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British and Irish History Resources

Historical Abstracts
World History except Canada and the U.S. 

International Medieval Bibliography (IMB) Online
Medieval Europe, the Middle East, and Africa

ITER: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance
Medieval and Renaissance Europe

JSTOR
World history

Handbooks

Dictionary of British History

Containing more than 3,800 authoritative entries written by over 100 specialist contributors, this dictionary describes the people and events that have shaped and defined domestic, political, social, and cultural life in Britain since 55 BC.

Oxford Companion to Irish History

A comprehensive and authoritative guide to all aspects of Ireland. Written by a team of 91 renowned experts in the field of Irish studies, the Companion's 1,800 A-Z entries explore Irish history from earliest times to the early 21st century.

Biographical Dictionaries

Dictionary of Irish Biography

A definitive collection of over 9,000 biographies of Irish men and women issued by the Royal Irish Academy in collaboration with Cambridge University Press.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Reference work providing over 50,000 specially-written signed biographies of the men and women who shaped all aspects of the British past, from the earliest times to 4 years prior to the current date. Coverage is from 4 BCE to 2006.

Medieval or Middle Ages (500-1500)

Manchester Medieval Sources

Manchester Medieval Sources contains hundreds of original medieval history documents compiled for the teaching and study of history.

Middle English Compendium

The Middle English Compendium includes three major Middle English electronic resources: an electronic version of the Middle English Dictionary (MED), a HyperBibliography of Middle English prose and verse, based on the MED bibliographies, and a Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse.

16th & 17th Centuries

Early English Books Online (EEBO)

Provides digital access to the full-text and full-images of printed books listed in Pollard and Redgrave’s Short Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, & Ireland and of English Books Printed Abroad, 1475-1640 (STC I) and in Donald Wing’s Short Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and British America, and of English Books Printed in Other Countries, 1641-1700 (STC II). EEBO contains the full-text and full-images of the Thomason Tracts, a collection of 22,000 broadsides ranging from political speeches to religious tracts to newspaper articles from the period 1640-1661. EEBO includes the Early English Books Tract Supplement containing broadsides, pamphlets and scrapbooks primarily from the British Library.

The full text is searchable for about 60,000 of the 125,000 books, identified by: TCP Full Text.

State Papers Online

The largest digital manuscript archive of its kind, State Papers Online, 1509-1714 gathers together 16th- and 17th- century British State Papers and links these rare historical manuscripts to their fully text-searchable Calendars. As such, it radically transforms and simplifies the process of research, offering Early Modern scholars unprecedented access to the behind the scenes workings of the Tudor and Stuart governments. State Papers Online: Eighteenth Century, 1714-1782 represents the final section of the State Papers series from the National Archives in the UK before the series was closed and replaced by the Home Office and Foreign Office series in 1782. Concordia also has access to the Irish Manuscript Commission series of Calendars of State Papers Ireland. 

18th Century

British Periodicals

Consisits of more than 460 full-text, digitized periodicals published between 1681 and 1920, including the Westminster Review (1852-1914), the Edinburgh Review (1802-1929, New Annual Register (1780-1920) and Bentley's Miscellany (1837-1868). Covers British, European and world history.

Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)

Includes every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in Great Britain during the eighteenth century, along with thousands of important works from the Americas.

Eighteenth Century Journals I & II

Part of the Adam Matthew Digital Collection, Eighteenth Century Journals I is a digital library consisting of 95 periodicals from the Hope Collection at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Coverage is from 1693 to 1793. Eighteenth Century Journals II consists of 17th and 18th century newspapers and periodicals from the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Coverage is from 1699 to 1812. Access to Eighteenth Century Journals I & II is provided through a Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) agreement. Coverage: c. 1685-1812. Also known as 18th century journals.

Empire Online

Empire Online is a collection of original documents, including maps, manuscripts, pamphlets, paintings, drawings and rare books, in colonial history. Thematic sections include scholarly essays on: Cultural Contacts, Literature, The Visual Empire; Exhibitions; Religion; Race, Class, Colonialism and Imperialism. This is an Adam Matthew Digital collection.

19th Century

British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries

Approximately 100,000 pages of material representing the personal writings of women from England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, spanning more than 400 years. Includes letters and diaries of literary women such as Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte. Topics include Australia, actresses, China, convent life, courtesans, court life, criminals, families, festivals and fairs, hospital work, literary society and life, missionaries, Palestine, political life, educators, railroads, scientists, social reformers, voyages, world tours, women soldiers and sailors and more. Coverage is from 1500 to 1945.

British Periodicals

Consisits of more than 460 full-text, digitized periodicals published between 1681 and 1920, including the Westminster Review (1852-1914), the Edinburgh Review (1802-1929, New Annual Register (1780-1920) and Bentley's Miscellany (1837-1868). Covers British, European and world history.

Empire Online

Empire Online is a collection of original documents, including maps, manuscripts, pamphlets, paintings, drawings and rare books, in colonial history. Thematic sections include scholarly essays on: Cultural Contacts, Literature, The Visual Empire; Exhibitions; Religion; Race, Class, Colonialism and Imperialism. This is an Adam Matthew Digital collection.

Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO)

Digitized collections of primary sources from the 'long' nineteenth century, currently including the following archives: British Politics and Society; European Literature, 1790-1840: The Corvey Collection; Asia and the West: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange; British Theatre, Music, and the Arts: High and Popular Culture.

20th Century 

Mass Observation

Mass-Observation was a pioneering social research organisation whose papers and research provide insights into the cultural and social history of Britain from 1937 to 1972. Publications, reports, diaries and papers from investigators and volunteers document everyday life in Britain. Concordia's subscription is to Sections I, II and III.

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