Today marks the 28th anniversary of South Africa’s first post-apartheid elections, now commemorated as Freedom Day. Previously, under the apartheid regime, non-whites in general had only limited voting rights, while black South Africans were unable to vote at all. The 1994 elections were the first non-racial national elections where everyone over the age of 18Continue reading “Freedom Day – new perspectives on apartheid from the BLDS Legacy Collection”
Author Archives: cmw88
Public opinion and conflict in South Asia
A brief look at the Bangladesh Liberation War through the holdings of the BLDS Legacy Collection One of the main aims of the British Library for Development Studies Legacy Collection (BLDS) project is outreach and promotion. As part of this we are assisting with some teaching sessions at Sussex in order to demonstrate both theContinue reading “Public opinion and conflict in South Asia”
We’ll meet again – or how I gambled away Vera Lynn’s autograph and ended up in a Zambian jungle with a bunch of hippies…
By Danny Millum – BLDS Metadata and Discovery Officer Normally when you tell your family / friends about what you do, unless you’re a fireman or a nurse they just zone out (especially when your job title is Metadata Discovery Officer). But it really seems as if the BLDS was actually my genetic destiny, asContinue reading “We’ll meet again – or how I gambled away Vera Lynn’s autograph and ended up in a Zambian jungle with a bunch of hippies…”
You think blended flex with a touch of hybridity is tough? Try a Soviet-era correspondence course
By Danny Millum – BLDS Metadata and Discovery Officer One of the many consequences of the pandemic has been to accelerate the development and adoption of new teaching methods, with all the associated stress for teachers and students of having to hurriedly adapt to new approaches and new buzzwords. It’s hard to know which hasContinue reading “You think blended flex with a touch of hybridity is tough? Try a Soviet-era correspondence course”
Well that’s a lot of pamphlets….
BLDS Legacy Collection By Caroline Marchant-Wallis – BLDS Metadata and Discovery Officer I was chatting to my Librarian mentor recently about how we approached starting the BLDS Legacy Collection project, and I realised it was a good question. What did we do? Having been caught up in the whirlwind of the project for the pastContinue reading “Well that’s a lot of pamphlets….”
Reading the history of Zimbabwean independence from airline annual reports in the BLDS Legacy Collection
By Danny Millum – BLDS metadata and discovery officer One of the many strengths of the BLDS Legacy Collection lies in its holdings of annual reports, from both government departments and public and private companies. While obviously vital source material for business and economic historians, these might appear a little dry to others, but onContinue reading “Reading the history of Zimbabwean independence from airline annual reports in the BLDS Legacy Collection”
‘For security reasons it may not be prudent to unfold where I am’ – Ghana’s 1978 electoral commissioner’s letter from hiding surfaces in the BLDS Legacy collection
By Danny Millum – BLDS Metadata and Discovery Officer Cataloguing on the BLDS Legacy Collection project has now reached Ghana, and we’ve just unearthed a fascinating letter from a dramatic time in that country’s political history. On 30 March 1978 the country’s Supreme Military Council, led by Col. Ignatius Kutu Acheampong, held a referendum onContinue reading “‘For security reasons it may not be prudent to unfold where I am’ – Ghana’s 1978 electoral commissioner’s letter from hiding surfaces in the BLDS Legacy collection”
Football, poetry and fables -the surprising features in BLDS African port harbour magazines
By Danny Millum – BLDS Metadata and discovery officer There are many fascinating rabbit holes to explore in the BLDS Legacy Collection, and you often come across them in the most unexpected places. Perhaps this just shows our limited imagination, but when we first came across a run of journals relating to different African portsContinue reading “Football, poetry and fables -the surprising features in BLDS African port harbour magazines”
‘Like a child in a candy store’ Gerardo Serra delves into the BLDS Legacy Collection
Before the spleen of writing, editing (and re-writing and re-editing) sets in, there is a fleeting moment in which the historian is like a child in a candy store, starry-eyed and gleefully lost. I experienced such a moment when, in 2016, I walked into the basement of what was then the British Library for DevelopmentContinue reading “‘Like a child in a candy store’ Gerardo Serra delves into the BLDS Legacy Collection”
The British Library for Development Studies Legacy Collection 