European History

Pamphlets were an important means of public debate in the 19th century, covering key political, social, technological, and environmental issues.

This database contains 1.2 million pages of periodicals published in Great Britain from 1800-1900. It includes publications on women, children, leisure and sport, humor, and material regarding the expansion of the British empire.

Collections of historical documents organized by topic. Click on "Browse Collections" to see topics.

French-language literary, religious, philosophical, political, and scientific works from the 13th through the 20th centuries. Includes Pamphlets and Periodicals of the French Revolution of 1848.

Comprehensive digital library containing images of artworks, photographs, architecture, decorative arts, rare books, and items from popular culture.

Border and Migration Studies brings together resources that explore significant border areas around the world, and related themes such as transnational migration, human trafficking, and border enforcement. The collection includes a mixture of previously published and original material, including monographs, archival documents, and videos.

A digitized collection of manuscripts of British authors dating from roughly 1120 to 1900. Contains poems, plays, novels, diaries, journals, correspondence, and other papers.

Access to Hansard, the Official Report of debates in Parliament.

Full text for nearly 500 British periodicals published from the 17th through the early 20th centuries. Topics covered include literature, philosophy, history, science, the fine arts, archaeology, architecture, and the social sciences.

Cambridge Archive Editions Online is the first-ever digital presentation of the exceptionally well-known and respected series of British archival reprints, known as Archive Editions (UK). Britain's rich history with Middle Eastern countries via its East India Company trade routes up through the Persian Gulf & beyond is revealed in the 100+ individual titles on countries in the Middle Eastern collection. The Slavic & Balkan collection delivers a good introduction to the Balkan region, particularly concerning political & ethnic boundary issues. Titles in the East/Southeast Asian collection deliver insight with historic political & economic reports. All volumes are entirely composed of primary source material, from the British Foreign Record Office & other official British archival repositories.

This full-text digital collection is based primarily on unique manuscript materials held at the library of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), the British Library in London, and supplemented by additional sources from seven institutes, such as the Cambridge University Library. This project provides a wide variety of original source material detailing China's interaction with the West from Macartney's first Embassy to China in 1793 to the Nixon/Heath visits to China in 1972-74. In addition, there are over 400 color paintings, maps and drawings by English and Chinese artists, as well as many photographs, sketches and ephemeral items depicting Chinese people, customs, and events.

This collection represents thousands of papers that were presented to the Privy Council and the Board of Trade between 1574-1757, and that relate to the governance of, and activities in, the American, Canadian and West Indian colonies of England. Colonial State Papers also includes the Calendar of State Papers Colonial – an advanced bibliographic search tool providing over 40,000 records of bibliographic description for documents from many collections, including those of CO 1. Calendar of State Papers Colonial consists of bibliographic entries along with transcriptions, extracts and abstracts, in fully keyed XML.

Reproduces online in searchable, PDF page images important British Foreign Office and Colonial Office documents on Africa from the start of the historical modern British colonial enterprise in Africa through the first years of African national independence. Part of Archives Direct.

The collection covers Middle Eastern history from 1839-1969; countries included are: Afghanistan, Egypt, Sudan, Persia, Suez Canal, Turkey, Jordan, Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, and Syria. The series originated out of a need for the British Government to preserve all of the most important papers generated by the Foreign and Colonial Offices. Part of Archives Direct.

Full-text collection of theological writings, biblical commentaries, confessional documents and polemical treatises written by more than 300 Protestant authors.

Full-text collection of 16th- and 17th-century Catholic papal and synodal decrees, catechisms and inquisitorial manuals, biblical commentaries, theological treatises and systems, liturgical writings, saints' lives and devotional works.

Features page images of almost every work printed in the British Isles and North America, as well as works in English printed elsewhere from 1470-1700. From the first book printed in English through to the ages of Spenser, Shakespeare and of the English Civil War, EEBO's content draws on authoritative and respected short-title catalogues of the period and features a substantial number of text transcriptions.

