History News: August 2007 Archives

The Libraries have acquired on microfilm The Lesbian Herstory Archives, part 7 of the Gay Rights Movement. This collection consists of a full 150 reels of primary-source material along with a 73-page printed collection guide. Media types represented include "clippings, flyers, brochures, conference materials, reports, correspondence, and other printed ephemera". The earliest documents date to the 1950s and the era of the Daughters of Bilitis organization. Additional information about the nature of the collection is available from the LHA website.

The Lesbian Herstory Archives complements existing primary-source printed and digital collections such as the Gerritsen Collection and Women and Social Movements. It also complements GenderWatch and the new-to-Temple LGBT Life, two databases that index journal articles and other secondary sources. LGBT Life in particular contains indexing and abstracts for more than 130 LGBT-specific core periodicals and over 290 LGBT-specific core books and reference works. It also includes comprehensive, full-text coverage of The Advocate (1996 to date) and other important LGBT publications.

--David C. Murray

Three new library books take a critical look at the 60-year history of the CIA:

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (c2007) by New York Times reporter Tim Wiener. Listen to the author discuss his book (Real Player required).

In Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (c2006), Chalmers Johnson argues for the disbandment of the CIA: "I believe we will never again know peace, nor in all probability survive very long as a nation, unless we abolish the CIA, restore intelligence collecting to the State Department, and remove all but purely military functions from the Pentagon" (21). Can the American Republic survive "clandestine operations" abroad; the creation of a "private army" answerable only to the president; or the secrecy engendered by "a government within a government"? Nemesis is the third book in a trilogy that also includes Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire (c2000) and The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (c2004).

David Barrett, a political scientist at Villanova University, is the author of The CIA & Congress: The Untold Story From Truman To Kennedy (c2005). Barrett examined recently declassified CIA documents, the so-called 700-page "family jewels," linking the agency to the attempted assassination of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and others. Listen to Barrett discuss his findings (Real Player required).

The Federation of American Scientists has made available online the CIA's own Factbook on Intelligence. Two Temple databases offer declassified CIA documents: Declassified Documents Reference System (DDRS) and Digital National Security Archive. More CIA history? Click United States. Central Intelligence Agency -- History, or explore the Force & Diplomacy subject guide.

--David C. Murray

"Illustrated Civil War Newspapers and Periodicals is the definitive online resource for research and study about Lincoln’s presidency and the events leading up to and throughout the American Civil War years, as presented by the media of the period. The database contains 65,000 pages drawn from 49 periodicals, including 15 campaign newspapers, most of them illustrated—3,720 issues published from 1860 to 1865. Originally printed in 16 different cities, many of the publications are now rare and hard to find, with an item sometimes extant only in a single archive. Carefully sought out and compiled from 17 different museum, library, and private collections, and thanks to the generosity of institutions such as the American Antiquarian Society, the Chicago Historical Society, and a number of private collectors, these resources are now available to modern scholars in electronic form for the first time" (AlexanderStreetPress.com).

The trial will run through the remaining part of August and all of September. This is a username and password authenticated trial; use the information below to gain access to the database:

August Password:
Username: reviewer
Password: 67commencement7
(Valid until 8/31)

September Password:
Username: reviewer
Password: 5dictatorial92
(Valid until 9/30)

Please provide feedback in the comments or send me an email.

--David C. Murray

Yet another history database trial! This time around it's Eighteenth Century Journals I from U.K. publisher Adam Matthew. "Eighteenth Century Journals I contains material from the Hope Collection at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, one of the finest surviving collections of eighteenth-century periodicals. In this resource we have drawn together 95 rare journals printed between 1693 and 1799, combining major publications with more ephemeral works to underline the broad variety of eighteenth century print journalism" (Adam Matthew). There is minimal overlap with the recently acquired ProQuest database British Periodicals I, EEBO or ECCO. Feedback welcomed in the comments or via email.

--David C. Murray