Library & Cultural Services: Interdisciplinary Studies: Primary Sources

Primary Sources

The library provides access to a range of online primary source archives which can be useful for some research topics in Interdisciplinary Studies. As with news and media content, remember that popular/consumer magazines etc. are not considered to be critical academic sources. However, they can provide useful insights into the representation of particular topics, events, individuals and groups over time. Links to a few of these archives are provided below, but you can find a more comprehensive listing in the History subject guide.

Archives of sexuality and gender
A significant collection of primary sources for the historical study of sex, sexuality, and gender with material dating back to the sixteenth century.
Shibboleth users
Ebony magazine archive
Ebony has been a leading African-American magazine since publication commenced in 1945. It focuses on news & stories important to the Black community in the US. The fully searchable full-text archive spans 1945-2014, and covers African-American business, history & politics (including civil rights), education, entertainment, fashion and culture.
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Gender : identity and social change
Essential primary sources documenting the changing representations and lived experiences of gender roles and relations from the nineteenth century to the present. This expansive collection offers sources for the study of women's suffrage, the feminist movement, and the men’s movement.

GQ Magazine Archive
One of the longest-running and most influential men's magazines, GQ expanded its initial focus on fashion to cover other subjects. The digital archive from 1931- onwards provides textual & photographic insight into the history of fashion, popular culture, masculinity, and society. Provides an interesting contrast to Vogue Magazine Archive, which is also available through the Proquest platform

LGBT magazine archive
Archival runs of 27 of the most influential, longest-running serial publications covering LGBT interests. In addition to LGBT/gender/sexuality studies, this material serves disciplines such as sociology, political science, psychology, health, and the arts. Publications may contain explicit content.
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UK Parliamentary Papers
UKPP provides complete online coverage of the sessional papers of the British House of Commons and 19th Century House of Lords. It covers working documents of government for all areas of social, political, economic and foreign policy.
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Vogue archive
A searchable archive of American Vogue, from the first issue in 1892 to the current month, reproduced in high-resolution colour page images. Pages, advertisements, covers and fold-outs are included, with rich indexing enabling researchers to find images by garment type, designer and brand names.
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Women's magazine archive
An archive of the backfiles of leading women's interest consumer magazines, from the late-19th century through to 2005. Issues are scanned in high-resolution colour, with non-article items such as advertisements included, and feature detailed article-level indexing.
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