Records of the British East India Company, digitized from originals held by the British Library. Module I (Trade, Governance, and Empire, 1600-1947) includes letters, meeting notes of the Council of India, and reports of early expeditions to South and East Asia. Module II covers Factory Records from South Asia and South-East Asia from 1595 to 1830. Module III covers Factory Records for China, Japan, and the Middle East from 1608 to 1870.

Digital reproductions of every page of significant English- and foreign-language titles printed in Great Britain during the 18th century, along with thousands of important works from the Americas and elsewhere. Searches the full text of books, pamphlets, essays, and other non-periodical materials including the complete works of major 18th-century writers.

This resource brings together manuscript, printed and visual primary source materials for the study of 'Empire' and its theories, practices and consequences. The materials span across the last five centuries and are accompanied by a host of secondary learning resources including scholarly essays, maps and an interactive chronology. Collections include: Section I: Cultural Contacts, 1492-1969. Section II: Empire Writing & the Literature of Empire. Section III: The Visible Empire. Section IV: Religion & Empire. Section V: Race, Class, Imperialism and Colonialism, 1607-2007.

Online access to paintings, music, films and books from Europe's galleries, libraries, archives and museums.

Includes full-text translations of foreign radio and television broadcasts as well as selected foreign news, periodical articles and government statements. Search by geographic region, article type or publication title. Browse "Events" to see chronological coverage of topics of interest. Coverage is continued by the World News Connection database.

Foreign Office files for China, 1919 - 1980 makes available the complete British Foreign Office files dealing with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan for much of the Twentieth Century. The documents combine eyewitness accounts, weekly and monthly summaries, annual reviews, reports and analyses with a synthesis of newspaper articles and conference reports, economic assessments and synopses. Part of Archives Direct.

These three collections consist of the British Government's files on the countries of South Asia from shortly before Indian partition and independence up to 1980. As well as tracing the international connections between India, the Commonwealth and the wider world, this collection offers unique insights into political movements and cross-border tensions that were central to the modern state's preoccupation with stability and national unification. Part of Archives Direct.

Digitized files from Foreign and Commonwealth Office departments concerned with the Middle East, as well as relevant selections from Prime Minister's Office files and Defence Intelligence files. The documents include diplomatic correspondence, dispatches from UK ambassadors and envoys, meeting minutes, and maps. Module I covers 1971-1974, including the 1973 Arab-Israeli war and oil crisis. Module II covers 1974-1978. Module III covers 1979-1981, including regime change in Iran and the start of the Iraq-Iran War. Part of Archives Direct.

Digital library of French and francophone culture maintained by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Contains electronic texts, images, maps, animation, and sound files of French and other publications in history, literature, science, philosophy, law, economics, and political science. Almost all "classic" works of French literature are represented.

Portal to Google's massive library digitization project. Depending on copyright restrictions, you may either see full text or limited parts of books (tables of contents, book covers, sample chapters, etc.).

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.

This collection includes over 200,000 House of Commons sessional papers from 1715 to the present, with supplementary material back to 1688. HCPP delivers page images and searchable full text for each paper, along with detailed indexing. Access is available for the 18th-20th century collections.

Drawing upon the wonderfully rich and diverse manuscript collections of the National Library of Scotland this resource will be of great value to all those teaching or researching into the History of South Asia between the foundation of the East India Company in 1615 and the granting of independence to India and Pakistan in 1947.

The Internet Archive offers permanent access for researchers, historians and scholars to historical collections that exist in digital format. It includes texts, audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages. Includes Project Gutenberg.

This database includes over 21,000 legal treatises from the 19th and early 20th centuries on American and British law.

Collection of digital facsimile images of 61,000 works of literature on economics and business published from 1450 through 1945. Covers commerce, finance, social conditions, politics, trade and transport.
Includes:
Part I: The Goldsmiths'-Kress Collection, 1450-1850
Part II, 1851-1914

Medieval Family Life contains full-color images of the original medieval manuscripts that comprise the Paston, Cely, Plumpton, Stonor, and Armburgh family letter collections, along with full-text searchable transcripts from printed editions. Also includes family trees, chronology, a map, and a glossary.

