Western Frontier’ right through to the civil rights movement of the mid-twentieth century.

Indigenous Newspapers in North America

Discover North American Indigenous journalism spanning two centuries with this major digital resource. Featuring publications from a range of communities, with an extensive list of periodicals produced in the United States and Canada, including Alaska, Arizona, British Columbia, California, Nevada and Oklahoma, from 1828 to 2016.

Interwar Culture

From entertainment and technology to relationships and current affairs, explore everyday life and society on both sides of the Atlantic through popular and lesser-known periodicals. Interwar Culture showcases a vast collection of popular and lesser-known periodicals published during these dynamic yet turbulent decades with articles covering arts and culture, fashion, home and family life, travel, world current affairs, class, social and welfare issues as well as a wealth of writing from some of the most prominent literary figures of the era.

J. Walter Thompson: Advertising America

The J. Walter Thompson Company archive stands alone as the single most complete and informative corporate record of the history of modern advertising. It includes the account files of some of the world’s biggest brands, such as Kraft, Kodak, Oscar Mayer and Pan Am.

Jewish Life in America, 1654-1954

An indispensable resource for all those interested in understanding and exploring the history of Jewish communities in America from their first arrival in New York in 1654 to the integral part that they play today. Material is sourced from the American Jewish Historical Society, New York.

Leisure, Travel and Mass Culture: The History of Tourism

Discover the pleasures of nineteenth and twentieth century leisure travel and the growth of tourism for the masses. Bringing together collections from multiple archives, including Thomas Cook, this resource presents an untapped multi-national perspective on the evolution of affordable tourism around the world.

Life at Sea

This exciting resource brings together unique primary sources drawn from world-class maritime archives and heritage collections. Reflecting current trends in Maritime history, this resource takes a sociocultural approach, focusing on the individual experiences and personal narratives of seafarers and their lives lived on the high seas.

Literary Manuscripts Berg

The Berg Collection is recognised as one of the finest literary research collections in the world, and the Victorian holdings are the undisputed jewel in its crown. This outstanding collection will prove an invaluable source for textual analysis of Victorian literature. Unpublished poems, working notebooks, holograph manuscripts and drawings trace the inspiration and genesis behind the period’s greatest works.

Literary Manuscripts Leeds

This project opens up new opportunities for the reading, study and appreciation of early modern verse and provides valuable source materials for both literary scholars and historians. Materials include 17th and 18th century poetry from the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds.

Literary Print Culture

The Stationers' Company Archives, London. Explore the history of printing, publishing and bookselling dating from 1554 to the 20th century.

London Low Life

London Low Life brings to life the teeming streets of Victorian London, inviting students and scholars to explore the gin palaces, brothels and East End slums of the nineteenth century’s greatest city. From salacious ‘swell’s guides’ to scandalous broadsides and subversive posters, the material sold and exchanged on London’s bustling thoroughfares offers an unparalleled insight into the dark underworld of the city.

Market Research and American Business

Market Research and American Business, 1935-1965 provides a unique insight into the American consumer boom of the mid-20th century through access to the complete market research reports of Ernest Dichter, the era’s foremost consumer analyst and market research pioneer. The collection is a treasure trove of information on some of America’s best known brands.

Mass Observation Online

The Archive of Mass-Observation, a pioneering social research organisation, has been described as a "treasure trove", "an invaluable resource for sociologists and cultural historians" and "a fascinating source of precious data for researchers across the widest range of disciplines". Mass Observation Online makes the Mass Observation Archive available to researchers in its entirety.

Mass Observation Project

Mass Observation Project provides digital access to a unique life-writing archive, capturing the everyday experiences, thoughts and opinions of people living through the turbulent final decades of the 20th century and the advent of the 21st century.

Medical Services And Warfare

Focusing on medical advances across conflicts, the resource includes documents from the Crimean War, the second Boer War, the American Civil War, the First World War and inter- and post-war periods

Medieval Family Life

Consisting of the Paston Family Papers, a collection that has long been a subject of both literary and historical interest, Medieval Family Life enables access to Britain’s first surviving records of private correspondence, describing everyday life in East Anglia during the Wars of the Roses.

Medieval Travel Writing

This project provides direct access to a widely scattered collection of original medieval manuscripts that describe travel - real and imaginary - in the Middle Ages. Material provides an insight into the attitudes and preconceptions of people across Europe in the medieval period, shedding light on issues of race, economics, trade, militarism, politics, literature and science.

Meiji Japan

Edward S Morse (1838-1925) was a great polymath – notable for his work in natural history, ethnography and art history – but, perhaps most famous for his work in bringing Japan and the West closer together. Devoting much of his life to the task of documenting life in Japan before it was transformed by Western modernization, Meiji Japan offers full access to Morse's diaries, journals and correspondence on a myriad of subjects at the time.

Migration to New Worlds

From departure to destination, discover the dreams and harsh realities for migrants to the New World and Australasia during the ‘century of immigration’. This captivating, multi-archive collection provides a wide-ranging and in depth look at the emigration of peoples from Great Britain, mainland Europe and Asia during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Nineteenth Century Literary Society

An unparalleled resource for nineteenth century culture and the literary luminaries who shaped it. Nineteenth Century Literary Society offers unprecedented digital access to the peerless archive of the historic John Murray publishing company.

Perdita Manuscripts

This resource is produced in association with the Perdita Project based at the University of Warwick and Nottingham Trent University. Their goal was to identify and describe all manner of writing by early modern women from diaries to works of drama.

Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975

Music, Politics, Fashion, Youth Culture – the period from 1950 to 1975 witnessed dramatic changes in society. There was the onset of Rock & Roll; the introduction of computers and credit cards; the boom of radio and television; and campaigns for black power, civil rights and women’s liberation. All around the world there were challenges to authority.

Popular Medicine in America, 1800-1900

Explore the medicine chests and bookshelves of the everyday nineteenth-century American through a colourful array of advertisements, popular texts and much more. This resource offers access to an outstanding collection of highly visual primary source material, together with supplementary features designed to aid research and teaching.

Poverty, Philanthropy and Social Conditions in Victorian Britain

Discover what life was like for the poorest communities in Victorian Britain, and explore the social reform and philanthropic efforts of charitable institutions that sought to alleviate poverty.

Race Relations in America

Discover a wealth of primary source material on the Civil Rights Movement, segregation, discrimination and racial theory in America during three pivotal decades of the twentieth century.

Romanticism: Life, Literature and Landscape

This powerful resource offers unparalleled access to the single largest collection of working notebooks, verse manuscripts and correspondence of William Wordsworth and his fellow writers anywhere in the world, all digitized in full colour. With access to the annotated full manuscripts of such notable works as The Prelude and Michael, or Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Dejection: An Ode this project is unrivalled in its content and scope.

Service Newspapers of World War Two

Contains an extensive range of both rare and well-known wartime publications for soldiers serving in major theatres around the world. Publications are included from many key nations involved in the conflict, such as the US, Canada, New Zealand, India, and the countries of Europe, Africa and the Middle East

Sex and Sexuality

Explore changing attitudes towards human sexuality, gender and sexual behaviours in America and beyond, throughout the 20th century. Sex & Sexuality provides unprecedented access to collections from prominent sex researchers and sexologists.

Shakespeare in Performance

Shakespeare in Performance is an essential resource for all scholars of Shakespearean drama, featuring rare and unique prompt books from the world-famous Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC. The prompt books tell the stories of key performances as they were put on in theatres throughout Great Britain, the United States and further afield, between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries.

Shakespeare's Globe Archive

Renowned worldwide for the iconic reconstruction of the original Globe Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe celebrates William Shakespeare through the power of performance to make his work accessible to all. From architectural plans to costume designs, prompt books and programmes, the digitised archive of Shakespeare’s Globe offers researchers a comprehensive insight into performance practice in this unique theatre space.

Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice

Designed for both teaching and research, this resource brings together documents and collections from libraries and archives across the Atlantic world covering an extensive time period from 1490. Close attention has been given to the varieties of slavery, the legacy of slavery, the social justice perspective and the continued existence of slavery today.

Socialism on Film

Sourced from the British Film Institute (BFI), this collection of documentary, newsreel and feature films reveals the world as seen by Soviet, Chinese, Vietnamese, East European, and Latin American filmmakers. Ranging from the early 20th century to the 1980s, material encapsulates the themes of war, revolution, news, current affairs, culture and society.

The Gilded Age and Progressive Era

This resource sheds light on this transformative period in American history, through the records of some of its most famous luminaries of industry, culture and politics. A richly varied range of archival sources charts the contradictions of the age. The resource includes the personal and business papers of key industrialists; records of rail, steel and oil corporations; material on labour disputes, politics and progressivism; and rich visual content on fashion, material culture and architecture.

Trade Catalogues and the American Home

Explore domestic life, leisure and material culture of nineteenth- and twentieth-century America.

Travel Writing, Spectacle and World History

Travel Writing, Spectacle and World History offers students and researchers a window to the past and transports them across continents. From the everyday to the extraordinary, these rare diaries and the supporting correspondence describe the travel experiences, destinations and desires of nineteenth and twentieth century American women travelling the world.

Victorian Popular Culture

Victorian Popular Culture contains a wide range of source material relating to popular entertainment in America, Britain and Europe in the period from 1779 to 1930, and shows how interconnected these worlds were. Taking its cue from the source material, Victorian Popular Culture welcome readers into the darkened halls, small backrooms and travelling venues that hosted everything from spectacular shows and bawdy burlesque, to magic and spiritualist séances.

Victorians on Film

This must-have collection offers insight into the experimental work of early filmmakers in creating news, animation, drama, and special effects, as well as providing an invaluable exploration into how Victorians went about their day-to-day activities from their work to their leisure time.

Virginia Company Archives

An essential source for the study of the Atlantic World and Early Colonial Period. Material covers the founding and economic development of Virginia as seen through the papers of the Virginia Company of London, 1606-1624. It is also a crucial source for London's economic history in the Early Modern era and will be of interest to social and religious historians.

Women in the National Archives

A finding aid for women's studies resources in The National Archives, UK is presented alongside original documents on the suffrage question in Britain, the Empire and colonial territories. The finding aid which makes up a part of Women in The National Archives enables researchers to quickly locate details of documents held at The National Archives, UK relating to women. This finding aid is far more detailed and extensive than anything available elsewhere online and has the benefit of ranging across all of the classes held at the archive.

World's Fairs

This online resource hosts primary source material from hundreds of fairs, including London’s Great Exhibition of 1851, American fairs of the 19th and 20th centuries and 21st century EXPOs. A vital resource for students, teachers and researchers of a huge range of subjects including imperialism, race relations, gender studies, science and technology, consumer culture, architecture and design.