Library & Cultural Services: Sociology: Primary Sources

Digitised Source Material

Aside from digitised newspapers and magazines (see section above), the Library has purchased a number of online primary source collections, including those listed here:

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. The collection consists of the following archives: LBGTQ History and Criticism Since 1940; Sex and Sexuality, Sixteenth to Twentieth Century; International Perspectives on LGBTQ Activism and Culture.
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British Online Archives
Including:
Apartheid Through the Eyes of South African Political Parties, 1948-1994;
BBC Handbooks, Annual Reports and Accounts, 1927-2002;
BBC Listener Research Department Reports, 1937-c.1950;
British Government Information and Propaganda, 1939-2009;
Colonial Africa in Official Statistics, 1821-1953;
Colonial Law in Africa, 1808-1919;
Colonial Law in Africa, 1920-1945;
Colonial Law in Africa, 1946-1966;
Communism and Popular Culture in the 20th Century;
Communism, Culture and Society in the 20th Century;
Communisms and the Cold War, 1944-1986;
Independent Labour Party Records, 1893-1960;
Liverpool Shipping Records: Imports and Exports (Parts 1, 2 and 3);
Prosecuting the Holocaust: British Investigations into Nazi Crimes, 1944-1949;
Records from Bethlem Royal Hospital, 1559-1932;
Slave Trade Records from Liverpool, 1754-1792;
Slavery Through Time: from Enslavers to Abolitionists, 1675-1865;
South Africa Under Apartheid: Reports and Research by a Journalist, 1949-1995;
The East India Company: Corrupt Governance and Cruelty in India, 1806-1814;
The East India Company: Laying the Foundations for British Colonial Domination of India, 1752-1774;
Zimbabwe Under Colonial Rule, in Government Reports, 1897-1980
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Crime, punishment & popular culture
Crime, Punishment, and Popular Culture, 1790-1920 from Gale is a digital archive comprising more than 2 million pages of original source material. Documents include trial transcripts, judges case notes, police and detective agency reports, detective novels, newspaper accounts, true crime literature, and related ephemera. Useful for the study of nineteenth century crime and criminal justice, popular culture, social history, legal history, and literature.
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Defining gender, 1450-1910
A broad range of thematically organised documents from 21 libraries in five sections offering c. 50,000 images of original documents linked to essays by leading scholars in the field.Section I: Conduct and Politeness; Section II: Domesticity and the Family; Section III: Consumption and Leisure; Section IV: Education and Sensibility; and Section V: The Body.
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Empire online
This database offers approximately 60,000 images of original documents linked to essays by leading scholars in the field of Empire Studies. The sections cover Cultural Contacts, 1492-1969; Empire Writing and the Literature of Empire; The Visible Empire; Religion and Empire; and Race, Class and Colonialism, c1783-1969. The images are sourced from about ten different libraries and archives around the world, including a strong core of document images from the British Library, including the Oriental and India Office Collections at the British Library; the University of Birmingham Library; the Bodleian Library, Oxford; and the Public Record Office and the State Records, New South Wales, Australia.
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First World War Portal
From personal collections and rare printed material, to military files, ephemera and artwork, The First World War highlights the experiences of soldiers, civilians and governments on both sides of the conflict and in multiple theatres of war. Covering an array of international perspectives, the resource showcases intimate personal narratives, wartime propaganda and recruitment material, the truly global reach of the conflict, and the role of women in war through various documentary and visual forms.
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, the mens movement, employment, education, the body, the family, and government and politics.
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Mass observation online
This resource offers revolutionary access to one of the most important archives for the study of social history in the modern era (1937-1956). Explore original manuscript and typescript papers created and collected by the Mass Observation organisation, as well as printed publications, photographs and interactive features.
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Mass Observation Project
Launched in 1981 by the University of Sussex as a rebirth of the original 1937 Mass Observation, its founders' aim was to document the social history of Britain by recruiting volunteers to write about their lives and opinions. Still growing, it is one of the most important sources available for qualitative social data in the UK. This collection consists of the directives (questionnaires) sent out by Mass Observation in the 1980s and 1990s and the thousands of responses to them from the hundreds of Mass Observers. The directives and responses from the 2000s will follow in 2022.
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Oral History

Oral History sources have the potential to offer rich qualitative data for many types of sociological study, including life course studies, social change, family & personal relations, occupation, leisure, and so forth.

This guide from the UK Data Service is a helpful starting point. See also some of the links to sources on the Social History section of the Sociology subject guide, and on the History subject guide too.

The archives at Essex contain some important oral history collections, notably the Paul Thompson material in the National Social Policy and Social Change (Qualidata) archive, and the Colchester Recalled Oral History Group digitised recordings. See the Library's Special Collections page for details

Open Access Sources

An increasing amount of material is being made available open access. Some national & research libraries have taken a lead in this area.

Be aware that some resources appear to be open access, in that they are free to search, but viewing content requires payment.

See More Resources for further listings by subject

Google Arts & Culture
Has a large number of themes that cover diverse aspects of social life & experience, and can be an interesting place to explore ideas & access digitised material
JSTOR Open Community Collections
Rapidly growing platform for open access primary source material from institutions in the US and beyond, includes a strong visual component
JSTOR Reveal Digital
Collections of primary source material from under-represented 20th-century voices of dissent in the US, crowdfunded by libraries (collections become open access as funding targets are reached)

Microform Collections

Before digitisation, the Library acquired large amounts of primary source material on microfilm and microfiche, much of it of potential interest to sociologists.

You can search the Library catalogue by keyword (limit your search to Microforms) to see what we have, or browse a list of the main collections here:

Albert Sloman Library Microforms guide

Government Publications

For details of UK government publications please see the Politics subject guide

For details of official publications from the UN and other international agencies see the Law subject guide and the Politics subject guide

Sociology

Digitised Source Material

Oral History

Open Access Sources

Microform Collections

Archives

Government Publications