Provides an extensive collection of manuscript materials for the study of medieval travel writing in fact and in fantasy. The main focus is accounts of journeys to the Holy Land, India and China. The core of the material is a magnificent collection of medieval manuscripts from libraries across Europe and dating from the 13th to the 16th centuries.

A multi-year global digitization and publishing program focusing on primary source collections of the nineteenth century, NCCO is comprised of numerous collections, including a variety of material types--monographs, newspapers, pamphlets, manuscripts, ephemera, maps, statistics, and more--in one cross-searchable location. Collections now available are:

Asia and the West
British Politics and Society
British Theatre, Music and Literature: High & Popular Culture
Children's Literature and Childhood
Europe and Africa, Colonialism and Culture
European Literature, the Corvey Collection, 1790-1840
Maps and Travel Literature
Photography
Religion, Reform, and Society
Science, Technology, and Medicine, Parts I & II
Women and Transnational Networks

Search this website for debates, statements, bills, and questions by Members of Parliament from 1803 - present.

Search this website for debates, statements, bills, and questions by the Lords from 1803 - present.

Provides scholarly complete editions of classics (or selections from classics) in philosophy, literature, political science and economics. Examples of authors include Aristotle, Machiavelli, Shelley, Mill, Hume, Nietzsche, Bronte and Adam Smith. In English translation and/or the original language.

The Picture Post Historical Archive, 1938-1957 consists of the complete, fully searchable facsimile archive of The Picture Post, the iconic newspaper published in Britain from 1938-1957 that defined the style of photojournalism in the 20th century. The Picture Post Historical Archive provides humorous and light-hearted snapshots of daily life to the serious and history defining moments of domestic and international affairs.

An archival research resource containing a vast collection of rare magazines by and for servicemen and women of all nations during the First World War. Over 1,500 periodicals written and illustrated by serving members of the armed forces and associated welfare organisations published between 1914 and the end of 1919 are included. Magazines have been scanned cover-to-cover, in full colour or greyscale, and with granular indexing of all articles and specialist indexing of publications.

Based on Joseph Sabin's landmark bibliography, this collection contains works about the Americas published throughout the world from 1500 to the early 1900's. Included are books, pamphlets, serials and other documents that provide original accounts of exploration, trade, colonialism, slavery and abolition, the western movement, Native Americans, military actions and much more. With over 6 million pages from 29,000 works, this collection is a cornerstone in the study of the western hemisphere.

Slavery and Anti-Slavery includes documents from the United States and Europe, as well as other parts of the world. In addition to newspaper collections and books published in the antebellum era, Slavery and Anti-Slavery contains documents from several archives originally available only on microfilm. Includes:
Part I: Debates over Slavery and Abolition
Part II: Slave Trade in the Atlantic World
Part III: The Institution of Slavery
Part IV: Age of Emancipation

Journals, books, census reports, film booklets, and other documents covering the 18th century to the mid-20th century, principally from the Bengal region of India.

Online collection of eyewitness accounts from the world's oldest Holocaust museum, founded by Alfred Wiener as the 'Jewish Central Information Office' in 1939. Contains searchable personal accounts of life in Nazi Germany, along with photographs, propaganda materials such as school text books, limited circulation publications and rare serials. Part of Archives Unbound.

This resource brings together hundreds of accounts by women of their travels across the globe from the early 19th century to the late 20th century. A wide variety of forms of travel writing are included, ranging from unique manuscripts, diaries and correspondence to drawings, guidebooks and photographs. The resource includes a slideshow with hundreds of items of visual material, including postcards, sketches and photographs.

Over 53,000 video testimonies from survivors and witnesses to genocide from the USC Shoah Foundation. Principally interviews with Jewish survivors of the Holocaust, with additional testimonies of other 20th/21st century genocide attempts. Users must establish a free account for access.

A collection of primary source materials drawn from more than 300 repositories. The collection includes conference proceedings, reports of international women's organizations, publications of women's non-governmental organizations, and letters, diaries, and memoirs of international women activists dating as far back as the middle nineteenth century. Covered topics include war and peace, poverty, child labor, literacy, disease prevention, women's rights and gender inequality.

