Contains some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles. Created by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust. For century-specific materials, choose Periods on the main menu, then Centuries.
The Victorian Web: Literature, History and Culture in the Age of Victoria
The Victorian Web, edited by George P. Landow PhD, is a scholarly website containing links to primary and secondary sources about topics in Victorian British history. The Victorian Web has existed since 1987 and is updated daily. While it can be searched, the emphasis of this site is its links to show connections to various facets of Victorian history. Do not be put off by its rudimentary design; it is a valuable resource.
Victoria Research Web: Scholarly Resources for Victorian Research
Scroll down on the main page to the Table of Contents to get started.
State Papers Online, 1509-1714
Provides access to over 3 million pages of 16th- & 17th-century British government documents and over 200,000 searchable pages of Calendars and catalogues.
Help Tutorial & Pages:
State Papers Domestic, 1547-1649
State Papers Foreign, 1509-1782
State Papers Ireland, 1509-1782
Hansard's British Parliamentary Papers Online (Debates), 1803-2005
British Parliamentary Papers are searchable online through this site. Information on this searchable website emanates from Hansard, the Official Report of debates in Parliament.
Legislation (Acts) of Parliament, 1267-present
Search revised and enacted legislation for the United Kingdom. Site delivered by The National Archives of the government of the United Kingdom.
An invaluable resource for the new user of British parliamentary papers; a how-to guide in layman's terms.
Proceedings of the Old Bailey London 1674-1834
“A fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court.” See “Getting Started” and the “Guide to Searching” to get the most of this site.
British Literary Manuscripts Online, c. 1660-1900
British Literary Manuscripts Online, c. 1660-1900, presents facsimile images of literary manuscripts, including letters and diaries, drafts of poems, plays, novels, and other literary works, and similar materials. Searching is based on tags and descriptive text associated with each manuscript. Images of the complete manuscript can be viewed, manipulated and navigated on screen. Text of the manuscripts themselves is not searchable.
Bess of Hardwick's Letters, c. 1550-1608
Bess of Hardwick (c.1521/2-1608) is one of Elizabethan England's most famous figures. She is renowned for her reputation as a dynast and indomitable matriarch and perhaps best known as the builder of great stately homes like the magnificent Hardwick Hall and Chatsworth House. Correspondents include servants, friends, family, queens, and officers of state.
Emily Dickinson Archive (EDA) provides high-resolution images of manuscripts of Dickinson’s poetry, along with transcriptions and annotations from selected historical and scholarly editions.
Perdita Manuscripts: Women Writers, 1500-1700
Complete facsimile images of over 230 manuscripts written or compiled by women living in the British Isle during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Contents include account books, advice, culinary writing, meditation, travel writing, and verse. Perdita manuscripts are indexed by name, place, genre, and first lines of both poetry and prose. This resource is produced in association with the Perdita Project based at the University of Warwick and Nottingham Trent University. “Perdita” means “lost woman” and the quest of the Perdita Project has been to find early modern women authors who were “lost” because their writing exists only in manuscript form.
A Vision of Britain through Time
“A Vision of Britain through Time” provides a history of Great Britain, 1801-2001, through maps, statistical trends, and historical descriptions of travel in the country. It is operated by the University of Portsmouth in England. Major sections of the site are Places, Statistical Atlas, Historical Maps, Census Reports, Travel Writing, and Learning Resources. Users of this site can perform research in primary sources that are part of the site, particularly involving mapping and historical GIS (Geographical Information System), and read transcripts of travel narratives by major figures, such as James Boswell. This site may be useful to those with a more advanced interest in British history.
This project has been developed to encourage undergraduates, postgraduates, academics and researchers to explore colonial history, politics, culture and society. Material in the collection spans five centuries, charting the story of the rise and fall of empires; from the explorations of Columbus, Captain Cook, and others, right through to de-colonisation in the second half of the twentieth century and debates over American Imperialism.
Material in Empire Online has been sourced from a wide range of reputable institutions, with a particularly strong core of documents and images from the British Library.
