Primary sources: archive collections

Primary sources will provide you with the raw material to analyse and interpret the topic you are researching.

On this page resources covering large spans of time and topics are followed by resources of interest to specific research clusters in the School of History are listed.

Additional primary sources in the form of historical newspapers, journals and official publications are listed on the Primary sources: news sources and official publications page.

Also see the Institute of Historical Studies guide for additional sources and advice on how to evaluate them.

  • Gale Primary Sources allows you to search 18 primary source databases from Gale Cengage with a single search. The following databases are covered:
    • Archives Unbound
    • Archives of Sexuality and Gender
    • Crime, Punishment, and Popular Culture, 1790-1920
    • Eighteenth Century Collections Online
    • Nineteenth Century Collections Online
    • Political Extremism and Radicalism
    • The Making of Modern Law: Legal Treatises, 1800–1926
    • + various historical newspaper collections.
  • Archive Explorer from Adam Matthew allows you to search 9 databases of topical primary source material with a single search box. The following databases are covered:
    • American West
    • Colonial America
    • Confidential Print: Africa
    • Defining Gender
    • Eighteenth Century Journals
    • Empire Online
    • India, Raj and Empire
    • London Low Life
    • Mass Observation Online
    • Migration to New Worlds
    • Perdita Manuscripts
    • The Grand Tour
  • English Historical Documents: contains over 5,500 indexed and fully searchable primary documents from 500-1914
  • Connected Histories: British History Sources 1500-1900: allows you to cross-search a variety of major e-resources in British history
  • British History Online: key printed primary and secondary sources for the history of Britain and Ireland, with a primary focus on the period between 1300 and 1800. We do not subscribe to this resource, so only some documents are freely accessible
  • Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO): access to these primary source collections:
    • British Theatre, Music, and Literature: High and Popular Culture
    • European Literature, 1790-1840: The Corvey Collection
  • History of Feminism (from Routledge Historical Resources): archive of primary and secondary resources covering the history of feminism 1776-1928, including books, chapters, journal articles, thematic essays, subject introductions, and images
  • Mass Observation Online: documentation of the everyday lives of ordinary people in Britain, covering the period from 1937 until the early 1970s

Historic e-book collections

  • Historical Texts includes 400,000 historical books from the following collections:
    • Early English Books Online (EEBO): Provides access to the full text of 125,000 books, covering works in the following collections:
      • Pollard & Redgrave’s short-title catalogue 1475-1640
      • Wing’s short-title catalogue 1641-1700
      • Thomason Tracts 1640-61
      • Early English Tract supplement
    • Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO): Full text of over 150,000 items published between 1701 and 1800, including all significant English language and foreign titles published in the UK and a substantial number from North America
    • UK Medical Heritage Library (UKMHL): contains the images and full text of over 66,000 19th Century European medical publications.
    • BL 19th Century contains over 65,000 recently digitised editions from the British Library’s 19th century collection, comprising over 25 million pages of previously rare and inaccessible titles.

History of commerce, colonialism, and environment

  • Empire Online: primary and secondary materials for the study of ‘Empire’ and its theories, practices, and consequences, covering the last 500 years.
  • India, Raj and Empire: based on manuscript collections of National Library of Scotland, material covers history of South Asia from 1615 to 1947
  • Migration to New Worlds: unique primary source material recounting personal experiences of 350 years of migration
  • Black Thought and Culture: 100,000 pages of non-fiction writing by major American black leaders, teachers, artists, politicians, religious leaders, athletes, war veterans, entertainers covering 250 years of American history.
  • Transatlantic Slave Trade Database: information on almost 35,000 slaving voyages, providing information about vessels, enslaved peoples, slave traders and owners, and trading routes
  • Confidential Print: Africa, 1834-1966: papers generated by the Foreign and Colonial Offices, covering the modern period of European colonisation of the African continent from the British Government’s perspective
  • South Asia Archive Culturally, and historically significant literary material relevant to the Indian subcontinent. The archive comprises out-of-copyright material dating back to the start of the eighteenth century and up to the mid-twentieth century. (sign in using Shibboleth/University of Kent credentials for access)
  • The American West: collection of manuscripts, maps, and ephemeral material on the story of the American West
  • Colonial America: all 1,450 volumes of the CO (Colonial Office) 5 series from The National Archives, UK, covering the period 1606 to 1822. CO 5 consists of the original correspondence between the British government and the governments of the American colonies.

