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Digital Primary Sources in action - Gale

A Libguide dedicated to all things MU Staff, bringing together useful resources, tools and services available to MU Staff in one place.

Usage advice for those starting with Gale

Take a quick tour through searching methods of Gale Primary Sources with this short video.

Digital Scholar Lab: a must for scholars & students

Explore your institution’s Gale Primary Sources (link https://login.may.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://link.gale.com/apps/DSLAB?u=nuim ) using digital humanities methodologies to discover new insights with:

  • text and data mining resources,
  • visualization tools, and
  • methodology suggestions.

Create an account to begin. It's a cloud-based research environment that allows scholars and students apply natural language processing tools to raw OCR text data.

Begin by looking at the Digital Scholar Lab Learning Centre which takes you through the processes of building, cleaning & analysing your data sets.

Other supporting Gale videos

Intersectional Teaching Approaches with Primary Sources - YouTube

Gale instructional video, runtime 47:57. Video focuses on new ways to engage with students during the pandemic and a focus on using online resources, helping students to become more comfortable using primary sources and understand their value. Possible target audience- lecturers of first year history modules.

Gale Primary Sources: Start at the Source - YouTube

Gale advertisement video, runtime 02:36. Video discusses the primary sources available on Gale databases. Possibly useful for lecturers of first year history modules.

Primary Source Archives Supporting Research and Instruction on Today’s Critical Conversations - YouTube

Gale educational video, runtime 01:16. Video description: ‘Only Gale offers the most comprehensive suite of twentieth-century primary source archives supporting research and instruction on today’s critical conversations.’ Possible target audience- lecturers of first year history students.

Gale Primary Sources course mapping service for MU faculty

A partial course alignment service is available from Gale in the areas of:    

  • History
  • Some of the Social Sciences,
  • History of Law
  • Historic Newspaper sources

For Course Alignment analysis for your module, Contact Carolyn Beckford direct in Gale, and CC Helen Farrell in MU.

Scroll down the page slightly to reach the "Access your Gale Primary Sources here" link.

Gale Digital Scholar curriculum materials

In this pedagogical collection, Gale provide models for various aspects of course development when integrating the Gale Digital Scholar Lab into your Digital Humanities or Humanities courses--whether online or in-person. These materials can be used all together to build a course or separately to provide flexibility in course design based on objectives. As a whole, these materials scaffold how project-based learning with the Gale Digital Scholar Lab can be integrated into an entire scope and sequence of a course.

Do you have any other curriculum requests? Please do not hesitate to reach out: galedslab@cengage.com

Scope of Gale Primary Sources

Database Name and Link 

Focus and Coverage 

Description 

 
 
 
 
 

State Papers Archive Part I: The Tudors, Henry VIII to Elizabeth I, 1509-1603: State papers Domestic: 

 

 
 
 
 

Domestic state papers dating from 1509-1603 

 
 
 
 

Early modern    government, including social and economic affairs, law and order, religious policy, crown possessions, and intelligence.’ The description also notes the relevance of this collection for researching religious history and the inclusion of features such as an image galley and Essays on key themes by leading scholars, alongside Key documents.  

Part II Not Included. 

 

 
 
 
 
 

State Papers Archive Part III: The Stuarts, James I to Anne, 1601-1714: State Papers Domestic: 

 

 
 
 
 

Domestic state papers dating from 1601-1714 focusing primarily on the seventeenth century 

 
 
 
 

Exploration of issues including ‘The Stuarts' internal struggles come to life through a wealth of primary source documents from one of the most compelling and turbulent eras in Britain's social, political, and religious history.’ Primary sources also include ‘accounts of the English Civil War, the execution of Charles I, and the invasion of William of Orange, and including the Registers of the Privy Council for the whole of the Stuart period.’ The description also lists identical features as in part I.   

 

 
 
 
 
 

State Papers Archive Part IV: The Stuarts, James I to Anne, 1601-1714: State Papers Foreign: Ireland, Scotland and Registers of Privy Council: 

 

 
 
 
 

Foreign state papers dating from 1601-1714 

 
 
 
 

Featuring ‘English government documents originating from the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.’ The database details the archive’s exploration ‘international affairs throughout periods of revolution and upheaval in Britain and Europe's history’, including primary sources such as ‘the letters exchanged between the monarchs and rulers of Europe, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire; the reports of ambassadors and members of the trading companies; and treaties and other documents of trade’, alongside ambassadors’ reports. The key events discussed reflect a broader scope, referencing historical events throughout Europe and abroad. The description also lists identical features as in part I.  

 

 
 
 
 
 

State Papers Archive Part III: Western Europe. State Papers Online: Eighteenth Century, 1714-1782 Part III: 

 

 
 
 
 

Western Europe State Papers dating from 1714-1782 

 
 
 
 

Primary sources available from this database include ‘the State Papers series relating to France, Dunkirk, Portugal, Spain, Malta, the Italian States and Rome, Genoa, Tuscany, Venice, Savoy and Sardinia, Sicily and Naples, as well as supplementary records of the Levant Company in Aleppo and the Aleppo consulate’ and the ‘Royal Letters and Treaties series’. These sources ‘document the relationship of the Hanoverian monarchs with the rulers, governments and commerce of Western Europe’, including details of historical events such as ‘the Quadruple Alliance against Spain (1718-20) and the Seven Years’ War (1754-1763), aspects of social history such as public health, the status of merchants abroad, and the personal relationships between political figures or Royal families of Europe.’