This 9-volume set provides 7000 pages of primary documents, written by contemporary diplomats, charting the emergence of an independent America. Documents are sourced from Colonial Office, Foreign Office, State Papers, and Admiralty records.
This collection makes available British government files from the Foreign, Colonial, Dominion, and Foreign and Commonwealth Offices spanning the period 1948 to 1994. These previously restricted letters, diplomatic dispatches, reports, trial papers, activists’ biographies and first-hand accounts of events give unprecedented access to the history of South Africa’s apartheid regime. The files explore the relationship of the international community with South Africa and chart increasing civil unrest against a backdrop of waning colonialism in Africa and mounting world condemnation.
This collection focuses on historical events in the United Kingdom and Europe in the 20th century. Included are US classified country reports, newspapers, pamphlets, propaganda, and many other primary sources that give insight on specific regional changes during and after the war.
Bracton "attempts to describe rationally the whole of English law." The work is remarkable both for its wealth of detail and for its attempts to make sense out of English law largely in terms of the ius commune, the combination of Roman and canon law that was taught in the universities in Bracton's time.
From “ordinary” people through to more prominent individuals and families, these documents show how everyday working, family, religious and administrative life was experienced across England.
One of the best places to start for all time periods of European history. Extensive collection of primary sources and links to other sites. Browse by broad era (prehistory/ancient, medieval/renaissance, modern) or by country.
These accounts of the English abroad, c1550-1850, highlight the influence of continental travel on British art, architecture, urban planning, literature and philosophy. This collection of manuscript, visual and printed works allows scholars to compare a range of sources on the history of travel for the first time, including many from private or neglected collections. We include letters; diaries and journals; account books; printed guidebooks; published travel writing; paintings and sketches; architectural drawings and maps.
Presents texts from ancient to modern times. Material touches on the Crusaders, Italian Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, French Revolution, and many other topics.
An ongoing effort to produce a parallel text of the first two editions of Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1577, rev. 1587), which was a major source for many works by Shakespeare and other Elizabethan writers.
A full-text searchable resource containing rare books, ephemera, maps and other materials relating to 18th, 19th and early 20th century London. It is designed for both teaching and study, from undergraduate to research students and beyond
Digital collections from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Topics include women's rights, Brexit, posters, street life in London, and more.
This resource provides complete coverage of the Cabinet conclusions (minutes) (CAB 128) and memoranda (CAB 129) of Harold Macmillan’s government, plus selected minutes and memoranda of policy committees (CAB 134).
Launched in 1981 by the University of Sussex as a rebirth of the original 1937 Mass Observation, its founders' aim was to document the social history of Britain by recruiting volunteers to write about their lives and opinions. Still growing, it is one of the most important sources available for qualitative social data in the UK.
"Moving Here explores, records and illustrates why people came to England over the last 200 years and what their experiences were and continue to be. It offers free access, for personal and educational use, to an online catalogue of versions of original material related to migration history from local, regional and national archives, libraries and museums."
This collection provides complete FCO 7 and FCO 82 files for the entire period of Richard Nixon’s presidency. Top-level Anglo-American discussions and briefing papers dominate these papers. There is also material on social conditions, domestic reforms, trade, culture and the environment.
A detailed primary source for the United Kingdom, its colonies and the wider world. Includes searchable full text; displays page images with tables, maps, illustrations. Now includes the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st Century and House of Lords Parliamentary Papers. Searchable full text; displays page images with tables, maps, illustrations. Encompasses all areas of social, political, economic and foreign policy, showing how issues were explored and legislation was formed.
Currently includes:
Public Petitions 1833-1918
Bills and Acts 1695-current
Command Papers 1802-current
House of Commons Papers 1715-current
House of Lords Papers 1714-1910
Hansard 1803-2005
Journals 1688-1834
Debates 1774-1805
Histories and Proceedings 1660-1743
Includes manuscript and rare printed material as well as photographs, ephemera, and memorabilia. The interactive chronology, extensive visual resources, and video footage provide valuable contextual background to the materials included in this collection.
Discover what life was like for the poorest communities in Victorian Britain, and explore the government policy, social reform movements and philanthropic efforts of charitable institutions that sought to alleviate poverty.
The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913. 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.
Provides a comprehensive record of the history of the Virginia Company of London, 1606-1624, documenting the founding and economic development of the Virginia colony, relations between colonists and indigenous peoples, and early trade between Britain and America.
Provides a geographical survey of Britain from 1801 to 2001, including census reports, historical maps, election results, and full texts of British travel writing.
An online collection of nearly 1,800 broadsides printed and posted in Scotland between 1650 and 1910, on politics, crime, romance, royalty, humor, etc. Search by keyword or year, or browse by title or subject.
This site is dedicated to primary sources about the workhouse (primarily of Victorian Britain) -- its buildings, inmates, staff and administrators, even its poets -- a mixture of architecture, economics, social history, politics, and literature.
Images of Registers produced by the Archbishops of York, 1225-1650. The registers are a valuable, and in many cases, unexploited source for ecclesiastical, political, social, local and family history - covering periods of war, famine, political strife and religious reformation in the Archdiocese of York and the wider Northern Province.
