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Although widely quoted, opinion polls are rarely published in full or held by libraries. This collection offers the complete text of the polls and surveys of the major organizations named below, along with the statistical results.
The Tom Harrisson Mass-Observation experiment and Britain's war-time Home Intelligence Reports were two comparatively short-lived attempts at feeling the pulse of public opinion and collating the expressed views of a wide cross-section of the British Public in order to formulate action and legislation. A far more extensive operation was undertaken in the 28 years since 1960 by the joint members of the Association of Political Opinion Pollsters (APOP). Namely, MORI (Market and Opinion Research International), NOP (National Opinion Polls Market Research); HARRIS (The Harris Research Centre), MARPLAN and GALLUP. For the first time ever, the complete political and social opinion polls of these five major social survey organizations have been brought together and indexed. In consequence, political scientists, sociologists and economic and social historians now have ready access to a formidable body of material providing data on political opinion, public tastes, major concerns and many individual issues.
Subjects covered include: AIDS, Channel Tunnel, Constituency and marginal polls, General elections, Homosexuality, Miner's Strike, Police, Poll tax, Political trends
The governments of Harold Wilson, James Callaghan, Edward Heath and Margaret Thatcher come under close scrutiny. It is possible to analyze when governments lost the common touch, or when they gained popular support. For instance, how important was the Falklands' factor for Margaret Thatcher, and how did Neil Kinnock turn the Labour Party around?
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From Vienna, its chief listening post, and also from Prague and Warsaw, the AP covered Eastern Europe during the Cold War. Reporters rotated in and out of the Eastern bloc, writing about the declining influence of the Soviet Union, the last days of the Iron Curtain, and the political and economic re-structuring of the former Soviet satellites. These collections are composed almost entirely of wire copy, which was saved by the bureaus. The Vienna bureau files include copy documenting events in Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, the former Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and the former Yugoslavia in the years 1952 to 2000 (date spans vary by country). News releases from government news agencies are often interfiled. Look out for the Berlin documents dated August 1946 which were rescued from a cellar. Amongst other topics, they cover the food situation of German civilians.
fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery
This collection contains materials produced by the British Ministry of Information (MOI) and Central Office of Information (COI) from 1939-2009. It provides a unique insight into what successive British governments wanted their citizens to know, think, and do, as well as how their methods and media of achieving their aims changed over time. In addition, it reveals the image of Britain that different governments chose to project to the rest of the world.
Items range from posters and stickers to pamphlets and guidance booklets. The subject matter is just as varied, covering public health, education, social security, civil defence, international politics, race relations, sex discrimination, public sector career opportunities, policing, the environment, and Britain’s membership of the European Economic Community. Most of the items were published during the post-war period, but some date from the First and Second World Wars.
Search or browse the full text of British Cabinet Papers from 1915-1996 which are held in the National Archives. If you want to search, it is worth reading the search tips available on the site.
fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery
This archive contains analysis, research, debates and speeches from the Royal Institute of International Affairs from 1920-2008. Topics covered include the Spanish Civil War, the Cold War, energy security, nuclear disarmament, decolonisation etc. You can also listen to recordings of meetings and speeches as well as seeing the transcript in many cases.
Watch this short introductory video.
Access 800,000 pages of primary source documents produced between 1874 and 1965. You will find handwritten letters to and from Winston Churchill, plus the typed manuscripts of his speeches. The Teaching & Research section also contains academic overviews on key topics such as women and social change, empire and imperialism, the origins of the First World War, the Cold War and nuclear weapons, the "special relationship" between Britain and America and Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty - all have links to relevant documents within the archive.
Watch this introductory video.
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This collection consists of the Foreign and Colonial Office Confidential Print for the countries of the Levant and the Arabian peninsula, Iran, Turkey, Egypt and Sudan digitised from The National Archives, UK. Beginning with the Egyptian reforms of Muhammad Ali Pasha in the 1830s, the documents trace the events of the following 150 years, including the Middle East Conference of 1921, the mandates for Palestine and Mesopotamia, the partition of Palestine, the 1956 Suez Crisis and post-Suez Western foreign policy, and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Additional access instructions:
Use VPN for off campus access
fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery
Digital images of a wide range of original documents, including diaries, letters, personal narratives, trench journals, scrapbooks etc. Supplementing the primary sources is a wealth of secondary resources including interactive maps, 360° panoramas and walk-throughs of the Sanctuary Wood Trench System, the Memory Wall, In Their Own Words feature, scholarly essays, a chronology and glossaries. The Visual Perspectives and Narratives module has greater emphasis on the role of women, plus the home front.
Watch this short video about what's available. Note that we do not have access to Propaganda & Recruitment.
Additional access instructions:
Use VPN for off campus access
Published in three parts, this collection makes available extensive coverage of British Foreign Office files dealing with Japan between 1919 and 1952: Japan and Great Power Status, 1919-1930; Japanese Imperialism and the War in the Pacific, 1931-1945; Occupation of Japan, 1946-1952.
Incorporating the Taishō to the Shōwa periods, these papers throw light on Anglo-Japanese ties in a time of shifting alliances. Documenting Japan’s journey to modernity, the files discuss a period in which the country took on an increasingly bold imperialist agenda. Strong relations following the signing of the Treaty of Versailles were tested then ultimately destroyed, and by December 1941, Japan and the United Kingdom were on opposing sides of the Second World War.
These Foreign Office files cover British concerns over colonial-held territory in the Far East, as well as Japanese relations with China, Russia, Germany and the United States. Following surrender at the end of the Second World War, Japan was occupied by foreign forces for the first time in its history. The occupation resulted in disarmament, liberalisation and a new constitution as the country was transformed into a parliamentary democracy.
Consisting of diplomatic dispatches, correspondence, maps, summaries of events and diverse other material, this collection from the rich FO 371 and FO 262 series unites formerly restricted Japan-centric documents, and is enhanced by the addition of a selection of FO 371 Western and American Department and Far Eastern sub papers.
Watch this 25 minute webinar to discover more about making the most of this archive.
Digitised documents, images and film of the First World War contributed by members of the public to a project hosted by the University of Oxford.
Access declassified documents from Margaret Thatcher's personal files, as well as public and private archives in the UK and USA. You will also find videos, photos and the text of most speeches up to 1990.
World War I image archive
This site hosted by The National Archive links via the UK Government Web Archive to the Office of the Prime Minister and Number 10 - Tony Blair Archives. Following the Office of the Prime Minister link you can access speeches, statements and press conferences, as well as video recordings of Prime Minister's Questions.
fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery
U.S. Declassified Documents Online gives you a broad range of records spanning the 20th and 21st centuries. The collection brings together the most sensitive documents from all the presidential libraries and numerous executive agencies in a single, easily searchable database. You will find this useful for a range of topics including decolonisation and foreign policy across the world, as well as civil rights etc.
You can view a short video explaining this archive. To help you narrow down effectively, there is also a video about the advanced search features.
Produced in 2014, this site includes around 500 sources from across Europe. It examines key themes such as origins of the war, race, empire and colonial troops, propaganda, life for soldiers and civilians. A historical debates section looks at how historians' views of the war have changed over time.
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