The Maughan Library
Print books, journals and DVDs for Arts & Humanities can be found at the Maughan Library.
Newspapers
UK and international newspapers are useful for a range of subjects. Our collection provides a range of historical titles and current editions.
Find journals
Keep up to date with your subject. Use Library Search to access an extensive collection of print and ejournals.
Arts & Humanities print journals are held on the ground floor of the Maughan Library in rooms G.54-G.59, GM.54-GM.59, G.66-G.67. See our Floorplans.
Collections Guide for Arts & Humanities
Welcome to the Collections Guide for Arts & Humanities
This guide provides tailored information on library collections and links to some of our key resources.
Find magazines and cultural archives
A selection of our popular magazine archives and cultural collections:
- Black Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window Black Thought and Culture provides approximately 100,000 pages of monographs, essays, articles, speeches, and interviews written by leaders within the black community from the earliest times to the present. The collection is intended for research in black studies, political science, American history, music, literature, and art. The collection begins with the works of Frederick Douglass and is targeted to include the works of W.E.B. Du Bois, Carter G. Woodson, Alain Locke, Mary McLeod Bethune, Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Bunche, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Angela Davis,Thurgood Marshall, James Baldwin, Jesse Jackson, Ida B. Wells, Bobby Seale, Cornel West, Michael Eric Dysonand many others. When complete, the collection will include the first-ever complete full run of the Black Panther newspaper.Black Thought and Culture is intended to present a wide range of previously inaccessible material, including letters by athletes such as Jackie Robinson, correspondence by Ida B. Wells, prefatory essays by Amiri Baraka, political leaflets by Huey Newton, and interviews with Paul Robeson. Much of the material is fugitive, and almost twenty percent of the collection has not been published previously.
- Children's Literature and Culture This link opens in a new window Explore a stunning collection of rare books, games, ephemera, and artwork from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that reveals the socio-cultural history of these times. Showcasing innovative new publishing methods characteristic of the golden age of children’s literature, from mass-produced chapbooks to richly illustrated ‘book-beautifuls’, this resource examines the way in which new concepts were introduced to young readers, encouraging an engagement with the imagination which went on to fundamentally shape established notions of childhood. Senate House resources require registering for Senate House library membership. See also our library FAQ for more details.
- Decolonization: Politics and Independence in Former Colonial and Commonwealth Territories (Gale - Cengage Learning) This link opens in a new window Decolonization: Politics and Independence in Former Colonial and Commonwealth Territories database brings together material from within former British colonies and Commonwealth nations, alongside some from former French and Portuguese territories. It is a valuable primary source material created for local audiences by local actors during a period of enormous global change. After the Second World War decolonization movements around the world gathered pace, and from the small port colony of Aden to the vast Indian sub-continent, new borders were set and new nations built. This database contains material representing various historical viewpoints related to race, gender, terrorism, and other subjects, and includes a variety of terms applied to different groups of people reflecting ideas and prejudices at their point of creation. Some of these terms and attitudes will appear pejorative and expressive of ideas that are no longer regarded as acceptable, such as segregated and apartheid systems, and imperial or colonial rhetoric. Researchers are also warned that these materials may contain images of and references to deceased persons, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. These materials are provided for academic research and teaching purposes, and Gale does not endorse any specific views contained within the content.
- Disability in the Modern World (Alexander Street Press) This link opens in a new window Disability in the Modern World: History of a Social Movement is a welcome addition to the field of disability studies. This collection brings together key primary and secondary materials for students and researchers on the history of disability. Disability in the Modern World is an important resource for libraries to better support diverse scholarship.
- LGBT Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window Archival runs of 26 of the most influential, longest-running serial publications covering LGBT interests. Includes the pre-eminent US and UK titles – The Advocate and Gay Times, respectively. Chronicles more than six decades of the history and culture of the LGBT community. In addition to LGBT/gender/sexuality studies, this material also serves related disciplines such as sociology, political science, psychology, health, and the arts. Some publications may contain explicit content. Coverage: 1954 - 2015.
