History collections at the Radcliffe Camera
Collections overview
The History Lending Collection comprises over 85,000 volumes of predominantly British and European History from the late Roman period to c. 1989. It includes History of the Byzantine Empire, History of Russia and the former Soviet Union, History of India, and History of Australia and New Zealand, and growing coverage of the History of North and South America and the West Indies, and Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as Historiography, the History of Science, the History of Art, and Palaeography.
Find out more about locating history books in the Radcliffe Camera and Gladstone Link.
New books
The New Books Display is located in the Upper Gladstone Link and is updated on a regular basis. You can find a virtual display of new History books, including eBooks and Bodleian acquisitions, on LibraryThing. Books recently acquired by the library but not yet available on the shelves can be fast-tracked on request.
Subject guides
Browse our guides to History collections and resources at Oxford.
Undergraduate collections
Information about History undergraduate courses and their reading lists are listed on the History Faculty Canvas site (SSO required).
Set texts
Reference copies of set texts for the Honour School of History are available in the Upper Camera. This is a high-demand collection, so please only take up to two books at a time and return them when you have finished consulting them. Lending copies of some set texts can be found on the open shelves in the Lower Camera and Gladstone Link.
Where permitted under copyright law, selections of set texts are available electronically on ORLO (SSO required).
DVDs and videos
The History Lending Collection includes a collection of videos and DVDs supporting undergraduate courses. These are catalogued on SOLO. In most cases we hold copies for loan as well as reference. A portable DVD drive is available to borrow on a short loan basis from the Lower Camera Desk.
Microfilms
Browse our list of microfilms (PDF).
Maps
Senior members can borrow from a teaching collection of wall maps. The handlist of titles is available to download (PDF), or readers can contact library.history@bodleian.ox.ac.uk for further details.
Prize essays and theses
We have catalogued around 60 theses by Modern History undergraduates from 1995 to 2007. You can search for these on SOLO using the search term ‘Final Honour School of Modern History: undergraduate thesis’, by student candidate number, year or title. They may be of interest to 2nd and 3rd year History undergraduates who are preparing their own theses.
We have catalogued about 70 theses by Chemistry students from 1961 – 2010 on the History of Chemistry. You can search for these on SOLO using the search term ‘Oxford University Chemistry Part II: undergraduate thesis’, or by author name, year or title. These are likely to be of interest to students of the History of Science and Medicine.
The prize essays and theses are for reference use only and cannot be photocopied. To consult them, please ask library staff.
Rare books
Antiquarian books which were formerly part of the collection are not held in the Radcliffe Camera and can only be consulted in the Weston Library. Details of most of the collection can be found on the Rare Books blog. Bodleian Rare Books staff take decisions concerning the future of the collections. Most of the books are not in SOLO, and some are neither catalogued nor in the Rare Books blog.
The collection consists of some 250 – 300 titles in over 500 volumes. Most items date from the 18th and 19th centuries. There are also a dozen 15th- and 16th-century items, and some 20th-century books are included for special provenance interest. The books cover an assortment of subjects in British and European history. A large proportion is early modern British source material, including long runs of parliamentary papers and statutes. The collection has been assembled from a variety of sources.
