Lancaster University

Applying Animal Theory to Gale’s National Geographic Virtual Library

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By Jessica Crawley, Gale Ambassador at Lancaster University

National Geographic is not only a non-profit organization, but also a media company that has taken the printing world by storm. Readers have been using the National Geographic Magazine to scratch that adventurous itch since the magazine’s first publication in 1888, quite literally placing a gateway to the non-human world at the fingertips of human hands. The magazine has sold millions of copies in 40 different languages to date, pairing fascinating visuals with a layman-friendly tone, making it the perfect companion for any reader with an interest in science, wildlife, and exploration.

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An Undergraduate’s Companion: Finding Primary Sources Using Gale’s Alternative Search Tools

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Guide to ECCO with GPS

│By Georgia Winrow, Gale Ambassador at Lancaster University│

Knowing where to get started with a new undergraduate research project, coursework essay or dissertation can be a daunting task. Whether you are provided with a focus to guide your work or not, getting to grips with collecting your primary source material, reading, analysing, and working out where they fit within your work can seem overwhelming! Luckily, with the Gale Primary Sources digital archives you have a range of search tools at your disposal intended to make the process that bit easier. Through an example research project using Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO), this blog post will outline alternative search tools and resources available in Gale’s digital archives, and how they can be used most effectively when carrying out your own undergraduate research.

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Early Modern Medicine: Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health

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Obstetrics: midwife assisting in a birth, Original woodcut image from E. Roeslin, Rosengarten, 1513,Wellcome Collection

│By Georgia Winrow, Gale Ambassador at Lancaster University│

Whilst we may think of how diseases such as the bubonic plague, typhoid or tuberculosis were discussed when studying medicine in early modern Europe, we often do not consider how significantly understandings of sexual and reproductive health developed during this period. The specialism of women’s health in particular was firmly established in these years, with the publication of manuals and treaties to direct physicians and midwives in their practice. Indeed, whilst the early modern period saw practitioners drawing upon the work of ancient authorities, it was also a period of innovation, particularly within science and medicine.

Gale’s Sex and Sexuality, Sixteenth to Twentieth Century collection is truly interdisciplinary and includes materials that would support academic fields as varied as Sociology, Law and Theology. For scholars investigating the History of Medicine, the most significant materials within this collection which can be used to explore the emergence of a comprehensive, gendered understanding of early modern medicine are arguably the medical enquiries, manuals and pamphlets.

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