History: useful websites

This page lists useful, free internet resources for history. See databases for history for a list of key online sources purchased by the University to help you find information in this subject.

Key sites

  • British Academy Portal - Early Modern History to c.1800 and Modern History from c.1800
    Provides an entry point to available resources for those working in higher education and research. It includes electronic texts, image archives, bibliographies; collections of site pointers, lists of specialised archives; general reference data such as encyclopedias, library directories.
    Other areas also relevant to the study of history are Archaeology and  Medieval Studies.

  • British History Online
    British History Online is the digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles. Created by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust, it aims to support academic and personal users around the world in their learning, teaching and research.

  • Intute: Humanities
    Intute is a free online guide to the best quality-assured free Internet resources covering all academic disciplines. Updated by subject experts based in a number of academic institutions.
    Please note: Updates to Intute ceased in July 2011. Links on the site will no longer be checked.

  • Voice of the Shuttle: History
    Provides links to Internet resources relevant to research in the humanities. Maintained at the University of California.

  • WWW Virtual Library - History
    The WWW Virtual Library is made up of a large number of subject sections compiled by volunteers expert in their subject areas. American bias.

Guides and tutorials

  • Internet for Historians
    One of a series of tutorials written for the Intute Virtual Training Suite. This tutorial aims to improve Internet information skills, knowledge of key Internet sites, Internet search skills and critical thinking skills. The links basket option provides a useful listing of sites relevant to history.

  • Evaluating websites: a guide 
    Hints on assessing the reliability of information you find on the Internet.

  • The web
    A brief guide to finding information which includes links to the main search engines.

  • Finding information in arts and history
    Open University web course to help you to identify and use information in Arts and History, whether for your work, study or personal purposes

General history-related sites

  • Academic Info - History
    One of a series of subject information gateways forming part of Academic Info, a directory of Internet resources tailored to a higher education audience. Each subject guide is an annotated listing of the best general Internet sites in the field, as well as a gateway to more advanced research tools. Includes links to online publications, language and study aids, reference materials, database archives, virtual libraries, tutorials, as well as other educational materials. Compiled in the United States.

  • Archon Directory
    A gateway for UK archivists and users of historical manuscripts. It is maintained by the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts.

  • Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS)
    AHDS History is a subsection of AHDS. It collects historical data from a wide variety of sources and makes it more widely available to the user community, in computer readable form. It also provides a framework for the exchange of information about these resources and provides access to resources elsewhere.

  • Avalon Project - Yale Law School
    A collection of digital documents relating to the fields of History, Law, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Development. The site includes documentation from the Nuremberg Trial.

  • Bibliothèque Nationale de France - Links
    A directory of online resources chosen by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, mostly relating to the history of France and Europe.

  • British Cartoons Archive (BCA)
    A digitised archive of over 170,000 cartoons from the BCA's collections.

  • BUBL - Humanities links
    BUBL provides a limited number of carefully selected resources covering all academic subject areas. Access is possible either by subject or Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC).
    Please note: Updates to BUBL ceased in April 2011. Links on the site will be no longer be checked.

  • Connected Histories Project
    Connected Histories brings together a range of digital resources focusing on British history between 1500 and 1900, allowing you to search across the resources simultaneously. It also provides research guides to several subject areas, outlining the major content and offering suggestions for further reading.

  • Corpus of Electronic Texts (CELT)
    An online directory of primary source material relating to the history of Ireland. Digitised texts are accompanied by introductions, background information, graphics, translations (where possible) and scholarly bibliographies. Maintained by University College Cork.

  • Digital History - University of Houston
    A large number of resources, including bibliographies, chronologies and primary source documents, primarily relating to the United States.

  • Digital Librarian - History
    A librarian's selection of the best online resources for History.

  • Do History's Links
    A selection of links from Do History. Of particular interest are the sections covering Women's History and Film & History.

  • EuroDocs
    A range of online primary source documents relating to European history.

  • European history primary sources
    A directory of links to primary resources relating to European history from medieval times to the present day.

  • Genesis - Women's History
    A free resource for women's history, containing a catalogue of archive, library and museum collections from across the British Isles and a guide for women's history researchers.

  • German Historical Institute (Washington DC)
    An internationally recognised centre for advanced study, with research ranging well beyond German history and including American history as well as comparative transnational history. The website provides free online access to many of its publications, including The Bulletin of the GHI and books that have appeared in the Publications of the German Historical Institute, Washington D.C. series published by Cambridge University Press since 1991. In addition, free online access is provided to German History in Documents and Images, a comprehensive collection of primary source materials documenting Germany's political, social, and cultural history from 1500 to the present. It comprises original German texts, all of which are accompanied by new English translations, and a wide range of visual imagery.

