Research Guides: History Resources: Europe & United Kingdom

Europe & United Kingdom: Primary Sources

Europe Sources

Archives Unbound This link opens in a new window
Europe and UK related sources included.
Cambridge Archive Editions Online This link opens in a new window
Digitized historical documents from the National Archives (UK) covering the national heritage and political development of many countries in the Middle East, the Balkans, the Caucasus, and Russia.
Digital Collections at the Center for Research Libraries This link opens in a new window
Newspapers, journals, documents, archives, and other traditional and digital resources. Most materials acquired are from outside the United States, many from Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Latin America.
Access Note: CRL materials should be requested via an interlibrary loan request.
EIU: Economist Intelligence Unit Country Reports Archive This link opens in a new window
Covering almost 200 countries, each report presents detailed statistics alongside expert commentary and forecasting from the EIU’s analysts. This database presents the historical reports up to 1995, with all data from the statistical tables fully captured and downloadable in spreadsheet form. It is a unique archive of analysis and explanation of political, economic and commercial developments, together with historical statistical data.
History Vault This link opens in a new window
Digitized letters, papers, photographs, scrapbooks, financial records, diaries, and other primary source materials.

• American Indians and the American West
• American Politics and Society
• Civil Rights and the Black Freedom Struggle
• International Relations and Military Conflicts
• Southern Life, Slavery, and the Civil War
• Women's Studies
• Workers and Labor Unions
Historic Documents This link opens in a new window
Primary sources covering current events around the world.
Coverage: 1972 to present.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Large and important archive for academic journals, books, and primary sources in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Many journals do not have current issues.
PARES: Portal de Archivos Españoles This link opens in a new window
Documents on Spain and its colonies in Spanish archives, including the Archivo General de Indias, the Archivo General de Simancas, and other historical archives. Includes images of the Spanish Civil War (Archivo rojo).
Coverage: Historic through Spanish Civil War.
Socialism on Film This link opens in a new window
This collection of films from the communist world reveals war, history, current affairs, culture and society as seen through the socialist lens. It spans most of the twentieth century and covers countries such as the USSR, Vietnam, China, Korea, much of Eastern Europe, the GDR, Britain and Cuba.
Visual History Archive (USC Shoah Foundation) This link opens in a new window
Streaming video collection of primary source testimonies of survivors and witnesses of crimes against humanity.

United Kingdom & Ireland Sources

EEBO - Early English Books Online This link opens in a new window
Digital facsimile page images of virtually every work printed in English from 1473-1700.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) This link opens in a new window
Digital images of books published during the 18th Century in the areas of history, geography, social sciences, religion and philosophy, general reference, fine arts, literature and language, law, medicine, science and technology.
Coverage: 1701-1800.
Cecil Papers This link opens in a new window
Correspondence of William Cecil, Lord Burghley and his son, Robert, the 1st Earl of Salisbury. Calendar of the Manuscripts of the Marquess of Salisbury. Descriptive records include transcriptions, extracts, and summary abstracts.
Colonial State Papers This link opens in a new window
Offers access to hand-written documents and bibliographic records on early American history, British colonial history, Caribbean history, maritime history, Atlantic trade, plantations, and slavery.
State Papers Online: Early Modern Government in Britain and Europe This link opens in a new window
British state papers and government documents.

SPO, 1509-1714 encompasses the 16th- and 17th-century State Papers Domestic, Foreign, Scotland, Ireland and Registers of the Privy Council from The National Archives, Kew, UK with some series from the British Library.

