Oxford LibGuides: Disability History Resources: Archives and Special Collections

How to find archives relevant to your studies

Where to start

Some of the best places to start searching for relevant archival collections include:

Search the internet

Making searches which combine your area of interest and "archive" on internet search engines can unearth relevant collections nearby. In addition, many archives are working on digitising their collections, so you may find there are online materials you can use without having to visit an archive in-person

Citations of related works

Other works written on your subject of interest may have cited items from archives relevant to the area.

Archive finding aids

Online finding aids like ArchiveGrid and SNAC are useful in locating archives from across the world. In addition, many countries maintain national archives and these can often be a good place to start searching for archival information. For example, the UK National Archives lists records held by over 2500 other archives within the UK.

Be aware that although most archives are working hard to try and make their collections more accessible, many archives do not have their full catalogues online so it is always best to contact them directly if you think they may hold additional material relevant to your study.

Beginner's Guides

Archives can be seen as intimidating and confusing spaces, especially for those who have not used them before. For some beginner's guides on using archives take a look at:

Archive Hub's 'Using Archives: A Guide for the Inexperienced',
King's College Cambridge's 'Introduction to Archives'
The Univeristy of Nottingham's page on 'How do I start my research?',
Learning Historical Research's page on 'Manuscripts'
The National Archive's Blog post 'The boy who found the horse'.

Digital Archives and Collections

AtoJs in Papers Past
National Library of New Zealand contains digitised reports from selected volumes of the Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives and the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives. Searching for keywords such as 'lunatic' returns information on asylums in the 19th-20th century.
Bethlem Museum of the Mind Archives
Bethlem Museum of the Mind is the place of deposit for the records of the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust and its predecessors. Some of its collections are digitised for viewing online, including Bethlem Hospital’s patient admission registers from 1683 to 1902.
The National Archives Discovery Search
The search engine combing the TNA, Kew, and other archives that are linked to the TNA database.
UK Data Archive - Integrated Census Microdata
Explore, filter, and download census records, digitised and harmonised from the original enumeration books, detailing characteristics for all individuals resident in Great Britain at each census from 1851 to 1911. The system at this page can filter and manipulate the database of over 180 million census records based on 20 key variables, including disability.
International Census Data for Social Science and Health Research
IPUMS International is dedicated to collecting and distributing census microdata from around the world for Social Science research. Including the 1848 and 1868 Egyptian censuses which are among the earliest precolonial individual-level population censuses from any non-Western country, and contain a variable for disability: 'Infirmities' From the 'Historical' tab, select 'Egypt'.
Disability and the Trade Boards
Over 4,000 references to applications for permits of exemption for 'disabled' workers indexed & online (1914-1928).
Hospital Records
This dataset was developed to help locate hospital records across the UK and includes: the administrative details of the hospitals, and their status or type; the location and covering dates of administrative and clinical records; the existence of lists, catalogues or other finding aids.

Borthwick Institute for Archives: Disability history
"This introductory guide aims to provide a foundation for researching disability history in the Borthwick Institute for Archives. It seeks to highlight major potential research themes, provide suggestions for relevant materials held within the archives, and illustrate potential stories to be uncovered through examples and case studies."
The Disability Archive
An archive created by the Centre for Disability Studies at Leeds University, containing writings of disability activists, writers and allies whose work may no longer be easily accessible in the public domain.
Disabled People's Archive
An Archive run by and about people involved with the Disabled People's Movement. It holds thousands of documents and photographs as well as video and audio tapes, banners, posters, placards, badges, t-shirts, reports, rare books, leaflets and campaigning materials spanning decades.
English Broadside Ballad Archive
Hosted by the Early Modern Department (English), University of California, Santa Barbara. Provides digital facsimiles of broadsides - most noticeably the Huth Collection, which includes a large collection on "monstrous births".
Leonard Cheshire Archive
An archive to preserve the memory of volunteers, staff, and residents of Leonard Cheshire, as well the humanitarian work of its founder.
National Disability Arts Collection and Archive
A collection of artworks, photographs, films, articles and exhibitions that tell the story of disability arts and the battle for disability rights in the UK.
National Paralympic Heritage Trust - Archives and Collections
The National Paralympic Heritage Trust Archive contains a wide range of sources from photographs of spinal injuries patients at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in the 1940s, to modern prosthetic racing blades.
Paralympic Archive
The IPC Documentation Centre in Bonn, Germany, was established as a resource for the IPC management team as well as external scholars conducting research on the Paralympic Movement. The Documentation Centre offers insights into the IPC, the Paralympic Games and world and regional championships in various Paralympic sports.
Perkins School for the Blind Archives
The Perkins Archives are part of the Samuel P. Hayes Research Library at the Perkins School for the Blind, Watertown, MA. The Archives house collections related to the history of the education of the blind and deafblind, institutional archives, and correspondence of significant figures in the school's history.
Simon Forman and Richard Napier's Casebooks
Forman’s and Napier’s casebooks constitute what is probably the richest surviving set of medical records from the period before 1700. Although they were using astrological methods to help their patients, they recorded the name and age of each person, the question asked, and the moment when the consultation began.
Texas Disability History Collection
The collection includes primary sources emphasizing the pioneering role played by a racially and ethnically diverse cast of Texan disability rights activists, many of whom attended or have worked at UT Arlington, in fighting for equal access to education, work, union membership, public transit, and sports.
Warwick University: Modern Records Centre
"The Modern Records Centre holds nationally important archives relating to welfare, healthcare and employment. These include material relating to advocacy, treatment and attitudes towards disabilities during the 20th century. This guide is not a comprehensive list of all relevant sources (we have too many to be able to do that) but it does identify some of the main collections which include potentially relevant material."

Some archives have created research guides on the topic of disability history to help people navigate their collections and find material relevant to their study. However, to access the material you would need to visit these archives in-person.

Definitions

Terms you may encounter in your research:

Archive
A collection of documents and records that contain historical information, or a place where these documents and records are kept.

Digital archive
It is similar in purpose to a physical archive, but the historical documents and objects that provide evidence of the past have been digitised (either by scanning or photography, or was created digitally in the first place) and made available online.

Personal Papers

In archives, personal papers are denoted as the private documents and related materials accumulated by an individual in the course of a lifetime (letters, diaries, journals, legal documents, etc.).

Special Collections

A special collection is a group of items, such as rare books or documents, that are either irreplaceable or unusually rare and valuable. For this reason special collections are usually stored separately from regular library collections in a secure location with environmental controls to preserve the items for posterity.

Disability History Resources: Archives and Special Collections

Introduction

How to find archives relevant to your studies

Where to start

Beginner's Guides

Digital Archives and Collections

Definitions