Getting Started
This guide contains online resources developed to support research in the history of Great Britain and Ireland. Resources have been placed in the category that best fits them. Be sure to explore widely as materials pertinent to your inquiry may be listed in categories that overlap or are adjacent to the most relevant ones.
Key Resources
These core online bibliographic indexes and reference works for this field are listed in order of breadth and relevance.
- Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new windowCitations to articles on the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada, which are covered in America: history and life.) Indexes more than 2000 journals worldwide.
[Coverage: 1967-present] - Bibliography of British and Irish History This link opens in a new windowThe Bibliography of British and Irish History provides bibliographic data on historical writing dealing with the British Isles, and with the British Empire and Commonwealth, during all periods for which written documentation is available - from 55BC to the present. It is the successor to the Royal Historical Society Bibliography of British and Irish History, available online from 2002 to 2009.
- C19 : The Nineteenth Century Index This link opens in a new window
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The principal index to nineteenth-century books, periodicals, official documents, newspapers and archives (primarily US and UK). The C19 Index incorporates the Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue, The Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals, Poole's Index to Nineteenth Century Periodicals, Periodicals Index Online and more to provide coverage of over 1.5 million books and official publications, 71,000 archival collections and 16.3 million articles published in over 2,500 journals, magazines and newspapers. - Dictionary of National Biography This link opens in a new windowFull text scholarly biographic dictionary of individuals who have shaped the history of Great Britain from the the fourth century BC to present day. The Dictionary offers concise, up-to-date biographies written by named, specialist authors. Please note: There is a 1 user limit. If you cannot access this resource, please try again later.
Additional Bibliographic Indexes
- International Medieval Bibliography (IMB) This link opens in a new windowProvides the most comprehensive, current bibliography of international scholarly literature in Medieval Studies available.
[Coverage: 1967-present; updated quarterly] - Oxford Bibliographies Online This link opens in a new window
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Several of the topical collection in this set including the following contain valuable critical bibliographic essays on aspects British and Irish History.
Atlantic History
Renaissance and Reformation
Medieval Studies
Childhood Studies
International Law
International Relations
Military History
Victorian Literature - Military & Government Collection This link opens in a new windowIndexes and abstracts 400 journals pertaining to all branches of the military and government; full text is available for close to 300 titles, including some U.S. government documents.
- British History Online This link opens in a new window
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This is a gateway site to primary and secondary source materials on Medieval and Early Modern Britain. It is organized both topically and geographically. It includes primary source material published by the History of Parliament Trust, the Centre for Metropolitan History and the Institute of Historical Research, among others.