By Rose Lock – Special Collections Supervisor

Although there is a great joy and value in holding an original archival document in your hands, for many reasons this is not always possible. At Special Collections we are constantly seeking new ways for researchers to view our collections; so we are delighted to be able to share this selection of over 900 items from our archives, online via JSTOR. The selection ranges from Ludwig Marx’s poetry of exile from our German Jewish Family Archives, to the 1986 Christmas Day diaries from the volunteer writers of the Mass Observation Project’s Observing the 1980s collection, by way of some typically Sussex student material on Campaigns and Movements.

My personal highlights include:

From the Observing the 1980’s ephemera collection, girls in ‘male’ jobs?: a research report 1987 from the Young Women’s Christian Association of Great Britain, which seeks to encourage and aid ‘young women in non-traditional training and work’ such as engineering and construction. It looks into the experiences of women working and undertaking apprenticeships in male dominated areas and the general trends in what were thought of as ‘male’ or ‘female’ jobs.

Home-made flyers, such as the one below, from the University of Sussex – Student campaigns and movements collection are an anachronism these days, making us assess just how quickly the world has turned digital. Advertising an Open Forum on Latin America, its handwritten title and poor copying jolts us back to 1976 and reminds those of us old enough; to remember just how difficult it was to advertise small events.

And my favourite thing of all, is that they are free to access for all!

If you would like any further information about these collections, or any of our archive collections then please do visit The Keep website or email specialcollections.supervisor@sussex.ac.uk