Letters, diaries, and other writings providing a feminist perspective on the Ottoman Empire, French colonial Africa, U.S. administration of the Philippines and Panama Canal Zone, and other modern imperial movements. Can be cross-searched with Women and Social Movements International.

UNESCO's World Digital Library (WDL) makes available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world.

Coverage extends from the 15th to 20th century, providing information about the indigenous peoples of the region, the Conquest (la Conquista), colonial rule, religion, struggles for independence, and political, economic, and social progress and issues in newly independent nations. The archive is made up of more than 1.3 million pages of historical material across 33 archival collections from the United States and Europe. The historical collections provide original manuscripts, signed letters, expedition records, reports, maps, diaries, descriptions of voyages, ephemera, and more. Formerly known as World Scholar: Latin America and the Caribbean.

Gathered by Reverend Charles Burney, 17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers is a collection of the newspapers and news pamphlets primarily published in London, with some English provincial, Irish and Scottish papers, and examples from the American colonies. The original Burney volumes are now in a poor physical state and only available through restricted use.

Offers more than 700 historical American newspapers from 23 states and the District of Columbia printed between 1690 and 1876. Focusing largely on the 18th century, Series 1 is based on Clarence S. Brigham's "History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820" and other authoritative bibliographies.

Fully searchable complete facsimile edition of The Economist from 1843 to 2006. Includes full-color images, multiple search indexes, topic and area supplements and surveys, a gallery of front covers and a selection of exportable financial tables.

Provides cross-searching capabilities for several Gale digital collections, including 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers, 19th Century British Library Newspapers, 19th Century UK Periodicals, Illustrated London News Historical Archive 1842-2003, Times Digital Archive 1785-1985, Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive 1902-2006, Picture Post Historical Archive 1938-1957.

Latin American Newspapers Series 1 offers unprecedented coverage of the people, issues and events that shaped this vital region between 1805 and 1922. Through eyewitness reporting, editorials, legislative information, letters, poetry, advertisements, matrimony notices and obituaries, this unique collection chronicles the evolution of Latin American culture and daily life over two centuries. Expanded and enhanced by Complements: Latin American Newspapers, Series 2 (search separately)

The Picture Post Historical Archive, 1938-1957 consists of the complete, fully searchable facsimile archive of The Picture Post, the iconic newspaper published in Britain from 1938-1957 that defined the style of photojournalism in the 20th century. The Picture Post Historical Archive provides humorous and light-hearted snapshots of daily life to the serious and history defining moments of domestic and international affairs.

Searchable, electronic version of The Times, Britain's newspaper of record, essential for primary source research in British history, politics, and culture. Provides a complete full-text and full-image archive of The Times from 1785 to 1985.

The Financial Times Historical Archive (1888-2016) is the complete searchable facsimile run of the world's most authoritative daily business newspaper. Every article and advertisement ever printed in the paper, since it was first published in 1888, can be searched and browsed individually and page by page. This is an essential, comprehensive and unbiased research tool for everyone studying public affairs, and economic and financial history of the last 120 years.

The 19th Century British Newspapers collection contains full runs of 48 newspapers specially selected by the British Library to best represent nineteenth century Britain. This new collection includes national and regional newspapers, as well as those from both established country or university towns and the new industrial powerhouses of the manufacturing Midlands, as well as Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Special attention was paid to include newspapers that helped lead particular political or social movements such as Reform, Chartism, and Home Rule. The penny papers aimed at the working and clerical classes are also present in the collection.

More than 140 newspapers from 22 islands, including Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominica, Grenada, Guadaloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Nevis, Puerto Rico, St. Bartholomew, St. Christopher, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Tobago, Trinidad, and the Virgin Islands.

A digital archive of world's first fully illustrated weekly newspaper, covering 1842 to 2003. Areas covered include politics, social history, fashion, theatre, media, literature, advertising, graphic design, and genealogy.