Visual Culture

This page will help you get more out of your Library resources for your assignments, projects and dissertations in Visual Culture

This section lists resources for specific purposes.

Find primary sources including documents and images.

Explore 20 collections of documents, including minutes of meetings and conferences, press releases, fliers, brochures, press clippings, US government memoranda and reports, private correspondence, surveys and photos.

Watch this quick introduction to the archive - please note we only subscribe to Part 1 which contains British material as well as coverage from North America.


Disability in the Modern World: History of a Social Movement encompasses an international set of resources to enrich study in a wide range of disciplines from media studies to philosophy.


Explore five centuries of primary source material documenting the story of food and drink. The story of food and drink is a unique lens through which to view social and cultural history. The materials in this collection illustrate the deep links between food and identity, politics, power, gender, race, and socio-economic status, as well as charting key issues such as agriculture, nutrition, and food production.

You can access printed and manuscript cookbooks, advertising ephemera, government reports, films, and illustrated content revealing the evolution of food and drink within everyday life and the public sphere. The unique material in this collection has been sourced from across the globe to reflect a wide range of food cultures and traditions, creating an unparalleled research resource.

Additional access instructions:

Authentication required for off campus access


This resource covers the fascinating subject of feminism over the long nineteenth century (1776-1928). It contains an extensive range of primary and secondary resources, including photographs and illustrations.


fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

An online archive of just under 68,000 printed items covering aspects of everyday life in Britain in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. You will find posters and handbills for theatrical and non-theatrical entertainments, broadsides relating to murders and executions, book and journal prospectuses, popular topographical prints, and a wealth of different kinds of printed advertising material.

Watch this short video introducing the collection.


fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

Bringing together unique primary sources drawn from world-class maritime archives and heritage collections, Life at Sea takes a socio-cultural approach, focusing on the individual experiences and personal narratives of seafarers. Through a broad range of sources, from journals and memoirs to ships’ logs and court records, the lives of ordinary seamen, merchants, whalers and pirates can be explored. This resource offers exciting new insights into three centuries of the Anglo-American maritime world, 1600-1900.

For a quick overview, watch this.

Includes visual galleries.


fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

Access a range of primary and secondary sources covering London from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. As well as documents, you will find interactive maps, illustrations and photographs to really bring the streets to life.


fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

A key source about daily life in the 20th century. You can look at topic collections (1938-65) on juvenile delinquency, holidays, leisure, industry etc., or view diary entries (1939-51) and day surveys. File reports (1937-1972) cover subjects such as propaganda, morale, popular culture, food, shopping, sex, fashion and much more.

Watch this 90 second video to find out about the interactive chronology you can access within Mass Observation.

Additional access instructions:

Use VPN for off campus access


Digital archive chronicling the history of disability arts in the UK. It includes 3,500 images, oral history film interviews, educational resources and animations and articles.


fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

Explore documents, fanzines, photos and newsreel footage to help understand these key decades when consumer culture and pop music took off and protest movements were big news.

Additional access instructions:

When prompted to log in, choose Login via The UK Access Management Federation before entering your login details.


fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery

An essential resource for the study of popular entertainment in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries containing everything from full-text books, to posters and performance tickets.

Watch this 90 second video about how to store items for later use.

Additional access instructions:

Use the VPN for off campus access

 

Your Subject Team

 Greta Friggens

Faculty Librarian

email greta.friggens@port.ac.uk