HIST 491C: History and the Diplomat (Spring 2025)

Find diverse global perspectives on topics related to controversial issues, the environment, health, education, science, the arts, literature, business, economics, criminal justice, and more from a variety of current and retrospective news media including newspapers, newswires, broadcast transcripts, blogs, periodicals, videos and web-only content. Includes local news, editorials, announcements and other sections from over 12,000 sources and 200+ countries. Includes Virginian-Pilot Historical Archive, 1865-1989. Date coverage varies with individual newspaper.

Sourced from the extensive holdings of the British Library, British Library Newspapers delivers a wide range of irreplaceable local and regional voices to reflect the social, political, and cultural events of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. These newspapers, emerging during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as a crucial channel of information in towns and major cities, provide researchers with a unique, first-hand perspective on history. With more than 240 newspaper titles, the series is comprised of approximately 6.4 million pages of historic content, from articles to advertisements. This collection illuminates diverse and distinct regional attitudes, cultures, and vernaculars, providing an alternative viewpoint to the London-centric national press over a period of more than 200 years.

Travel back in time, during the turbulent 120 year period from 1832 to 1953, with 12 English-language Chinese historical newspapers providing critical perspectives and first-hand accounts on the ending of more than 2,000 years of imperial rule in China, the Taiping Rebellion, the Opium Wars with Great Britain, the Boxer Rebellion and the events leading up to the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, and the subsequent founding of the Republic of China. Coverage: 1832-1953

This database allows you to search and view public domain newspaper pages (1690-1963) and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.

A unique look at history through the eyes of the Communist Party USA. Workers rights, social issues, national and international politics, culture and Party activity are just some of the topics to be explored on the pages of these Communist Party newspapers, featuring such notable contributors as writer Richard Wright, folk singer Woody Guthrie and political cartoonist Robert Minor. Coverage: 1917-2013

Searchable collection of over 280 historical Latin American newspapers, 1805-1922, offering unprecedented coverage of the people, issues and events that shaped this vital region during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Featuring titles from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, and a dozen other countries, these resources provide a wide range of viewpoints from diverse Latin American cultures.

ProQuest Leftist Newspapers and periodicals is a collection of English-language publications spanning beyond the 20th century (1845-2015) covering Communist, Socialist and Marxist thought, theory and practice. Issues covered include workers rights, organized labor, labor strikes, Nazi atrocities, McCarthyisms rise after WWII, Civil Rights, and modern-day class struggles which give rise to renewed interest in alternative social organizations. This collection includes 145 titles with over 150,000 digitized pages.

Full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. Coverage: 1851-2017.

An archive of Newsweek magazine, one of the premier US weeklies of the 20th -21st centuries. With coverage from 1933 through 2012, it comprises 80 years of news reporting and commentary, charting the key US and global events during this period. Its diverse content beyond news and politics (in areas including business, science/technology, arts, travel, and family life) is such that there is valuable material for researchers in many fields, from history and political science through to economics, women's studies, and media history.

This database contains periodicals published between 1740 and 1940, including special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines and many other historically-significant periodicals.

The backfiles of over 30 periodicals concerning the 20th-century history of the British Empire, decolonization, and the history and culture of former colonies. This archive offers a mixture of British publications about the empire and titles published in Commonwealth countries. Coverage ranges from the late-19th century to the 21st these publications encompass the key events in the empire's later phase and its post-independence legacies.

A comprehensive archive (1897 to 2005) of the weekly British culture and lifestyle magazine, Country Life, focusing on fine art and architecture, the great country houses, and rural living.

The backfiles of more than 25 periodicals reflecting the 20th/21st–century history of a variety of movements and ideologies on the political left. These titles include Marxist, socialist, communist, social democratic, and Fabianist publications, addressing key topics and events such as labour history / workers' rights, international socialism, anti-Nazi movements, Red Scares, class struggles, campaigns / legislation, and youth radicalism.

Archives Direct is a suite of collections sourced from The National Archives, Kew - the UK government's official archive.

Collection of databases devoted to disciplines in history and the social sciences. See titles of individual databases for further information. Coverage: Varies by database.

Complete volumes of all British Government Confidential Print for Africa, from the Colonial, Dominion, Foreign and War Offices.

Complete runs of all British Government Confidential Print volumes relating to the nations of South and Central America.

Complete volumes of all British Colonial Office and Foreign Office Confidential Print for the Middle East.

Explore documents covering a broad sweep of history from c1824-1961, taking in the USA, Canada, the Caribbean and Central America.