- LGBT Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window LGBT Thought and Culture is an online resource hosting the key works and archival documentation of LGBT political and social movements throughout the 20th century and into the present day. The collection contains 150,000 pages of rare archival content, including seminal texts, letters, periodicals, speeches, interviews, and ephemera. Featured content includes: The Magnus Hirschfeld Collection;Additional collections from the Kinsey Institute’s archives, including early transgender periodicals, organizational papers, and writings from Harry Benjamin and John Money. The One National Gay and Lesbian Archive collections;The EROS Foundation Archive, containing correspondence, newspaper clippings, reports to committees, inquiries and publications from the Australian sex industry lobbyist group;The editorial files and books of Tracy Baim a key LGBT and feminist reporter since 1980. Her archives include editorial article clips, reporter’s notes, press releases for LGBT and AIDS organizations, program books, and more;Periodical publications of Windy City Media Group: Outlines (1987–2000), a newspaper serving Chicago’s LGBT community, featuring LGBT and AIDS coverage, news, interviews, photos, events, and community features; Blacklines (1996–2006), a monthly newspaper covering African American LGBT issues with a focus on gay media; En La Vida (1996–2006), a monthly newspaper addressing Latino/a LGBT issues and culture. Rare books and major winners of the Stonewall Book Awards and Lambda Literary Awards.
- Men’s Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window A collection of men’s-interest magazine backfiles serving research in men’s studies/history but also offering important additional perspectives for women’s studies. It includes some of the earliest publications of this type – National Police Gazette and Argosy – and covers key topics such as fashion, sports, health, and arts/entertainment. Coverage: 1845 - 2015 Senate House resources require registering for Senate House library membership. See also our library FAQ for more details.
- Women's Magazine Archive I - III (1846-2005) This link opens in a new window An archival research resource comprising the backfiles of leading women's interest consumer magazines. Issues are scanned in high-resolution color and feature detailed article-level indexing. Coverage ranges from the late-19th century through to 2005 and these key primary sources permit the examination of the events, trends, and attitudes of this period. Among the research fields served by this material are gender studies, social history, economics/marketing, media, fashion, politics, and popular culture. We have access to: Women's Magazine I Women's Magazine II Women's Magazine III
- Youth and Popular Culture Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window Youth and Popular Culture Magazine Archive showcases unique periodicals from 1940-present, highlighting topics and trends of youth culture such as fashion, rock and roll, sports, sexuality, dating, as well as youth portrayal in the media. These unique periodicals provide insight to what has and continues to influence youth culture, especially during times of rapid social and cultural change in the U.S. and the UK. At completion, this collection will have 250,000 pages from periodicals published in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. Senate House resources require registering for Senate House library membership. See also our library FAQ for more details.
Find literature online
The following eresources cover a range of disciplines:
- Proquest Arts & Humanities collection This link opens in a new window A collection of ProQuest databases in the Arts & Humanities subject area for King's users. Additional databases may be available via Senate House
- JSTOR ebooks and journals This link opens in a new window JSTOR offers academic journal articles, books, and primary sources in 75 disciplines. Via JSTOR books, King's currently has access to over 54,000 titles from over 42 publishers.King’s subscribes to the following collections within JSTOR: 19th Century British PamphletsArts & Sciences I-XV CollectionBusiness I CollectionBusiness II CollectionIreland CollectionJewish StudiesLanguage & Literature CollectionLife Sciences CollectionMusic CollectionPolitical ScienceFilm StudiesLanguage and LiteraturePhilosophyReligionSociologyBusiness and Economics
- Periodicals Archive Online (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window PAO – formerly PCI Full Text - is a major online periodical archive that contains hundreds of journal backfiles in the humanities and social sciences. The date range is 1770-2000. A hive of hundreds of digitised journals published in the arts, humanities and social sciences. It provides researchers with access to more than 200 years of scholarship, spread across a wide variety of subject areas. Please note King's College London users have access to Collections 1 to 10 and JISC special collections 1 and 2.
- Project MUSE This link opens in a new window Project MUSE is a leading provider of digital humanities and social sciences content; since 1995, its electronic journal collections have supported a wide array of research needs at academic, public, special, and school libraries worldwide. MUSE books and journals, from leading university presses and scholarly societies, are fully integrated for search and discovery. King's only subscribes to selected journals.
- EBook Central (Proquest) - King's This link opens in a new window Ebook Central is an ebook platform. King’s have purchased over 21,200 titles covering a range of subjects and provides further access to over 176,350 titles.
