The School of History, Centre for American Studies, Library Services, and Development Office are delighted to share news of the availability of a wonderful new resource for our students and researchers. Courtesy of the generosity of the Christine and Ian Bolt fund, which has for a long time supported Kent students’ study of Americanist archives and subjects, we have become the first university in the UK to gain access to the full suite of digital resources hosted by Adam Matthew, titled Colonial America, which comprises over 1,450 volumes of Colonial Office papers from the UK National Archives, made up of letters, legal documents, printed pamphlets, maps, orders, and many other material types.
It opens up unprecedented opportunities for the interdisciplinary study of early American, Atlantic, and imperial histories from different perspectives – ranging from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. It will offer an exciting foundation for original undergraduate and graduate work in the years to come – for essays, dissertations and research projects – and it includes thematic essays and handwritten text recognition.
The material is divided into five modules that treat subjects including indigenous relations, the evolution of slavery, revolution and political change, economic transactions and commercial development, and everyday life. The acquisition in perpetuity, whose list price would ordinarily be in excess of £175,000, was made possible thanks also to the Library’s Special Acquisition fund and Dr Ben Marsh’s role as a guest editor for the resource. We will be celebrating the availability of the new resource at the Annual Bolt Lecture (hosted by the Centre of American Studies) on 12 February 2020.
How to access ‘Colonial America’
Log in with your Kent IT account details.
- Find it on the e-resources A-Z list – it’s not findable in LibrarySearch
- Direct link to the resource
- Log in with your Kent IT Account details if prompted.