History of medicine, ethics, and medical humanities

History of medieval and early modern culture

See the MEMS subject resource guide and MEMSlib for more resources.

  • Parliament rolls of Medieval England: full text and translation of the meetings of the English parliament from Edward I to Henry VII, 1272 to 1504
  • State Papers Online 1509-1714: you have access to all four parts:
    • Part I: The Tudors (Henry VIII to Elizabeth I), 1509-1603: State Papers
    • Domestic
    • Part II: The Tudors, 1509-1603: State Papers Foreign, Scotland, Borders, Ireland, and Registers of the Privy Council
    • Part III: The Stuarts and Commonwealth, James I – Anne I, 1603-1714: State Papers Domestic
    • Part IV: The Stuarts and Commonwealth, James I – Anne I, 1603-1714: State Papers Foreign, Ireland and Registers of the Privy Council
  • Index of Medieval Art: index to archive and images of medieval art
  • The Cecil Papers: collection of early-modern historical documents from the reigns of Elizabethan I and James I/VI; the papers span the period 1520-1668, from the birth of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, to the death of William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury.
  • Parker Library on the web: interactive, web-based workspace designed to support use and study of the manuscripts in the historic Parker Library at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
  • Translated Texts for Historians: expert scholarly translations of historical sources from 300 – 800 AD, including letters, annals, political speeches, handbooks, poems, documentary sources, lives of saints, and many more

History of the sciences

  • Electronic Enlightenment: searchable correspondence of 18th century thinkers and writers
  • Scientific American Archive (1845-2005): get an insight into social and scientific trends from the mid-19th century onwards, including the original accounts of key inventions like the telephone, the incandescent lightbulb, and New York City’s first subway
  • British Association for the Advancement of Science: Collections on the History of Science 1830-1970 (BAAS): this collection documents the efforts of the British scientific community to establish science as a professional activity and make Britain into a globally competitive centre for science. It contains a broad collection of document types: reports, manuscript materials, newspaper clippings, photographs, brochures and catalogues; field reports and minutes; annual reports.

History of war, propaganda, and society

  • British Society, 1939-1951: provides access to thousands of documents reporting on the domestic situation in Britain during the Second World War.
  • Churchill Archive: more than 800,000 pages of original documents, produced between 1874 and 1965, ranging from Winston S. Churchill’s personal correspondence to his official exchanges with kings, presidents, politicians, and military leaders.
  • Paris Peace Conference and Beyond, 1919-1939: This collection contains archival material relating to this tumultuous period in European and world history. The documents cover the treaties of Versailles, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Neuilly-sur-Seine, Trianon, Sèvres, Lausanne, and Locarno, as well as the foundation of the League of Nations.
  • Presidential Recordings Digital Edition: Between 1940 and 1973, six consecutive American presidents (Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon) secretly taped thousands of their meeting and telephone conversations.
  • Service Newspapers of World War Two: Includes publications from many key nations involved in the conflict, such as the US, Canada, New Zealand, India, and the countries of Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Both Allied and Axis publications are available, offering a broad view of the war and the experiences of those on its front lines.
  • Political Extremism and Radicalism in the 20th Century: Archival collections covering a wide range of fringe political movements from libraries and archives across the world
  • World War I Document Archive
  • Great War Archive and the First World War Poetry Archive
  • Cold War International History Project
  • CAIN: Information and source material on ‘the Troubles’ and politics in Northern Ireland from 1968 to the present
  • German propaganda archive
  • Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, 14 November 1945 – 1 October 1946: official record of the trial of the major civilian and military leaders of Nazi Germany
  • Revolution and Protest: covers protest movements, revolutions, and civil wars from the 18th century to present. Includes video and images, as well as personal papers, government documents, journals, speeches, and monographs
  • Human Rights Studies Online: primary and secondary material providing analysis and interpretations of human rights violations and atrocity crimes around the world from 1900-2010
  • Visual History Archives: video collection of primary source testimonies of survivors and witnesses of genocide
  • The Fortunoff Archive: holds more than 4,400 testimonies produced in cooperation with thirty-six affiliated projects across North America, South America, Europe, and Israel. The Fortunoff Archive and its affiliates recorded the testimonies of willing individuals with first-hand experience of the Nazi persecutions, including those who were in hiding, survivors, bystanders, resistants, and liberators.