The University’s principal research collection relating to the history of the United States is housed in the Vere Harmsworth Library (part of Oxford’s world-renowned Bodleian Library). The library has an excellent collection of printed materials, including monographs, journals and editions of documents. Its award-winning building also houses several important research collections, particularly relating to the American colonial period, but also including the Congressional Record, the 19th century volumes of the United States Serial Set, and a substantial collection of other government documents. The collections of printed material are impressive by both European and American standards.

The Library also provides access to many important indexes and microforms collections of primary source material. Some of these, such as the C.I.S. Index to Executive Branch Documents, 1789-1909 and the Congressional Research Service’s Major Studies and Issue Briefs, are not held by any other library in the UK. This material has been supplemented by major non-official series, such as Silbey’s The Congress of the United States, 1789-1989. Available in microform are many major and local US newspapers, including those of the 18th and 19th centuries though increasingly they are available electronically .

Thanks to various major grants, the Library has been able to purchase a wide range of microfilm collections. Acquisitions during the last two years include: the papers of Salmon Chase, Robert Owen, William Seward, and Thaddeus Stevens, the American Home Missionary Society Papers, the American Colonization Society Papers, the Freedman’s Aid Society Papers, the Congress of Racial Equality Papers, Civil Rights during the Nixon Administration, Vietnam and the media collection from the Lyndon Johnson library, and the Senate Historical Office oral history. A recent acquisition includes 642 hours of released recordings of Lyndon B Johnson’s telephone conversations on CD-ROM.

Manuscript material relating to the history of the US is housed in the Rhodes House Library. It includes the historic archive of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the papers of the (British) Anti-Slavery Society. The major modern political collections include the papers of the diplomat, Sir John Crampton. The library is also in the process of acquiring a number of manuscript collections, including material relating to Ronald Reagan (donated by journalist Godfrey Hodgson), a collection of election materials (the most extensive in Britain, donated by Philip and Rosamund Davis) and a collection on the civil rights movement (donated by former activist Lady Carla Carlisle).

Electronic resources

Oxford University Library Services (OULS) provides access to a growing collection of electronic resources via its resource discovery tool OxLIP+. These range from online databases and CD-ROMs to electronic journals. In addition to subscriptions to major databases, such as America: History & Life, American National Biography, Cambridge Histories Online, Oxford Reference Online, Blackwell Reference Online, etc. and electronic journals, other major electronic subscriptions relevant to US history include:

• Declassified Documents Reference System (DDRS)
• Digital National Security Archive (DNSA)
• Early American Imprints I: Evans, 1639-1800
• Early encounters in North America
• Empire Online, 1492-1969
• Historical Statistics of the United States
• iPOLL
• North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories
• North American Women's Letters and Diaries

 

Newspapers and magazines

• 19th Century US Newspapers
• American Periodicals Series, 1740-1900
• Chicago Defender 1905-1975
• Ethnic Newswatch 
• New York Times Historical Archive, 1851-2002
• Washington Post 1877-1990 (1977- also available via LexisNexis News Service)

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