The Cook, a Journey, the Queen, and her Husband – a snippet from exiled Jacobite Court history

│By Julia de Mowbray, Publisher at Gale│

While reviewing the content recently loaded into the online archive The Stuart and Cumberland Papers from the Royal Archives Windsor Castle, one document caught my eye: a plan of a journey with daily stops for meals or a night’s rest. Descriptions of journeys and itineraries, plotting out where someone travelled at a particular time, especially from earlier centuries, can transport me back to that time – placing my feet on that road or piazza, in that carriage or train – to experience the same journey in my imagination.

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Newspaper reports on the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade

By Tiria Barnes, Gale Ambassador at the University of Liverpool

On the 25th of March 1807, the British Parliament passed the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act which prohibited the carrying of slaves in British ships. While it is important to note that this did not outlaw slavery itself, which came about in 1833 as a result of the Emancipation Act, 1807 was a significant step in the right direction. Two hundred years later, the UK commemorated the bicentenary of the act, and attempted to reflect on the brutality of slavery [1]. Using Gale Primary Sources, I thought it would be interesting to study how this was reported in the media, taking note of the ways in which newspapers depicted the actions taken by the UK as part of the commemoration.

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The ‘Real’ Peaky Blinders of Small Heath, Birmingham

│ By Megan Murphy, Gale Ambassador at the University of Liverpool │

The hit BBC drama series Peaky Blinders – which is set in Birmingham and follows the lives of the Shelby brothers and their criminal gang the ‘Peaky Blinders’ – has captivated the minds and imagination (and – thanks to lead star Cillian Murphy – the hearts) of the British public. Given the recent fascination with Birmingham’s criminal underworld that the series has generated, I thought it would be interesting to use Gale Primary Sources to investigate the ‘real’ Peaky Blinders of late nineteenth-century Birmingham.

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Updates to Gale Resources

At Gale, we truly value your feedback, and are always looking to improve our resources in a way that saves time and increases productivity. In response to suggestions and continuous user testing, we are excited to announce that a number of enhancements have been made, providing increased functionality, easier access to our most-used tools, and more.

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La creación de un “personaje”: individualidad y vida universitaria en la obra A este lado del paraíso de F. Scott Fitzgerald

Por Paula Maher Martin, Gale Ambassador en la Universidad NUI Galway

Para leer esta publicación de blog en inglés, haga clic aquí.

Como “un miembro de la ‘Generación perdida’ o una encarnación de juventud y belleza (condenada a desvanecerse)”, así retrató a Francis Scott Fitzgerald el The Times Literary Supplement en 1958. Consolidado como una figura mítica a lo largo del siglo XX, su escritura se sobrepuso con su personaje y reverberó con espumoso champán y caricias de jazz: la dulce indolencia de los años 20. Su primera novela A este lado del paraíso, publicada en 1920, pronto se convirtió en un best-seller. De acuerdo a The Times, en 1921 Fitzgerald ya había vendido 75,000 copias de su opera prima.

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The creation of a ‘personage’: individuality and university life in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise

By Paula Maher Martin, Gale Ambassador at NUI Galway

To read this blog in Spanish, click here

A member of the ‘Lost Generation’ or a personification of youth or beauty (doomed to fade), thus is Francis Scott Fitzgerald portrayed in The Times Literary Supplement in 1958. Consolidated as a figure of myth over the 20th century, his writing overlaps with his persona and reverberates with foaming champagne and jazz caresses, the sweet indolence of the 1920s. His first novel, This Side of Paradise, published in 1920, became an instant best-seller; according to The Times, Fitzgerald had already sold 75,000 copies of his opera prima by 1921.

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