AM publishes unique primary source collections from archives around the world.
Maynooth University - National University of Ireland has access to the following AM collections. Search across all of them via the search box above, or browse the list of links.
1980s Culture and Society
Compare grassroots media with official records to explore political, social and welfare issues of the 1980s such as the rise of conservatism, nuclear threat, and the AIDS crisis.
Africa and the New Imperialism
The most extensive resource covering Africa in the age of new imperialism; a major period of colonial expansion that sent shockwaves throughout the continent, the effects of which are still felt today.
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.
AM Research Skills
AM Research Skills provides the practical tools students need to understand and interact with primary sources. Offering crucial support for interdisciplinary classes, the learning resource can be used in classroom-based and online teaching to enhance student success, as well as for extended study. Explore methods using relevant source material, develop foundational information literacy and enhanced critical thinking skills, and introduce concepts that underpin research in the arts, humanities and social sciences.
American Consumer Culture
Cross-searchable access to essential primary sources for the study of market research, consumerism, business and advertising in America.
Amnesty International Archives
Explore the rise of the global human rights movement during the second half of the twentieth century through the International Secretariat records of Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Amnesty International. The material within this collection is vital for studying the history of key political events, global social change, human rights violations and campaigns with themes including abolition of torture, state violence, political prisoners, minority rights, and more.
British Newsreels
Topical Budget was one of the major British newsreels of the silent era. These silent films, which reached a weekly audience of up to five million, offer fascinating insights into British life, culture and society with subjects ranging from the First World War, the Royal Family, and domestic and international politics through to sport, leisure and fashion.
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.
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.
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.
Hindi Cinema
Sourced from the private collection of renowned author and documentary film-maker Nasreen Munni Kabir, this resource features unedited interviews with leading Indian film personalities who contributed to the shaping of the ‘Golden Age’ of Hindi cinema and beyond.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Royal Shakespeare Company Archives
The material within this collection allows users to explore how the works of William Shakespeare, his contemporaries, and other playwrights have been performed since the late nineteenth century. Researchers are able to chart the company's performance history through c.1,400 prompt books, which are further complemented by photographs, original designs, sheet music, programmes, and production records for the RSC's most innovative productions.
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.
Trade in Early Modern London
An expansive resource for the study of the history of early modern London through the lens of the livery companies and trade. Livery companies evolved from London’s medieval guilds, becoming corporations under royal charter responsible for training in their respective trades, as well as for the regulation of aspects such as wage control, labour conditions, and industry standards. The companies’ rich and varied records document the central role that these institutions played in the economic, political, social, and cultural life of the city.
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.