A blog from Gale International
It was 50 years ago this week that The Beatles issued their ground-breaking album, Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The third biggest-selling album in the UK (and the top-selling when compilation albums are removed) [1] it remains one of the most influential and recognised albums 50 years after its release (although personally, I prefer Revolver). I took a look back through the collections in Gale Primary Sources to see what I could find out about this iconic album.
By Vicky Pavlicic, Senior Strategic Marketing Manager, Gale International EMEA
I first became aware that the Islamic Solidarity Games was a major sporting event last year, when a friend announced he was moving to Baku for 8 months to help plan the ceremony. His official job title for the event is ‘Aerial Flying Manager’ – remember the flying Mary Poppins’ in the opening of the London Olympics? That’s the kind of thing he does. He has spent 8 months preparing for the opening and closing ceremonies. “What are the Islamic Solidarity Games?” I asked, unable to hide my ignorance…” A bit like the Olympics for the Middle East” he replied…Well if this is the case, why hadn’t I heard about them before?
|By Rory Herbert, Gale Ambassador at the University of Portsmouth|
During the early 1980s, AIDS became an ever-growing concern in the minds of Americans, and brought to the fore the deep-seated tensions and homophobic tendencies that plagued the nation’s media and political institutes. Gale’s Archives of Sexuality and Gender provides access to a wealth of sources that help us to understand the issues and struggles experienced by these long-oppressed and ignored members of society during a particularly trying period.
Written by Anita Klich, Gale Ambassador & contributor
Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) is considered one of the most important alliances in LGBT history. It saw lesbians and gays coming together in the mid-1980s to support British miners who were striking to prevent colliery closures. The strike was condemned by the government led by Margaret Thatcher. Some believe the alliance between the LGBT community and British working class was a turning point in the history of LGBT people and their existence within British society. I decided to find out how different newspapers described the strike and the alliance. Thanks to the Archives of Sexuality & Gender resource in Gale Primary Sources, available through Portsmouth University Library, I was able to find out how newspapers covered the strike, including what visuals they provided to support their coverage.
By Darren Brain, Sales Representative, Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia & Northern Territory
On 19 April 1984, ‘Advance Australia Fair’ was proclaimed as Australia’s national anthem, following many decades of debate, disagreement and campaigns for change. I used Gale Primary Sources to research more about this topic, and experienced an entertaining and enlightening journey through Gale’s extensive collection of assorted British Newspapers.
‘God Save the Queen’ (or King depending on the gender of the British monarch) had been used on ceremonial and official occasions since the federation of Australia in 1901 (when the six British, self-governing colonies agreed to unite and form the Commonwealth of Australia). In our British Library Newspapers series, I found a number of examples in the early 1900s of interest in an Australian Anthem to compliment ‘God Save The King/Queen’ including the below examples from the gossip column of the Nottingham Evening Post.
Over Christmas in 1914, one of the most extraordinary and civilised moments of the combat on the Western Front happened: the press dubbed it ‘the Christmas Truce’, an event to modern eyes so inexplicable and contradictory to our perceptions of war that it seems it almost cannot be true.
In the December 21, 1867 issue of the Illustrated London News there appears a striking full-length portrait of a samurai. He is neatly dressed in formal kimono, his left hand holding a sword and his right hand resting on a stool, calmly gazing towards the viewer. Something is odd about this picture, however: the sword looks too large for his body, his forehead too high, and his entire stature seems rather diminutive, even for a Japanese.
State Papers Online: Eighteenth Century, 1714-1782, Part III: Western Europe is the newest addition to the extensive State Papers Online archive. Part III provides primary source material from the Catholic courts of Spain, Portugal and France, as well as from smaller states of Italy and the Mediterranean, bringing together a huge variety of people, places and events. Great powers and small Republics, border skirmishes and arguably – in the Seven Years’ War – the first global conflict, monarchs, spies and merchants; all are part of the network of information and politics centring on the British Secretaries of State in Whitehall, and through them, the King.
By Anita Klich, Gale Ambassador at Portsmouth University, UK
Women have been fighting for equality for decades; in the 1980s and ‘90s, there were many protests addressing the issue of inequality in the workplace and society overall. The Gale resource Archives of Sexuality & Gender provides students and scholars with documents to examine and critically assess issues concerning LGBTQ history and culture as well as Feminist movements, thus allowing academics to compare and determine how the situation has – or has not – changed over the years.
By Vicky Pavlicic, Senior Marketing Manager at Gale International
Come and Visit the Gale Booth and Enter our Photo Competition – we are at stand B79/80!
We want to find out from you why you think digital resources specific to research and teaching are so important.
Come along to meet us, take a photo and answer the statement “I love Digital Resources because_______” and we will enter your name into a prize draw to win a compact Panasonic Lumix Digital Camera. The winner will be announced on Wednesday afternoon, just in time to take pictures at the gala dinner!