Provides users with access to a wide range of primary source documents from Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office, shedding light on throughout the twentieth century. Selected and edited by the official historians of the FCO, Documents on British Policy Overseas includes many documents specifically de-classified for inclusion in the series.

Featuring diplomatic dispatches, letters, newspaper cuttings, political pamphlets, reports of court cases and other materials, this collection represents a constant exchange of information between London and the British embassies and consulates. Due to the unique nature of the relationship between Britain and China, these formerly restricted first-hand accounts provide unprecedented levels of detail into a turbulent period in Chinese history.

Historic and current congressional information. Includes Committee Prints, Congressional Record 1789-2009, CRS Reports, Hearings 1824-present, Unpublished Hearings 1973-1992, House & Senate Documents and Reports, Legislative Histories, Executive Branch Documents 1789-1952, and the Serial Set. Coverage: 1789-present.

This collection reproduces important letters, reports, memorandums, cablegrams, maps, charts, and other kinds of records relating to the activities of the American Expeditionary Forces in Siberia, 1918-20.

House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (HCPP) includes the complete file of House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, also known as Sessional Papers or Blue Books, dating from 1715 through to today. Also, ProQuest has partnered with the National Library of Scotland to create the very first digitised collection of 19th Century House of Lords Parliamentary Papers, providing online access to previously unseen and valuable historical documents.

One of the largest collections of historical and contemporary imagery. The Associated Press Images Collection contains millions of photos from 1826 to the present, that capture the greatest moments in history, news, sports and entertainment. More than 3,500 photos are added daily.

Digital images from around the world (including photography, architecture, decorative arts, graphic design, painting, and sculpture) in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences. Coverage: all time periods. To download or save images create a free user account with your W&M email.

This collection of films from the communist world reveals war, history, current affairs, culture and society as seen through the socialist lens. It spans most of the twentieth century and covers countries such as the USSR, Vietnam, China, Korea, much of Eastern Europe, the GDR, Britain and Cuba.

The Sovetskii Ekran (Советский экран, Soviet Screen) Digital Archive offers a unique window into the history of Soviet cinema, capturing the essence of a journal that was pivotal from 1925 to 1998. Sovetskii Ekran, more than just a film journal, was a cultural barometer of its times, chronicling the evolution of Soviet film against the backdrop of significant societal and political changes. Its pages, filled with film critiques, interviews, and reader polls, offer a comprehensive view of the cinematic landscape and its influence on Soviet culture.

Published in October 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing in collaboration with the Churchill Archives Centre, the Churchill Archive is a digital library of modern international history. It includes more than 800,000 pages of original documents, produced between 1874 and 1965, ranging from Winston S. Churchills personal correspondence to his official exchanges with kings, presidents, politicians, and military leaders. This is more than a fantastic collection of primary source material; it is a unique online resource offering new insight into a fascinating period of our past.

The Papers of Neville Chamberlain contain political papers documenting his policies as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister, but also highlight his personal correspondence with his family. An Archives Unbound database. Coverage: 1869-1940.

This collection of U.S. State Department Central Classified Files relates to commercial and trade relations beginning in the Tsarist Russia period and extending through Khrushchev period in Soviet history. It contains a wide range of materials from U.S. diplomats including materials on treaties, general conditions affecting trade, imports and exports, laws and regulations, customs administration, tariffs, and ports of entry activities.

The German economic situation during the Third Reich up to and throughout World War II. Statistical data from three official German publications. In German and English. An Archives Unbound database. Coverage: 1933-1944.

This collection comprises correspondence, studies and reports, cables, maps, and other kinds of documents related to U.S. consular activities. U.S. Consulates were listening posts reporting on the activities of the French colonial government and the activities of the native peoples. Highlights include the beginning of an anti-colonial movement and problems along the Moroccan-Algerian border. An Archives Unbound database. Coverage: 1910-1930.

This collection comprises correspondence, studies and reports, cables, maps, and other kinds of documents related to U.S. consular activities. U.S. Consulates were listening posts reporting on the activities of the German colonial governments and later the mandate authorities, and the activities of the native peoples. An Archives Unbound database. Coverage: 1910-1929.

This collection comprises correspondence, studies and reports, cables, maps, and other kinds of documents related to U.S. consular activities. U.S. Consulates were listening posts reporting on the activities of the Italian colonial governments and later the mandate authorities, and the activities of the native peoples. An Archives Unbound database. Coverage: 1930-1939.