- Humanities Index (1962-) (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window Formerly known as BHI: British Humanities Index.An international abstracting and indexing tool for research in the humanities, HI indexes over 400 internationally respected humanities journals and weekly magazines published in the UK and other English speaking countries, as well as quality newspapers published in the UK. It covers current affairs, political science, religion, law, history, archaeology, education, economics, environment and gender studies.Updated monthly with approximately 1,500 records added; it also has the capability to link to electronic full text of many journal articles
Watch films on DVD
Many films are available online but some are only released on DVD. Our collection of DVDs, blu-rays and videos is on the ground floor of the Maughan Library in rooms G.68, G.69 & G.70. Films are arranged A-Z by title, with numerical titles at the start of the sequence, at classmark PN1995. See our Floorplans.
Search for DVDs using Library Search and refine your results by 'Resource type' to 'Videos'.
Players for multi-region DVDs and VHS are in G.70. Headphones are provided in booths, or if you prefer to use your own, some equipment is bluetooth compatible. Group viewing facilities with large screens and multi-region blu-ray players are in G.71.
Watch films online
A diverse collection of films covering a wide range of genres and multiple languages. Staff and students have access to subscription titles as well as free content.
- BFI Player (British Film Institute) This link opens in a new window BFI Player is a video on demand service from the British Film Institute, streaming acclaimed, landmark and archive films. These are available for rent, for subscription or for free. King's College London has a subscription. The placement and availability of films is dependent on rights agreements with licensors. The focus is on British and European independent films, as well as international releases.Additional information:Access your free BFI Player subscription in 3 easy steps: 1. Go to player.bfi.org.uk/students and create an account OR sign in if you already have one by selecting 'Already have an account? Sign in'2. Select university from the dropdown list 3. Authenticate subscription using your university credentialsFYI:• Once you've set up your subscription, you can simply login on BFI Player for the remainder of this academic year. You don't need to use the subscribe link• BFI Player is unavailable outside the UK• Rentals and festival events are not included in the subscription offer• Make sure you tick the box ‘I’d like to receive the newsletter’ for exclusive competitions, watchlists and other BFI opportunities via email. A reminder that users need to re-subscribe every year e.g. if someone had an account last year, they simply need to visit player.bfi.org.uk/students and select 'Already have an account Sign in'.
A key streaming resource for films. Includes French, Spanish and Asian feature films, plus documentaries and videos on a wide range of subjects.
- Kanopy This link opens in a new window Kanopy is an online video streaming platform with access to a unique collection of films in the world, including documentaries and training films.
Offers a huge collection of films, TV and radio programmes which have aired on UK channels. Useful for titles that are not available via commercial streaming services or on DVD.
- Box of Broadcasts (BoB National) This link opens in a new window BoB (Box of Broadcasts) National is a shared online off-air TV and radio recording service for UK higher and further education institutions. You can choose and record any broadcast programme from 60+ TV and radio channels. The recorded programmes are then kept indefinitely (no expiry) and added to a growing media archive (currently at over 1 million programmes), with all content shared by users across all subscribing institutions.Please note: Individual registration is required and access is only available from the UK.
A film streaming resource specialising in features and documentaries from Spanish-speaking countries. Also includes titles in a number of languages.
- Digitalia Film Library This link opens in a new window Digitalia Film Library is an online film streaming platform providing access to films and documentaries in international languages and includes unique content from Spain and all Spanish speaking countries. With access to more than 1400 titles covering 42 different languages including Spanish, Russian and many other Germanic, Romance and Slavic languages, Digitalia Film Library provides subtitles in English.
A vast multi-disciplinary video collection. Includes a large number of documentaries on its Film Platform and Documentary channel.
- Alexander Street Video (Alexander Street Press) - New platform This link opens in a new window Alexander Street Press is an online video streaming platform with access to more than 34,000 video titles. King’s has access to a wide range of educational videos, audio and text resources.
Covers a wide range of subjects including feature films and documentaries.
- Academic Video Online This link opens in a new window Academic Video Online makes video material available with curricular relevance: documentaries, interviews, performances, news programs and newsreels, and more. Search for award-winning films including Academy®, Emmy®, and Peabody® winners and access content from PBS, BBC, 60 MINUTES, National Geographic, Annenberg Learner, BroadwayHD™, A+E Networks’ HISTORY® and more.
A large collection of Spanish-language films and companion guides.
- Platino Educa This link opens in a new window An educational site, aimed at teachers and lecturers, which provides a large collection of Spanish-language films and companion teaching guides. The website provides information in English and Spanish.
Documentary films, features and newsreels from countries including the USSR, Vietnam, Korea, Cuba, China and East Germany.
