The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies,
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 1919-1997, offers a unique collection of primary source material from the archives of the world’s largest humanitarian network.
Documents within the collection date back to the 1919 establishment of the League of Red Cross Societies, which united the National Societies of the UK, USA, France, Italy, and Japan. In 1983, the union extended its boundaries, incorporating Red Crescent Societies from majority Muslim countries. The League was renamed the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in 1991.
This digital archive contains two core resources: The Central Registry comprises correspondence and reports exchanged by the League of Red Cross Societies from 1919 to the early 1970s. Digitised files cover topics such as League organisation, conferences, disaster relief, and aid to war victims, along with more specialised material on epidemic diseases.
The Non-Registry collection includes non-centralised material from IFRC departments, alongside Coordinated Relief Bulletins and Relief Bureau Circulars (c.1940s-1980s). These documents report on the activities of National Societies and the IFRC, and provide updates on ongoing disasters, specific needs, and appeals.
Additionally, the archive also provides students, researchers and academic staff with access to over 2,000 files from the Relief Operations Bureau (1970s–80s) and Thematic Operational Files, covering major conflicts such as Vietnam, Korea, and the Middle East.
Part of Gale’s Global Development and Humanitarian Aid Collection, this new collection aligns with the University’s ongoing commitment as a University of Sanctuary. Search in conjunction with resources such as Refugees Relief and Resettlement (cross-searchable on the same platform) and Border and Migration Studies (part of the Global Issues Library) and physical materials housed within our pioneering Humanitarian Archive at The John Rylands Library.
The GeoRef database, established by the American Geosciences Institute in 1966, provides access to the geoscience literature of the world. GeoRef is the most comprehensive database in the geosciences and continues to grow by about 100,000 references a year. The database contains over 4.4 million references to geoscience journal articles, books, maps, conference papers, reports and theses.
Major areas of coverage include areal geology, economic geology, engineering geology, environmental geology, extraterrestrial geology, geochemistry, geochronology, geophysics, hydrogeology and hydrology, marine geology and oceanography, mathematical geology, mineralogy and crystallography, paleontology, petrology, seismology, stratigraphy, structural geology, surficial geology.
China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) E-Books Service
The Library is excited to announce its subscription to the CNKI E-Books service, offering full-text access and the option to download entire books. With over 9,000 high-quality academic titles from China’s most authoritative scholarly publishers, this service covers a wide range of subject areas, including Art, Language & Literature, History, Nationality & Geography, and Philosophy & Religion. It provides invaluable resources for both research and learning.
The CNKI E-Books collection covers a variety of specialized topics, such as:
This invaluable resource enhances access to authoritative Chinese scholarly content, significantly enriching China-related studies. It is also essential for students working on dissertations and theses that require Chinese-language sources.
Refugees, Relief and Resettlement
A key resource for the study of forced migration and the history of refugees, this collection collates materials from a wide range of sources including the U.K. National Archives, the British Library, World Jewish Relief, and the US Department of State.
Refugees, Relief and Resettlement comprises two parts addressing refugee crises across different chronological periods. The first part, Forced Migration and World War II, focuses on refugees and displaced persons across Europe, North Africa, and Asia from 1935 to 1950. The second part, The Early Cold War and Decolonization, examines the changes effected by the Cold War and the decolonisation of, and rise of independence movements within, the nations of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. This series offers a wealth of primary sources including legal briefs, refugee reports, and government documents, manuscripts, pamphlets, and letters.
Refugees, Relief and Resettlement addresses an ongoing global issue and is of value to students and researchers across a range of disciplines and research groups including Migration, Refugees and Asylum, Humanitarian and Conflict Response and Histories of Humanitarianism. This new addition enriches our collections of primary source materials in this challenging research area. These include both digital resources such as Border and Migration Studies (part of the Global Issues Library) and Post-war Europe: Refugees, Exile and Resettlement, 1945-1950, and the physical materials housed within our pioneering Humanitarian Archive at the Rylands. In addition, it aligns with the University's ongoing commitment as a University of Sanctuary.
Environmental History is a rich resource of primary sources and information on environmental issues and human-environment interactions throughout the globe, with a particular focus on regions connected to the British Empire.
