British Online Archives (BOA)

British Online Archives (BOA)

@boapublishing.bsky.social

Our skilled team curate and digitise unique collections of primary sources that illuminate key historical concepts, events, and themes.

1,321 Followers 1,830 Following 193 Posts Joined Jan 2025
3 days ago
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Our latest “Document of the Week” was chosen by our Editorial Assistant, Chloe Haney. It is an article published in The Illustrated London News on 15 December 1877 exploring Alexander Graham Bell’s revolutionary invention: the telephone.

Read the full post here: buff.ly/GkkQLPp

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1 week ago
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Witchcraft and Magic in England, c. 1400–1920 Explore five centuries of English witchcraft and magic with records from leading archives, tracing trials, folklore, belief, and cultural change.

New collection—Witchcraft and Magic in England, c. 1400–1920.

It explores the place of witchcraft in English history, as well as the influence of alchemy, astrology, herbalism, and related esoteric practices!

Learn more at britishonlinearchives.com/collections/....

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1 week ago
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Our latest “Document of the Week”, chosen by our Editorial Assistant, Chloe Haney, is a book from our new primary source collection, Witchcraft and Magic in England, c. 1400–1920, titled “The History of Witches, Ghosts, and Highland Seers”.

Read the full post here: buff.ly/44dWr2n

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2 weeks ago
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We strive to make our primary source collections as easy to explore as possible. This is why our skilled editorial team ensure that our collections are tagged comprehensively!

Learn about our tags and search filters at britishonlinearchives.com/posts/catego....

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2 weeks ago
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Read the full post here: buff.ly/87BoFuS

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2 weeks ago

Our latest “Document of the Week” was chosen by our Editor, Nishah Malik. It is an article titled “Feminine Make Up in India” from The Sphere. Published on 3 December 1938, this piece discusses how women of the subcontinent practiced the “art of personal adornment”.

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3 weeks ago
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New collection coming soon—West Africa Magazine, 1917–2003.

The back catalogue of this publication offers remarkable insights into a period of significant transformation across Africa and the wider world.

Learn more at britishonlinearchives.com/collections/....

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3 weeks ago
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Our latest "Document of the Week" was chosen by our Academic Liaison Manager, Dr Catherine Bateson. It explores how the title page of one British pamphlet about growing tensions amongst colonial Americans foreshadowed the coming American Revolution in 1776.

Read the full post here: buff.ly/OXJgOAA

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1 month ago
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New collection coming very soon—Witchcraft and Magic in England, c. 1400–1920.
Comprising over 55,000 document images, it charts the evolution of witchcraft and magic in England over five centuries.
Learn more at britishonlinearchives.com/collections/....

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1 month ago
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Tommy shows how this source can illuminate a key theme in British and Irish history.

Read the full post here: buff.ly/zyIdUbg

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1 month ago

Our latest "Document of the Week" was chosen by our Senior Editor, Dr Tommy Dolan. It is a royal proclamation, issued by King George III in March 1799, forbidding travel from Ireland to Britain.

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1 month ago
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We’ve grouped our fascinating range of unique primary source collections under key historical themes! “War, Security, and Intelligence” contains 31 collections, totalling over 1,246,700 document images!

Explore them at britishonlinearchives.com/themes/2/war....

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1 month ago
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Our latest "Document of the Week" was chosen by our Editor, Nishah Malik. This extract from Florence Nightingale’s correspondence shows how cleanliness, morality, and empire shaped responses to cholera.

Read the full post here: buff.ly/DVI3TkW

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1 month ago
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Our new brochure provides detailed overviews of our fascinating India collections, alongside key insights and imagery!

Explore it at buff.ly/LsgJrIX.

Visit our website at buff.ly/aRu0EI4.

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1 month ago
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We’ve grouped our extensive range of unique primary source collections under key historical themes! “Politics and Social Movements” contains 44 collections, totalling over 763,000 images!

Explore them at buff.ly/2nUGHsh.

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1 month ago
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Our latest “Document of the Week” was chosen by our Senior Curator, Dr Charlie Hall. It shows how the British government sought to prepare the public on the eve of a feared German invasion of Britain during the Second World War.

Read the full post here: buff.ly/qrs6AZR

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1 month ago
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Our latest “Document of the Week”, chosen by our Senior Curator, Dr Mary Wills, examines the role of caricature in the scandal of the “Queen Caroline Affair” of 1820.

Read the full post here: buff.ly/bJyu39d

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2 months ago
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In the spirit of the New Year, our latest “Document of the Week”, chosen by our Editorial Assistant, Chloe Haney, is an illustration titled “The Birth of the New Year”, published in The Illustrated London News in 1846.

Read the full post here: buff.ly/k3CCWt4

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2 months ago
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We’ve added new material to our popular primary source collection released earlier this year—Britain Under Threat: Civil Defence in the Era of Total War, 1914–1989. The new documents date from the Cold War.

Visit the collection landing page at buff.ly/iSggKcq.

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2 months ago
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Our latest “Document of the Week”, chosen by our Editor, Nishah Malik, is a Christmas cooking guide from December 1939. It provides a snapshot of Christmas on the Home Front during the Second World War.

Read the full article here: buff.ly/8hzjwzJ

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3 months ago
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Our latest “Document of the Week”, chosen by our Editorial Assistant, Chloe Haney, is a page of festive puzzles, riddles, and jokes published in The Illustrated London News in December 1847. Why not have a go at solving some of these puzzles yourself!

Read the full article here: buff.ly/F6WzRJu

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3 months ago
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We’ve grouped our primary source collections under historical themes! “Slavery and Abolition” contains 19 collections, totalling over 695,000 images. They document Britain’s involvement in transatlantic slavery and opposition to it.

Explore this theme at britishonlinearchives.com/themes/11/sl...

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3 months ago
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New collection out now—The Laws of War: Justice, Rights, and Ethics in Military Contexts.
Containing over 100,000 images from The National Archives (UK), it illuminates attitudes to warfare over the last 300 years and how efforts to regulate it have fared.
Learn more at buff.ly/CC4NdYH.

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3 months ago
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Today we are taking a look at an illustrated guide from Britannia and Eve published in 1931 and titled “How to Pack your Christmas Gifts”.

Read the full article here: buff.ly/HWQcCoD

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3 months ago

Our latest “Document of the Week” was chosen by our Editor, Nishah Malik. As we have reached December and the countdown to Christmas has begun, this week’s document brings a festive touch to our “Document of the Week” series.

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3 months ago
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The back catalogues of The Illustrated London News and its nine so-called “sister” titles are available on BOA’s digital archive! Our new brochure showcases these fascinating collections! We hope that you enjoy perusing it as much as we enjoyed compiling it!

Explore it at buff.ly/4PmL2qF

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3 months ago
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Our latest "Document of the Week", chosen by our Academic Liaison Manager, Dr Catherine Bateson, looks at how The Illustrated London News advertised winter fashion catalogues for readers in the 1840s.

Read the full article here: buff.ly/XmTGwJh

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3 months ago
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Our latest “Document of the Week”, chosen by our Senior Curator, Dr Mary Wills, looks at records revealing conspiracy, plots, and intrigue in BOA’s new collection, Radicalism and Popular Protest in Georgian Britain, c. 1714–1832.

Read the full article here: buff.ly/dP6oCTz

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3 months ago
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We’ve published a fantastic new primary source collection—"Radicalism and Popular Protest in Georgian Britain, c. 1714–1832”.

Visit the collection landing page at buff.ly/Mf1q0nH.

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4 months ago

Hey look! Some of our Folklore Society Library & Archive material is included in this digital collection

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