LibGuides: Primary Sources: World History: England / United Kingdom

England / United Kingdom

17th-19th Century British Religious, Political, and Legal Tracts
Digital images of 17th, 18th, and 19th-century British pamphlets dealing with legal, political, religious, and other controversial topics of the day. From the University of Missouri Digital Library.
Annals of the Famine in Ireland*
The author, Asenath Hatch Nicholson, was an involved eyewitness to the great Irish famine in 1847-1848.
Bracton Online
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.
British History Online
A digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles.
British Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons
1800-1900. British House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, a detailed primary source for the United Kingdom, its colonies and the wider world. Searchable full text; displays page images with tables, maps, illustrations.
CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts
Texts that Irish literary and historical culture, from the medieval period to the 20th century.
Early Photographically Illustrated Books from the British Library
Victorian Britain as captured in almost 1,500 early photographic prints, including works by distinguished pioneers of the medium
EuroDocs
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.
Gazettes Online
Digital archive of the London (1665- ), Edinburgh (1797- ), and Belfast (1922- ) Gazettes.
Hanover Historical Texts Project
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.
Holinshed Project
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.

U.K. Parliamentary Papers (Proquest) This link opens in a new window
Parliamentary Papers are the most detailed primary source for 19th-century Britain, its colonies and the wider world. They are the working documents of government for all areas of social, political, economic and foreign policy. They influenced public opinion and social and political philosophy, and provided a forum for the ideas of hundreds of thinkers, among them Jenner, Arnold, Trollope, Mill, Faraday, Babbage, Telford and Brunel.

Internet Library of Early Journals
Digital editions of six 18th- and 19th-century journals: Gentleman's Magazine, The Annual Register, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Notes and Queries, The Builder, and Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.
Journals of the House of Commons
The official record of the House. Includes volumes 1-12 (1547-1699) & 85 (1830).
Journals of the House of Lords
The official record of proceedings in the House (1509-1764, 1832-4).
Legislation.gov.uk
Includes all legislation since 1988, as well as most primary legislation since 1267.
Mass Observation Online
Archive of social survey project on many aspects of British society, collected 1937-1972. Includes essays, file reports, diaries, day surveys, photographs and links to other sites.
Moving Here: 200 Years of Migration to England
"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."
National Archives (U.K.)
List of online exhibitions; browse by name or historical period. Includes selections dating from 1066 through the 20th century.
Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913
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.
Victorian Times Project
Examines social, political and economic developments in Victorian Britain (1837-1901).
Views of the Famine
Presents images, cartoons and articles from several Irish and British publications concerning the Irish potato famine.
Vision of Britain Through Time
Provides a geographical survey of Britain from 1801 to 2001, including census reports, historical maps, election results, and full texts of British travel writing.
Word on the Street
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.
The Workhouse
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.