- Socialism on Film This link opens in a new window Sourced from the British Film Institute (BFI), Socialism on Film documents the communist world, from the Russian Revolution to the end of the Cold War. This unique multimedia collection spans most of the twentieth century and contains documentary films, features and newsreels from countries including the USSR, Vietnam, Korea, Cuba, China and East Germany, and provides a counterpoint to Western perceptions of communist states.
Find reference material & companions
- Blackwell Reference Online This link opens in a new window Blackwell Reference Online is an online library giving access to over 500 reference ebooks. The collection covers topics from across the humanities and social sciences and includes the critically-acclaimed Blackwell Companions and Handbooks in addition to other valuable reference materials such as dictionaries, encyclopedias and concise companions with integrated seamless links to standalone major reference works on the Blackwell Reference Online platform.
- Cambridge Companions Online (Cambridge Core) This link opens in a new window Cambridge Companions are a series of authoritative guides, written by leading experts, offering lively, accessible introductions to major writers, artists, philosophers, topics, and periods. CCO offers thousands of comprehensive and accessible essays on major authors, periods and genres, written by experts and designed for student readers.King's users have access to the complete collection of Cambridge Companions, which is divided into three subsections: Literature and Classics; Philosophy, Religion and Culture; and Music.
- Cambridge Histories Online (Cambridge Core) This link opens in a new window Contains over 400 volumes published since 1960 over 15 academic subject areas including: American History, British History, Economic History, General History, History of Science, History of the Book, Language & Linguistics, Literary Studies, Music, Philosophy, Political & Social Theory, Regional History, Religious Studies, Theatre Studies & Performing Arts and Warfare.
- Oxford Bibliographies Online This link opens in a new window Oxford Bibliographies Online combines elements of an annotated bibliography and an encyclopaedia to offer a time-saving resource. Annotations indicate what is included in the work whilst personalisation features allow saving, annotating and sharing of citations and searches. King's has access to the following modules: African American StudiesBiblical StudiesClassicsIslamic StudiesPhilosophyVictorian Literature
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography This link opens in a new window An illustrated collection of more than 50,000 specially written biographies of the men and women who shaped all aspects of Britain's past. Updated 3 times a year with new biographies and additions to articles already published.
- Oxford English Dictionary (OED) This link opens in a new window The accepted authority on the evolution of English language, this is a guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words. Traces the usage of words through quotations from a range of international English language sources. Updated quarterly.
- Oxford Handbooks Online This link opens in a new window Oxford Handbooks Online covers many different subject areas and the series contains in-depth, high-level articles by scholars at the top of their field. King's has access to all collections.
- Oxford Reference Online This link opens in a new window Oxford Reference Online: The Core Collection brings together 100 well-known and trusted dictionaries, reference books and Encyclopedias, into a single cross-searchable web database. The Premium Collection offers all of these, plus added functionality and more detailed information from titles in the world-renowned Oxford Companions Series, plus the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. ORO provides integrated, consistent coverage of a broad range of subjects: everything from General Reference, Language and Quotations to Science and Medicine, and from Humanities and Social Sciences to Business and Professional.
- Oxford Scholarly Editions Online This link opens in a new window Oxford’s scholarly editions provide trustworthy, annotated primary texts for scholars and students. OSEO currently includes writers active between 701 and 1901, plus Classical Latin and Greek authors from Aristotle, Austen, Bentham, Catullus, Dickens, and Donne through to Plato, Virgil and Wordsworth. It contains over 1,500 scholarly editions — the equivalent of more than 760,000 print pages.
- Oxford Scholarship Online This link opens in a new window An essential research resource for students, scholars, and academics, Oxford Scholarship Online provides access to prestigious academic books across the humanities, social sciences, sciences, medicine. Available online on Oxford Academic, scholars and students can discover these academic books alongside Handbooks, Very Short Introductions, practitioner medicine and psychology texts, and hundreds of the highest quality journals. King's subscribes to the full or partial sets listed below and has access to some additional single titles:Business & ManagementClassical Studies 2007 – 2013Economics & FinanceHistory 2011 – 2013LawLiterature 2011 – 2013Music 2011 – 2013PhilosophyPolitical ScienceReligion
Senate House Library
Senate House Library is a large humanities research library in Bloomsbury. 
King’s staff and students are entitled to free membership which provides
borrowing rights to print books and remote access to most eresources.
See Membership for information on signing up.