Using the Caribbean Collections
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Other Caribbean Collections
Material of relevance to Caribbean studies, history and culture can be found throughout our wide and diverse collections There is, however, no separate section or arrangement of Caribbean materials so these pages aim to assist researchers to identify resources of potential interest and to highlight some of the particular strengths of our holdings.
Institute of Commonwealth Studies Library
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The history of the British Caribbean is explored in this exhibition through government documents, photographs and maps dating from the 17th century to the 1920s and discovered during a cataloguing project at The National Archives of the United Kingdom.
National Archives (Caribbean HIstories Revealed)
Newspaper Collections
The Thomason Collection of Civil War Tracts , which consist of Civil War and other 17th-century newsbooks and newspapers, which were presented to the British Museum in 1762; The Burney Collection of Newspapers, bought by the Museum in 1818, which consists of 700 bound volumes of newspapers dating from 1603 to 1817, collected by the Revd Dr Charles Burney (1757-1817). The Thomason Tracts collection, and the pre-1801 papers from the Burney Collection, are housed in the main British Library in St Pancras, though the Newspaper Library has most of the titles in the Burney Collection on microfilm as an Early English Newspapers set. Systematic collection of newspapers did not really begin until 1822. At this time publishers were obliged to supply copies of their newspapers to the Stamp Office in order for them to be taxed. In 1822 it was agreed that these copies would be passed to the British Museum after a period of three years.France was at the forefront of the "Scramble for Africa" and accounts of the exploration and colonisation by France can be found in the Library's collections. The first French flag raised at Loango, Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) Congo français. Loango.
Francophone Caribbean Collections
On the abolition of slavery in the early 19th century, owners of plantations in the British and French colonies of the Caribbean began to search for a new supply of labour. They found it in India. Workers were recruited, mainly from the Bengal and Madras areas, to work on the plantations for fixed periods.
India Office Records
The copyright fee will be displayed as ‘Rights’ in the ‘Details’ section of the item you search. Where CLAX (copyright licensing agency excluded) or ‘British Library Not Licensed to Copy’ appears, our license does not permit us to supply a copyright fee paid copy. However, CLAX items are available to account holders via our loan service and through the Library Privilege copy service, for non commercial research purposes, to eligible UK organisations.
Current Serials (Journals) Received
Manuscripts (Primo Catalogue)
With Search our Catalogue Archives and Manuscripts you will be able to search and view the details of the Library's archive and manuscript collections together in one catalogue for the first time. Currently we are migrating existing archive and manuscript catalogues to it and hope to have this completed in the spring of 2012, see further details . In the meantime users should continue to use the Library's existing archive and manuscript catalogues as well. To search the Library's other collections of books, journals, newspapers, conferences, maps, scores, electronic resources, sound archive items etc., you should use Explore the British Library.
Manuscripts (Earlier Catalogue)
This catalogue has now been migrated to the Library’s new integrated archives and manuscripts system and its records can now be searched online via Search our Catalogue: Archive and Manuscripts alongside the records of the Library’s other archive and manuscript collections. This catalogue will be finally switched off at the end of September 2012. Use this website to search the main catalogues of the British Library's collection of Western manuscripts, covering handwritten documents of all kinds from pre-Christian, Classical, medieval and modern times.
The photograph catalogues provide a detailed searchable database for locating photographs, photographically-illustrated books and texts relating to photography held in all departments of the British Library. Please note that the catalogue is a work in progress and represents the results of a three-year project generously funded by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation . The catalogue is updated on an ongoing basis and new material will regularly become available online. For an overview and selection of images from the British Library’s photograph collections, please visit the Historic Photographs feature .
Catalogue of Photographs
Catalogue of Photographically Illustrated Books
For information on the British Library's Jerwood Photography Project and a selection of images from the Library's photograph collections, go to the Online Gallery - historic photographs pages.The main focus of the catalogues is on the countries of South Asia, although there are also considerable holdings relevant to other parts of Asia and the Middle East. These catalogues are currently being updated. As a result, the ALL IMAGES search will not contain any new or updated cataloguing until further notice. See changes page for more details.