The times they are a-changing (not)

“There is nothing new under the sun” has (like a lot of biblical quotes) become a cliché. But when someone hits the nail on the head, why be original.

Unpopularity of the government

MPs feared that “there was nothing to prevent the Labour Government from suffering an overwhelming defeat at the next election”. There was, they agreed, “nothing in the Government’s unemployed policy which promised any hope of substantial reduction”. “They might try to hide the truth, but they could not disregard the feelings in the constituencies without suffering as they had never suffered before at the next election”.

You’ve probably guessed what stunt I am pulling – the above comes from a news report in The Times from 26 September 1930. After all, what are the chances of things getting that gloomy these days?

You probably won’t want to spend much time using The Times Digital Archive to draw parallels between today’s dreary headlines and similar crises in the past, but if you do, it’s a rich seam. Facsimiles of every edition of the paper (from 1785 to 1985) are fully searchable by keyword, author, date, and so on. The Times was never great for pictures, but the ones they did include are here in all their original smudgy glory.

A fantastically useful feature is the ability to specify the section of the paper which you want to search. So if corset ads are your thing, you can go straight there. Of course, the erotic possibilities are limited – “Mrs Barclay particularly recommends to the Nobility and the fashionable world her cheap corsets” is about as saucy as it gets. Good for a laugh, though.

Don’t forget that your family history finds can be put into context using The Times Digital Archive. If Great Uncle William did something notable, it might have been covered in The Times, and even if he didn’t shine on the world stage, you can shine a light on the public doings which affected his private life.

(From the Gateway to websites, select “News & magazines”. The Times Digital Archive is a Key Link.)

This year’s black (in colour)

If Mrs Barclay’s cheap corsets don’t do it for you, don’t forget that you can get all the latest catwalk shots (and all the styles from 1903 onwards) from UK Press Online, which contains facsimiles of the fashion pages from the Mirror, the Express and the Star. Oh, and the news, the sport, the gossip, and everything else!

(From the Gateway to websites, select “News & magazines”. UK Press Online is a Key Link. You will see that there is an extra click to make to reach the resource – just follow the instructions.)