Documents, sourced from the Foreign Office, Colonial Office, and the Ministry of Overseas Development and Overseas Development Administration, cover a wide range of topics including:
The exploitation of natural resources and colonial land use
Agriculture
Urban development
The technological revolution
Industrial change and urbanization
Conservation
Pollution
Climate
Development programmes and sustainability
Natural resources and industries such as forestry and mining
This archive is particularly valuable to students, staff, and researchers within Geography, Planning, Property and Environmental Management, Global Development Institute and School of Natural Sciences. Use alongside Environment Issues Online (Global Issues Library) to provide broader perspectives and deeper insights into environmental and developmental challenges.
Global Issues Library is an extensive resource examining major societal challenges such as migration, preservation of human rights, security, and environmental issues. It provides diverse content, such as reports, essays, and letters, documentaries, photographs, and case studies to help analyse historical and current events. Curated by scholars worldwide, it takes an interdisciplinary approach encompassing historical, political, sociological, anthropological and ethical perspectives. Collections include:
This extensive multidisciplinary resource is a valuable resource for teaching and research across Geography, Global Development, Humanitarian and Conflict Response, Politics, Sociology, and Earth and Environmental Sciences. It also aligns closely with the University's Social Responsibility and sustainable development goals.
Royal Geographical Society Archive
Following extensive consultation with academics, the Library is delighted to announce the purchase of the Royal Geographical Society Archive (with the Institute of British Geographers - IBG).
From its formation in 1830 the Royal Geographical Society has served as the leading organisation and support network for the discipline in both the UK and wider field of study.
This new digital collection compiled from the society’s comprehensive archives gives researchers online access to a wealth of material extending from 1482-2010, much of which is available online for the first time. Handwritten documents are made decipherable by the typeset transcripts feature and a special function makes it easy to keep an eye on your bibliography with the onscreen citations tab.
The archive not only bolsters studies in the conventional fields of geography and geology but also aligns seamlessly with the interdisciplinary investigations carried out by a wide range of research teams within the University.
The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) digital archive, divided into two parts covering the periods 1482-1899 and 1900-2010, boasts a collection of over 150,000 maps, charts, and atlases. This extensive archive is enriched with valuable additions such as manuscripts, field notes, expedition reports, scrapbooks, correspondence, diaries, illustrations, and sketches.
With a particular focus on resources related to Agricultural Geography, Anthropology, Cartography, Borders, Nations & Power, Colonial and Post-Colonial Studies, among many others, the Royal Geographical Society archive has played an influential role throughout its history.
Furthermore, it augments the Library’s digital resource collections and complements the rich reserves of the “Maps, Travel and Discovery” holdings at The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, offering researchers potentially new ways of addressing the respective collections. As the archive of a leading professional body, the RGS holdings also throw an interesting sidelight on the activities of contemporary scientific organisations; those housed on the same platform (British Association for the Advancement of Science) and those at Rylands, which will be of particular interest to historians of science.
Following a proposal from staff in the Global Development Institute, Department of Geography, and the Alliance Manchester Business School, the Library is pleased to offer full institutional access to UN Comtrade – the world’s most comprehensive global trade data platform.
This resource provides access to global annual and monthly trade statistics as compiled by the United Nations Statistics Division and covers approximately 200 countries with data spanning from 1962 to the present day. Information can be extracted in a variety of formats, including API developer tools for integration into enterprise applications and workflows.
Access to premium features is only possible with an account – click on ‘Log in’ then ‘Sign Up Now’ and register using your University email address.
The following are important databases for this subject area, however if you don't see what you're looking for, please go to the Database Directory for Geography to browse a wider selection.
Follow the links below to browse databases for specific types of resources.
You can use our Database Directory to browse a broader range of databases that are relevant to Geography as well as other subjects. The directory also allows you to identify databases that provide access to specific types of resources (e.g. Full Text Articles, Streaming Video, Patents, Theses and Dissertations, and much more).
The University of Manchester's research is internationally recognised. Go to Research Explorer, Manchester's research database, to discover the breadth of research produced by staff across the University.
Browse research outputs from Geography (please note: whilst many of the publications listed are available to access/Open Access, some records are for forthcoming titles awaiting publication).
