History: Historical Sources

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Historical Texts (formerly called JISC Historic Books) contains the full text or page images of books published before 1800. The database draws together content from Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) and Early English Books Online (EEBO). ECCO is a digital collection of works published in Great Britain and its colonies during the eighteenth century. The collection includes books in English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Latin, Spanish and Welsh. EEBO includes the scanned images and (increasingly) full-text digital versions of books published in English, Welsh, Latin and other languages up to 1700. The database also includes Nineteenth Century books from the British Library collection and the UK Medical Heritage Library (UKMHL).

English Historical Documents contains over 5,500 historical documents dating from between 500 and 1914. A further new volume will be added soon covering between 1914 and 1957. In addition to the chronological volumes the site contains American Colonial Documents to 1776.

Mass Observation was a pioneering social research organisation founded in 1937 to record everyday life in Britain. This online resource contains primary material gathered by Mass Observation from 1937-1967, including diaries and questionnaires sent in by its panel of volunteers, and research gathered by paid investigators in the form of File reports and Topic collections.

Launched in 1981 by the University of Sussex as a rebirth of the original 1937 Mass Observation, its 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. This collection consists of the directives (questionnaires) sent out by Mass Observation in the 1980s and 1990s and the thousands of responses to them from the hundreds of Mass Observers. Topics covered are wide-ranging, from the deeply personal (sex, family) to everyday life (shopping, holidays), to global affairs.

The Picture Post Historical Archive comprises the complete archive of the Picture Post from its first issue in 1938 to its last in 1957 - all digitized from originals in full colour. Picture Post provides a fascinating snapshot of British life from the 1930s to the 1950s, with thousands of photos of ordinary people doing ordinary things.

This resource contains digitizations of popular culture collections from the U.S. and U.K. between 1950 to 1975. These original archival materials are from various libraries and archives. Topics include student protests, civil rights, consumerism, and the Vietnam War. The collection includes pamphlets, letters, government files, eye witness accounts, underground magazines, visual and video materials and ephemera and memorabilia. Part II contains additional material, such as music, press kits, mail order catalogues, advertising proofs, additional photos from the Mirrorpix archives, and documents on student unrest and the Troubles in Northern Ireland from the National Archives.

The Internet History Sourcebooks provide copy-permitted historical texts for educational use.

Migration to New Worlds explores the movement of peoples from Great Britain, Ireland, mainland Europe and Asia to the New World and Australasia. It concentrates on the period 1800 to 1924 and includes primary source material such as: Colonial Office files on emigration; Diaries and travel journals; Ship logs and plans; Printed literature; Objects; Watercolours and Oral histories. Carefully selected secondary research aids are also included.

Contains digital scans of OS paper map sheets including all available County Series maps at 1:2,500 and 1:10560 scales published between 1843 and 1939 and all available National Grid maps at 1:1,250, 1:2,500 and 1:10560/10,000 scales published from 1945 and before the introduction of the Ordnance Survey's digital Land-Line product.

This site provides access to collections at the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, the National Library of Wales, the New York Public Library and several major European libraries etc. At present the date coverage is between the 1570s and the 1950s.

Hansard is the official report of all parliamentary debates (Commons and Lords). This website gives access to Hansard itself; by volume, just the Lords sittings, Commons sittings or Westminster Hall sittings. You can also view Written Answers, Written Statements, Lords reports or Grand Committee reports. Coverage from 1800 to the present.

The Digital National Security Archive gives access to declassified U.S. government documents, providing primary source material to advance research in twentieth and twenty-first century history, politics, and international relations. The digitized documents are made available in over 40 topic-based collections, with two new collections added each year.