This collection of digitized primary source materials from Adam Matthew Digital documents relationships and interactions between new arrivals and indigenous peoples. Coverage includes sources from North America, Africa and Australasia, including documents from the Glenbow Museum and Hudson Bay’s Archive. The collection deals with themes that include: settlement development, law and order, violence, expeditions and exploration, relations with Indigenous peoples, trade and commerce, death and disease, missionaries and religion, women’s history, military matters, mining, religion, gold rushes, settler governance, contested boundaries, agriculture and livestock. 

* A note on the database title. VIU Library facilitates access to this database by listing it under B for Borderlands, not by the vendor title which begins with the word “Frontier”. Frontier is a term that is sufficiently problematic that certain progressive historians have called it the “F-word”. It is emblematic of a colonial worldview, carrying notions of inevitable advancement of progress and civilization, of adventure and exceptionalism. We have advised the provider of our concerns, and have taken this action while they consider theirs.

English-language sources relating to China and the West, 1793-1980. Covers aspects of Chinese history during the two centuries of monumental social and political upheaval that ultimately recreated China into a modern power.

Original source material from British and European archives to support study of history, literature, sociology, education and cultural studies from a gendered perspective.

Rare journals printed between c1685 and 1815, illuminating all aspects of eighteenth-century social, political and literary life. Many are ephemeral, lasting only for a handful of issues, others run for several years. Topics covered are extremely wide-ranging and include: colonial life; provincial and rural affairs; the French and American revolutions; reviews of literature and fashion throughout Europe; political debates; and London coffee house gossip and discussion.

Original documents relating to Empire Studies, sourced from libraries and archives around the world. Offers images of the texts rather than transcriptions. Each section features thematic essays by leading scholars in the field of Empire Studies.

Classic texts in the Humanities in both original languages and in English translation.

Searchable archive of primary sources, essays and reports from the pioneering social research organisation, Mass Observation, offering insights into the cultural and social history of Britain from 1937 to 1965.

Full text of manuscripts of European travel writing from the later medieval period. The chief focus is on journeys to central Asia and the Far East, including accounts of travel to Mongolia, Persia, India, China and South-East Asia. The collection also includes a number of important accounts of travels to or through the Holy Land. It features a number of medieval maps such as the famous Beatus and Psalter maps, individual manuscript illuminations, and some modern translations of key travel texts.

Includes documents and collections covering an extensive time period 1490-2007, from libraries and archives across the Atlantic world. Close attention is being given to the varieties of slavery, the legacy of slavery, the social justice perspective and the continued existence of slavery today.Topics include the African Coast; the Middle Passage; the varieties of slave experience (urban, domestic, industrial, farm, ranch and plantation); Spiritualism and Religion; Resistance and Revolts; the Underground Railroad; the Abolition Movement; Legislation; Education; the Legacy of Slavery and Slavery Today.The project aims to assemble clusters of material offering in-depth case studies in America, the Caribbean, Brazil and Cuba along with material examining European, Islamic and African involvement in the slave trade.