By Jutta Seibert

Villanova University faculty, students, and staff now have electronic access to all volumes in the acclaimed Studies in Imperialism series published by Manchester University Press. For close to forty years the series has retained its relevance in academic circles by steadily expanding its cross-disciplinary scope. John M. MacKenzie, the founding editor of the series and an occasional contributor, explored the cross-fertilization or, as some would argue, the cross-contamination between the usurper and the usurped in Propaganda and Empire (1984), the first volume in the series. The series’ continued success reflects the pervasive and persistent bonds between metropolis and periphery in the post-colonial period.

As general editor, MacKenzie has promoted cross-disciplinary research in imperial studies through his research and editorial work for more than thirty years. In Propaganda and Empire MacKenzie explored the impact of imperialism on British popular culture. As the editor of the following volume, Imperialism and Popular Culture (1986), he invited other scholars to further explore the same topic. During his tenure as general editor, MacKenzie continued to push Studies in Imperialism into new directions. Examples include his foray into environmental history with The Empire of Nature, which appeared in 1988, followed by Imperialism and the Natural World (1990), a collection of essays edited by MacKenzie. His Museums and Empire (2009) introduced museum studies to the series. Later volumes on imperial museums and exhibitions include Exhibiting the Empire (2015), a collection of essays edited by MacKenzie that explored the domestically promoted imperial narrative, and Curating Empire (2012), a collection of essays edited by Sarah Longair and John McAleer.

The Library’s catalog includes records for all available print and electronic editions of individual volumes in the series. Access to the complete series is also available via the Library’s Databases A-Z list under S.

Learn more about Studies in Imperialism

• Thompson, Andrew (ed.) Writing Imperial Histories. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013.
  Volume 100 reflects and celebrates Studies in Imperialism.
• Thompson, A. S. (ed.). (2013). Complete List of the Manchester University Press Studies in Imperialism Series, 1985–2013. In Writing Imperial Histories (pp. vii–xii). Manchester University Press.
• Ward, Stuart. “The MacKenziean Moment in Retrospect (or How One Hundred Volumes Bloomed).” In Writing Imperial Histories, edited by Andrew Thompson, 29-48. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013.
• MacKenzie, John M. “Afterword.” In Writing Imperial Histories, edited by Andrew Thompson, 268-274. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013.

Related resources

• British Library Newspapers (Gale)
  Includes over 160 newspaper titles spanning the years 1732 to 1950. The archive reflects diverse and distinct regional attitudes, cultures, and vernaculars, providing an alternative viewpoint to the London-centric national press.
• Times (London) Digital Archive, 1785-2012 (Gale)
• Times of India, 1838-2010 (ProQuest)
• British Periodicals (ProQuest)
  Provides access to British periodicals published from the 17th through the early 20th century with the majority of content from the 19th century. Covers a broad range of topics.
• 19th Century UK Periodicals (UK)
  Features digital access to a selection of 19th century British magazines on women, children, leisure and sport, humor, anthropology, travel, missionaries, and colonies.
• Age of Exploration (Adam Matthew Digital)
• China: Trade, Politics and Culture, 1793-1980 (Adam Matthew Digital)
• Empire Online (Adam Matthew Digital)
• Frontier Life: Borderlands, Settlement and Colonial Encounters (Adam Matthew Digital)
• India, Raj and Empire (Adam Matthew Digital)

Jutta Seibert is Director of Research Services & Scholarly Engagement at Falvey Memorial Library.

By Merrill Stein

Empire (Adam Matthew Digital) is a collection of full-text primary documents spanning five centuries, from 1492 to 1962, structured in five thematic sections: Cultural Contacts; Empire Writing and the Literature of Empire; The Visible Empire, Religion and Empire and Race; and Class, Colonialism, Imperialism.

Included are manuscripts, along with printed and visual source materials for the study of ‘Empire’ and its theories, practices and consequences. Material is accompanied by scholarly essays, chronology links shared with a unique Global Commodities collection, brief biographies, external links, interactive maps, and some secondary source documents up to 2007.

Empire (Adam Matthew Digital) is part of a collection of over sixty Adam Matthew Digital projects. look for these other collections on the Falvey Library list of databases or at AM Explorer (Adam Matthew Digital).

Merrill Stein is Political Science Librarian at Falvey Memorial Library.