  • History Discussion Networks
    Email discussion lists covering various study areas, including a wide range of History topics.

  • In The First Person
    An index to letters, diaries, oral histories and personal narratives.

  • Intute: Humanities - History
    (Formerly Humbul - History) Discovers, evaluates, catalogues and gives access to online resources considered useful for humanities teaching and research within UK higher and further education. It forms part of the online subject resource called Intute which covers resources from the sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities.
    Please note: Updates to Intute ceased in July 2011. Links on the site will no longer be checked.

  • John Rylands University Library Image Collections
    Digitised versions of selected texts from the University of Manchester John Rylands Library's collections. Of particular interest to historians is the Medieval Collection.

  • Library of Congress Digital Collections
    Access to a range of print, pictorial and audio-visual collections from the Library of Congress, many with a historical interest. Primarily US focused.

  • Repositories of Primary Sources
    A listing of over 5000 websites describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical photographs and other primary sources for the research scholar.

  • Treasures in Full
    Selected works from the British Library's collection, including the Magna Carta and Renaissance festival books.

  • A Vision of Britain Through Time
    The Vision of Britain through Time web site provides a window into Great Britain and its localities. Maps, census, statistics, election results and even travel writing are all included.

Free e-books and e-journals

  • Cornell University Library Historical Monographs
    A collection of selected monographs with expired copyrights chosen from a variety of disciplines, with a facility to search or browse the collection.

  • Cromohs
    The Cyber Review of Modern Historiography.

  • DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals)
    DOAJ makes available open access journals from various disciplines, which can be searched or browsed by subject. A number of titles relate specifically to History.

  • Gallica
    Over a million free books, journals, manuscripts and images, mostly in French and published before 1900, digitised by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

  • Google Books
    Digitised versions of books, which are fully searchable. Books are often only partially digitised.

  • St Andrews Studies in French History and Culture
    Free online access to books in the series from the Centre for French History and Culture.

Medieval studies

  • BUBL Link: Medieval History
    Please note: Updates to BUBL ceased in April 2011. Links on the site will be no longer be checked.

  • Digital Librarian - Medieval and Renaissance Studies
    A librarian's selection of the best online resources for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.

  • The Labyrinth: resources for medieval studies
    The Labyrinth provides free, organised access to electronic resources in medieval studies through a WWW server at Georgetown University. This project not only provides an organisational structure for electronic resources in medieval studies, but also serves as a model for similar, collaborative projects in other fields of study. The Labyrinth project is open-ended and is designed to grow and change with new developments in technology and in medieval studies.

  • ORB: The Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies
    Provides links to many medieval documents, reference sources and electronic periodicals for medieval studies.

Early modern period (pre 1800)

Modern history (post 1800)

Organisations & institutions

  • The Association for History and Computing
    An international organisation which aims to promote and develop interest in the use of computers in all types of historical study at every level, in both teaching and research.

  • Economic History Society
    Exists primarily to promote the study of economic and social history, to establish closer relations between students and teachers of economic and social history, and to issue the Economic History Review.

  • Institute of Historical Research
    Promotes the use of electronic networks by historians and history students and provides easy access to on-line resources. In addition to the evaluation and cataloguing of on-line resources in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, History provides high quality information about the history profession including books, articles, theses, seminars and historians (searchable as HISTORY On-Line). The site also gives access to information about the IHR, its publications and affiliated organisations.

  • Museum of English Rural Life
    The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) is located on the Whiteknights campus at the University of Reading. "It is a national resource centre, based on outstanding collections of archives, books, photographs, and objects accumulated over 50 years and comprising the single largest collection of rural history materials in the country. It has become the repository for major companies and organisations with interests in agriculture and food, land, the rural sector and the wider countryside." The Museum has also set up a bibliography of theses, books, and articles on British and Irish rural history containing information unavailable on the established online databases. The Bibliography can be searched in conjunction with the Museum of English Rural Life Library catalogue.

  • Royal Historical Society
    Seeks to promote the study of the past, maintaining professional standards within historical study and representing the views of its membership to government.

  • Scholarly Societies Project (University of Waterloo, USA)
    Regularly updated list of websites maintained by or for scholarly societies across the world.

Please note: our site descriptions are based on information available on the site described at the time it was evaluated.

Back to History

Page navigation

See also

 

Search Form

A-Z lists