Oxford LibGuides: Official Papers: Colonial/Foreign&Commonwealth/India Records

Online access to Colonial/Foreign and Commonwealth Office and India Office publications

A single sign on will be required for remote access

Africa

Confidential Print: Africa, 1834-1966
Source: Confidential Print held by the National Archives: (Adam Matthew Digital)
more...less...
Confidential Print: Africa includes the following classes from The National Archives, Kew in their entirety:

CO 879/1-190: Africa general, 1848-1961
CO 886/1-11: Dominions general, 1887-1926
DO 116/1-8: Union of South Africa and High Commission Territories, 1913-1944
FO 341/1-3: German Empire miscellaneous, 1884-1900
FO 401/1-48: Abyssinia, 1846-1956
FO 403/1-482: Africa general, 1834-1959
FO 413/1-99: Morocco and north-west Africa, 1839-1957
FO 458/1-157: Liberia, 1882-1950
FO 468/1-4: British Commonwealth general, 1945-1949
FO 485/1-3: Liberia, 1947-1949
FO 540/1-6: Libya, 1951-1956

China

Foreign Office Files for China, 1919-1980
Source: Foreign Office files from UK National Archives: (Adam Matthew Digital)
more...less...
The six parts of this collection make available all British Foreign Office files dealing with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan between 1919 and 1980:

1919-1929: Kuomintang, CCP and the Third International
1930-1937: The Long March, civil war in China and the Manchurian Crisis
1938-1948: Open Door, Japanese war and the seeds of communist victory
1949-1956: The Communist revolution
1957-1966: The Great Leap Forward
1967-1980: The Cultural Revolution
China and the Modern World: Imperial China and the West, Part I, 1815–1881
China and the Modern World is a series of digital archive collections sourced from preeminent libraries and archives across the world (Gale Primary Sources)

Latin Amercia

Confidential Print: Latin America, 1833-1969
Source: Foreign Office files from UK National Archives: (Adam Matthew Digital)
more...less...
Confidential Print: Latin America includes the following file classes from The National Archives, Kew in their entirety (and other selected files) :

FO 420/1-294: Central and South America general, 1833-1941
FO 467/1-5: Brazil, 1947-1951
FO 486/1-10: Mexico, 1947-1956
FO 495/1-10: River Plate countries (Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay), 1947-1956
FO 497/1-10: South America general, 1947-1956
FO 533/1-11: Central America and Caribbean general, 1946-1957

Japan

Foreign Office Files for Japan: Module II. Occupation of Japan, 1946-1952
Source: Foreign Office files from UK National Archives: (Adam Matthew Digital)
more...less...
Published in three parts, this collection makes available extensive coverage of British Foreign Office files dealing with Japan between 1919 and 1952.

Japanese Imperialism and the War in the Pacific, 1931-1945
Occupation of Japan, 1946-1952
Japan and Great Power Status, 1919-1930

Middle East

British Campaign in Mesopotamia, 1914-1918
Source: Indian Office records held by the British Library.: (Gale Primary Sources)
Afghanistan in 1919: The Third Anglo-Afghan War
Source: Indian Office records held by the British Library: Date range 1919. (Gale Primary Sources)
more...less...
The Third Anglo-Afghan War began on 6 May 1919 and ended with an armistice on 8 August 1919.
Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan
Source: Foreign Office and Dominions Office files from UK National Archives
Date Range: 1947-1980 (Adam Matthew Digital)
more...less...
Consists of the complete run of documents in the series DO 133, DO 134 and FCO 37, as well as all documents covering the Indian subcontinent in the FO 371 series
Central Asia, Persia and Afghanistan, 1834-1922: From Silk Road to Soviet Rule
Source: Foreign Office files held by the National Archives. (Adam Matthew Digital)
more...less...
Comprised of correspondence, intelligence reports, agents’ diaries, minutes, maps, newspaper excerpts and other materials from the FO 65, FO 106, FO 371 and FO 539 series
Foreign Office Files for the Middle East, 1971-1981
Source: Foreign Office files from UK National Archives: (Adam Matthew Digital)
more...less...
Foreign Office Files for the Middle East, 1971-1981 is split into three modules:

Module 1: Middle East, 1971-1974: The 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Oil Crisis
Module 2: Middle East, 1975-1978: The Lebanese Civil War and the Camp David Accords
Module 3: Middle East, 1979-1981: The Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War
Confidential Print: Middle East, 1839-1969
Source: Foreign Office files and Colonial Office files from the UK National Archives (Adam Matthew Digital)
more...less...
This collection consists of the Confidential Print for the countries of the Levant and the Arabian peninsula, Iran, Turkey, Egypt and Sudan.
Middle East Online: Arab-Israeli Relations, 1917-1970
Source: British Foreign Office, Colonial Office, War Office and Cabinet Papers from UK National Archives: (Gale Primary Sources)
Middle East Online Series 2 - Iraq 1914-1974,
Source: British Foreign Office, Colonial Office, War Office and Cabinet Papers from UK National Archives. (Gale Primary Sources)

North America

Confidential Print: North America 1824-1961
Source: Foreign Office files from UK National Archives: Date Range: 1824-1961 (Adam Matthew Digital)
more...less...
Confidential Print: North America includes the following classes from The National Archives, Kew in their entirety:

CO 880/1-32 North America, 1839-1914
CO 884/1-38 West Indies, 1826-1961
FO 414/1-278 North America, 1824-1941
FO 461/1-13 America, 1942-1956
FO 462/1-10 USA, 1947-1956

Search tips

Adam Matthew Digital:

For in depth information on collection content go to 'Introduction' and click on 'Nature and Scope'.

Under Research Tools' a good introduction to each collection can be found in specially commissioned essays that provide insights on key themes within each collection.

A really useful way of navigating Adam Matthew collections is to use the 'popular searches' function. You can search via people places or topics. Click on your selected search term and documents and relevant documents are returned.

Resources

A series of guide on Foreign Office publications from 1782 onwards
National Archives guides. Useful information on series and further bibliographic resources
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Historical Collection
The FCDO Historical Collection principally represents the library collection of the FCDO, not the documents and records generated by its staff.