LibGuides: Anthropology and Archaeology: Archives & Primary Sources

Digital Collections

African America;Communists;and the National Negro Congress;1933-1947 This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
America in Protest: Records of Anti-Vietnam War Organizations;The Vietnam Veterans Against the War This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
American Indian Movement and Native American Radicalism This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
Indigenous Newspapers in North America This link opens in a new window
A diverse collection of print journalism from Indigenous peoples of the US and Canada over more than 9,000 individual editions from 1828-2016.
American Periodicals This link opens in a new window
Searchable, full-text database, with digitized page images, of American magazines and journals that originated between 1741, when Andrew Bradford's American Magazine and Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine were launched, and 1900. The bulk of the collection dates from the 19th-century; periodicals that began publication before 1900 and continued into the 20th century are included through 1940. Based on the American Periodical Series (APS I, II, and III) microfilm collections.
Asia and the West (Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO)) This link opens in a new window
A range of primary source collections related to international relations between Asian countries and the West during the nineteenth century.
Black authors 1552-1992 : Imprints from the Library Company of Philadelphia This link opens in a new window
Includes more than 550 works by authors of African or African-American descent
Black Freedom Struggle in the United States This link opens in a new window
Free Resource for Students, Educators and Patrons Chronicles the Struggles and Triumphs of Black Americans
Black Liberation Army and the Program of Armed Struggle This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
British Labour Party Papers (1906-1969) This link opens in a new window
Civil Rights and Social Activism in Alabama: The Papers of John LeFlore;1926-1976 and Records of the Non-Partisan Voters League;1956-1987 This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
Cold War: Voices of Confrontation and Conciliation This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
Daily Mail Historical Archive, 1896-2016 This link opens in a new window
Early Russian Cinema This link opens in a new window
A collection of Russian film periodicals from the last tsarist decade released by the major Russian film studios
East India Company This link opens in a new window
India Office Records from the British Library, London. Containing royal charters, correspondence, trading diaries, minutes of council meetings and reports of expeditions, among other document types, this resource charts the history of British trade and rule in the Indian subcontinent and beyond from 1599 to 1947.
Ethnographic Sound Archives Online This link opens in a new window
Ethnographic Sound Archives Online brings together previously unpublished historic audio recordings and their supporting field materials, opening new paths for the study of music in its cultural context. The collection brings together 2,000 hours of audio recordings from field expeditions around the world, particularly from the 1960s through the 1980s—the dawn of ethnomusicology as a codified discipline
Europe and Africa, Colonialism and Culture (Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO)) This link opens in a new window
Includes monographs, manuscripts and newspaper accounts covering key issues of economics, world politics and international strategy.
Federal Surveillance of African Americans;1920-1984 This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
Feminism in Cuba: Nineteenth through Twentieth Century Archival Documents This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
Fight for Racial Justice and the Civil Rights Congress This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
Gender feminism and the British Left 1944-1961 This link opens in a new window
This collection contains records compiled by the Communist Party of Great Britain’s (CPGB) Women’s Department during the period 1944-1991.

Gender Studies Collection
The Gender Studies Collection is a collection of 242 print publications, mostly pamphlets, dating from the late 1960s to the 1980s. The collection includes keystone publications on LGBT issues, the liberation of men and women, advice on motherhood, abortion, childcare, race and employment.

German Anti-Semitic Propaganda;1909-1941 This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
Global War on Terrorism This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
Governing Africa, 1808-1995 This link opens in a new window
Featured collections of primary source documents cover British colonial administrations that reigned during the 19th and 20th centuries, and include content on 13 colonies, from Ghana and Togo to Kenya and Nigeria.
Grassroots Civil Rights and Social Action: Council for Social Action This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
Grassroots Civil Rights and Social Action: Council for Social Action This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
Immigrations, migrations and refugees : global perspectives, 1941-1996 This link opens in a new window
In Response to the AIDS Crisis: Records of the National Commission on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome;1983-1994 This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
International Climatic Changes and Global Warming This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
International Women's Movement: The Pan Pacific/Southeast Asia Women's Association;1950-1985 This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
Jewish Underground Resistance: The David Diamant Collection This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
LGBTQ Archives of sexuality & gender This link opens in a new window
Liberation Movement in Africa and African America This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
Mass Observation Online This link opens in a new window
Mass Observation Project 1981-2009 This link opens in a new window
An essential resource for late-twentieth and early twenty-first-century British social history, consists of all the directives (questionnaires) sent out by Mass Observation and the responses to them from the hundreds of Mass Observers
Middle Eastern and North African Newspapers Premium Collection This link opens in a new window
Researchers will find a wealth of unique content from the Middle East and North Africa, much of which has never been digitized or available as open access material. Content in the Middle Eastern and North African Newspapers collection is predominantly in Arabic, but also includes key titles in English and French. The collection comprises mostly out-of-copyright, orphaned content. CRL members and subscribing institutions also receive access to five in-copyright titles from the region: al-Akhbār (الاخبار, Lebanon, 2006-2019), al-Dustūr (الدستور, Jordan, 1967-2000), al-Jumhūrīyah (الجمهورية, Egypt, 1962-1986), al-Riyāḍ (الرياض, Saudi Arabia, 1972-1996), and Filasṭīn (فلسطين, Israel/Palestine, 1956-1967).
Migration to new worlds This link opens in a new window
Mountain People: Life and Culture in Appalachia This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
Orlando: Women's Writing in the British Isles This link opens in a new window
Orlando is a comprehensive electronic database relating to women's writing in the British Isles. It offers a wealth of biographical and critical information on more than 1000 writers, together with entries on literary and historical events.
Rastafari Ephemeral Publications from the Written Rastafari Archives Project This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
Royal Anthropological Institute Archive This link opens in a new window
The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is the world's longest-established scholarly association dedicated to the furtherance of anthropology (the study of humankind) in its broadest and most inclusive sense.
Slavery, abolition, and social justice This link opens in a new window
An essential resource for the study of slavery, the African American experience and world history spanning over five centuries.
Slavery: Advocacy & Opposition, 1675-1865 This link opens in a new window
Struggles for freedom: Southern Africa This link opens in a new window
Sunday Times Digital Archive, 1822-2021 This link opens in a new window
Telegraph Historical Archive, 1855-2021 This link opens in a new window
Testaments to the Holocaust. Documents and Rare Printed Materials from the Wiener Library;London This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
Through the Camera Lens:' The Moving Picture World and the Silent Cinema Era;1907-1927 This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
War on Poverty: Office of Civil Rights;1965-1968 This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
Witchcraft in Europe and America This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound
Women's Periodicals: Social and Political Issues This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound

Online Portals

Newspapers
An international list of digitised newspapers, historical and contemporary, that Cambridge subscribes to.

Archives Hub This link opens in a new window
Archives Hub provides a gateway to thousands of the UK’s richest archives. Representing over 220 institutions across the country, the Archives Hub is an effective way to discover unique and often little-known sources to support your research.
Archives Portal Europe This link opens in a new window
Provides a single access to find, browse and discover information on archives about Europe held by thousands of cultural heritage institutions from more than 30 countries

ArchivesSearch
Use ArchiveSearch to search for archives and primary sources held in Cambridge -- including at the University, colleges, faculties and museums -- and to find out how you can access them. Find links to online digital resources and to help you plan a research visit to use archive materials.

Archives Unbound This link opens in a new window
Particular strengths in the Archive Unbound catalog include U.S. foreign policy; U.S. civil rights; global affairs and colonial studies; and modern history. Broad topic clusters include: African American studies; American Indian studies; Asian studies; British history; Holocaust studies; LGBT studies; Latin American and Caribbean studies; Middle East studies; political science; religious studies; and women’s studies. The Archives Unbound program consists of more than 290,000 documents.
Discovery, the National Archives catalogue This link opens in a new window
Discovery 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.
British Online Archives This link opens in a new window
British Online Archives is one of the United Kingdom’s leading academic publishers. Its goal is to provide students and researchers in the humanities and social sciences with access to unique collections of primary source documents. Its website hosts over 4 million records drawn from both private and public archives. These records are organised thematically, covering 1,000 years of world history, from politics and warfare to slavery and medicine.
Factiva This link opens in a new window
A business intelligence platform that includes content from 33,000 news, data and information sources from 200 countries and 32 languages.
Factiva is a database of over 8,000 business and news publications, most in full text. Sources are in 22 languages, date back as far as 1969, and include trade journals, newswires (Dow Jones, Reuters, and others), media programs, and company and stock reports. Find information on over 22,000 public and private companies including description, history, current stock quote, financial data, competitors, and the latest news on business activities. Search publications by title, industry, geographic locations, type, and language.
Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
Gale Primary Sources allows users to search across seven primary source archives from the publisher Gale including Archives of Sexuality and Gender, Archives Unbound (specialising in social movements), British Library Newspapers, Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive, and many other newspaper and official documents archives.

Institute of Historical Research: Open and Free Access Materials for Research
The IHR steers researchers to freely accessible online research resources. On this site, you will find lists of links to these resources, organised by publication type, chronology and theme. At the start you will also find helpful advice from the IHR Library team on how to make the most of this resource. So far over 750 resources have been listed

Additional Cambridge Guides & Resources

African Studies Library
by Jenni Skinner Last Updated Nov 28, 2024 726 views this year

Audio-visual resources
by James Caudwell Last Updated Jul 28, 2021 56 views this year

Cambridge Dissertation Fair (list of university archives available for research)

Chadwyck-Healey Liberation Collection, 1944-1946 (University Library)
by Irène Fabry-Tehranchi Last Updated Dec 12, 2024 17 views this year

Children's Literature Collections at Cambridge
by LibGuides Admin Last Updated Apr 2, 2025 319 views this year

Decolonising Arctic Resources
by LibGuides Admin Last Updated Jul 30, 2024 17 views this year

Gender Studies Collection
The Gender Studies Collection is a collection of 242 print publications, mostly pamphlets, dating from the late 1960s to the 1980s. The collection includes keystone publications on LGBT issues, the liberation of men and women, advice on motherhood, abortion, childcare, race and employment.

Newspapers
by James Caudwell Last Updated Mar 18, 2025 524 views this year

LGBTQ+ Resources and Collections
by LibGuides Admin Last Updated Aug 6, 2024 105 views this year

Official Publications
by LibGuides Admin Last Updated Mar 28, 2025 2018 views this year

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Anthropology and Archaeology: Archives & Primary Sources

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Digital Collections

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Additional Cambridge Guides & Resources