SPO, Eighteenth Century, 1714-1782 covers the 18th century from the accession of the Hanoverian monarchs to the British throne in 1714 to the end of the State Papers series in 1782.
Coverage: 1509-1782.
Age of Exploration This link opens in a new window
Explore five centuries of journeys across the globe, scientific discoveries, the expansion of European colonialism, conflict over territories and trade routes, the discovery of the Northwest and Northeast Passages, and the race for the Poles. Features an in-depth interactive visualization of over 50 influential voyages.
Coverage: 1410-1920.
Church Missionary Society Periodicals This link opens in a new window
Publications from the Church Missionary Society, the South American Missionary Society, and the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society that document missionary work and provide a unique perspective on global history and cultural encounters.
Coverage: 1804-2009.
Early Modern England: Society, Culture & Everyday Life, 1500-1700 This link opens in a new window
Primary sources that document how prominent families to 'ordinary' people experienced everyday working, family, religious, and administrative life across societies and regions in England.
Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
Newspapers, books, manuscripts, maps, and photographs. Simultaneously search: 17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers, 19th Century U.S. Newspapers, Sunday Times (London), Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO), Making of the Modern World, Times Literary Supplement, and Times Digital Archive, Financial Times (London).
Eighteenth Century Journals This link opens in a new window
Archive of rare historical journals that examine a variety of topical issues such as colonial life, provincial and rural affairs, the French and American revolutions, reviews of literature and fashion throughout Europe, political debates, and London coffee house gossip and discussion.
Coverage: 1685-1835.
Empire Online This link opens in a new window
Manuscript, printed, and visual primary source materials for the study of 'Empire' and its theories, practices and consequences, predominantly from the British Library. Secondary resources include scholarly essays, maps and an interactive chronology.
European Views of the Americas This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive guide to printed records about the Americas written in Europe before 1750 from European Americana: A Chronological Guide to Works Printed In Europe Relating to the Americas, 1493-1750. Covers the history of European exploration and portrayals of Native American peoples. A wide range of subject areas are covered; natural disasters, disease outbreaks, slavery, etc.
First World War This link opens in a new window
Covers an array of international perspectives by showcasing intimate personal narratives, wartime propaganda and recruitment material, the truly global reach of the conflict, and the role of women in war through various documentary and visual forms.
Coverage: 1914-1920s.
Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports This link opens in a new window
FBIS Daily Reports issued by the U.S. Government, includes translations of broadcasts, news agency transmissions, newspapers, periodicals, and government statements from nations around the world. Current coverage includes 1941-1996.
Global Commodities: Trade, Exploration and Cultural Exchange This link opens in a new window
Visual, manuscript, and printed materials explore the history of fifteen key commodities that have been transported and consumed around the world for hundreds of years, transforming societies, global trading operations, habits of consumption, and cultural practices.
Coverage: 18th - 20th century.
Grand Tour This link opens in a new window
Travel writings and works of some of Britain’s greatest artists, writers, and thinkers, revealing how interaction with European culture shaped their creative and intellectual sensibilities. Also includes many writings by forgotten or anonymous travelers, including many women, whose daily experiences offer a vivid insight into the experience and practicalities of travel across the centuries.
Coverage: 1550-1850.
Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance This link opens in a new window
Bibliography of articles, essays, books and reviews. Also: a directory of scholars, an online edition of Paul Oskar Kristeller's Iter Italicum, access to the journal Renaissance Quarterly, and the Baptisteria Sacra.
John Johnson Collection - An Archive of Printed Ephemera This link opens in a new window
Ephemera about everyday life in Britain in the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Categories include Nineteenth-Century Entertainment, the Booktrade, Popular Prints, Crimes, Murders and Executions, and Advertising.
London Low Life This link opens in a new window
Rare books, ephemera, maps, periodicals, and other materials relating to 18th, 19th and early 20th century London. Chronology, interactive maps, essays, online galleries and links. Fast literature, street ephemera (posters, advertising, playbills, ballads and broadsides), penny fiction, cartoons, Tallis’ Street Views, chapbooks, Old London Street Cries, Swell’s guides to London prostitution, gambling and drinking dens, tourist guides, and topography, manuscripts of George Gissing.
Macmillan Cabinet Papers This link opens in a new window
Cabinet conclusions (minutes) and memoranda of Harold Macmillan’s government, plus selected minutes and memoranda of policy committees. Casts new light on Britain's relationship with the EEC, Anglo-American ties, the Cold War, Decolonization, and issues of Public and Political Morality.
Coverage: 1957-1963.
Making of the Modern World This link opens in a new window
Digital facsimile images of unique primary sources that track the development of the modern, western world through the lens of trade and wealth. History, political science, social conditions, technology and industry, economics, area studies, etc.
Coverage: 1450-1930.
Mass Observation Online This link opens in a new window
Manuscripts from the Mass Observation project which studied the lives of ordinary people in Britain from 1937 into the early 1960s. Provides valuable information about Britain before, during, and after World War II, and about changes in attitudes to many topics in social and economic life.
Medieval Family Life This link opens in a new window
Letter correspondence of five 15th century English families describing everyday life including discussions of advantageous marriages and inheritance, estate management, women and their role within the family, arguments between parents and children, births, deaths, politics, and community.
Coverage: 1400 - 1490.
Medieval Travel Writing This link opens in a new window
Accounts of journeys to the Holy Land, India and China tell us much about the attitudes and preconceptions of people across Europe in the medieval period, shedding light on issues of race, economics, trade, militarism, politics, literature, and science.
Coverage: 13th to 16th centuries.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
Monographs, newspapers, pamphlets, manuscripts, ephemera, maps, statistics, and more. Collections: British Politics and Society, Asia & The West, British Theatre and Popular Culture, Corvey Collection of European Literature, Europe and Africa, Photography, Science, Technology, and Medicine Parts 1 & 2, Women Transnational Networks, Children Literature and Childhood, Mapping the World, Religion and the Periodical.
Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975 This link opens in a new window
Explores the dynamic period of social, political, and cultural change in the U.S. and U.K., covering such topics as music and television, the Vietnam war, student protests, the civil rights movement, and women's liberation. Includes the Social Protest Collection from UC Berkeley, a wide range of zines and alternative press publications, posters, and multimedia.
Coverage: 1950-1975.
Poverty, Philanthropy and Social Conditions in Victorian Britain This link opens in a new window
Discover what life was like for the poorest communities in Victorian Britain, and explore the government policy, social reform movements, and philanthropic efforts of charitable institutions that sought to alleviate poverty.
Coverage: 1834-1930.
Slavery, Abolition & Social Justice This link opens in a new window
Primary source documents on key aspects of the history of slavery. The African Coast, the Middle Passage, the varieties of slave experience, religion, revolts, abolition, and legislation. Case studies from America, the Caribbean, Brazil, and Cuba.
U.K. Parliamentary Papers This link opens in a new window
Historical and current working documents from the House of Commons and the House of Lords, including papers, debates, journals, bills, and acts. Also included are command papers, Hansard (Official Report of debates), and public petitions to Parliament.
Vendor Tutorial: http://proxy.library.vanderbilt.edu/login?url=https://proquest.libguides.com/parliamentary
Victorian Popular Culture This link opens in a new window
Primary source material relating to popular entertainment in America, Britain, and Europe. Explore the darkened halls, small backrooms, big tops, and travelling venues that hosted everything from spectacular shows and bawdy burlesque, to the world of magic, spiritualist séances, optical entertainments, and the first moving pictures.
Coverage: 1779 - 1930.
Women in The National Archives This link opens in a new window
Finding aid to women’s studies resources in The National Archives (UK) and original documents covering the campaign for women's suffrage in Britain and the granting of women's suffrage in colonial territories.
Coverage: 1559-1995 (finding aid); early 20th Century (original documents).