This page highlights resources to get you started with study and research in history:
Primary sources for history
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Travel writing, spectacle and world history This link opens in a new windowAccounts by women of their travels across the globe from the early 19th century to the late 20th century.
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Defining Gender 1450-1910 via Adam Matthew This link opens in a new windowExplore gender through a vast body of British source material from the fifteenth to early twentieth century.
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Global commodities: trade, exploration and cultural exchange This link opens in a new windowThe history of fifteen major commodities including chocolate, coffee, cotton, oil, sugar, tea and their impact on the world. Includes interactive maps, tools mapping commodity prices across time, images in galleries and exhibitions, scholarly essays, chronology and glossaries.
Ancient history
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Cambridge ancient historyA series of online books, published by Cambridge University Press, providing detailed coverage of ancient history.
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Perseus digital libraryA digital library of Greek and Latin texts in the original languages and in English translation.
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Gnomon onlineA keyword searchable database of around 600,000 papers and books in classical studies. (Updated monthly)
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ORBIS: The Stanford geospatial network model of the Roman worldReconstructs the time cost and financial expense associated with a wide range of different types of travel in antiquity.
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Digital atlas of Roman and medieval civilizationsDARMC provides material for a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) approach to mapping and spatial analysis of the Roman and medieval worlds.
Asian history
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Central Asia, Persia and Afghanistan 1834-1922: From Silk Road to Soviet Rule via Adam Matthew This link opens in a new windowContains official British government records relating to the region, content covering the decline of the Silk Road, through to the diplomatic confrontation between the British and Russian Empires.
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The Cambridge history of Inner Asia : The Chinggisid AgeDivided into five parts, and spanning 1200 to 1886, this volume examines the history and legacy of the Mongol World Empire founded by Chinggis Khan and his sons. Covers the regimes and states formed in the region from East Asia to Eastern Europe, and the establishment and impact of Chinese and Russian political hegemony.
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Empires of the Silk Road : A history of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the presentAn overview of Central Eurasia that includes the rise and fall of the great Central Eurasian empires, including those of the Scythians, Attila the Hun, the Turks and Tibetans, and Genghis Khan and the Mongols.
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Turkestan and the rise of Eurasian empires : A study of politics and invented traditionsProvides a comparative reading of a wide range of 15th and 16th century works that document socio-political upheaval and the rise of the Ottoman, Safavid, Shibanid and Mughal empires.
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China: trade, politics and culture, 1793-1980 This link opens in a new window
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Nineteenth century collections online via Gale : primary sources This link opens in a new windowContains primary sources related to international relations between Asian countries and the West during the 19th century. Included are government reports, diplomatic correspondence, newspapers, treaties, trade agreements, and NGO papers.
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Foreign Office files for China This link opens in a new windowIncludes eye-witness accounts, weekly and monthly summaries, annual reviews, reports and analyses with a synthesis of newspaper articles and conference reports, economic assessments and synopses on leading Chinese personalities. (1949-1980)
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Central Asia, Persia and Afghanistan 1834-1922: From Silk Road to Soviet Rule via Adam Matthew This link opens in a new windowContains official British government records relating to the region, content covering the decline of the Silk Road, through to the diplomatic confrontation between the British and Russian Empires.
Australian history
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APAFT: Australian public affairs (full text) via Informit This link opens in a new windowAn indexing and full-text database that provides journal articles from published material on the social sciences and humanities. Subject coverage includes business, health, current affairs, economics, humanities, law, literature, politics and social sciences. Full text 1995+
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Australian chronicles: an index to sources of Australian biography - InformitResource designed to assist genealogists, historians and researchers locate biographical information on as wide a range of Australians as possible.
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Hogan | Index to journal articles on Australian historyA set of print indexes listing articles on Australian history. Edited by Terry Hogan. These are physical resources held at the Main Library 994/53.
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Trove / Libraries AustraliaIndexes the content of all the major libraries in Australia. Holds a selection of archived old newspapers, archived images, archived letters & diaries and archived websites you can search through.
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Documents on British policy overseas This link opens in a new windowDocuments origins of war 1898-1914, foreign policy 1918-1939, policy overseas 1945-
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China, America and the Pacific: trade & cultural exchange via Adam Matthew This link opens in a new windowA digital collection of historical documents.
European history
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ProQuest history databasesThe collection includes Colonial State Papers, documenting Britain’s colonial relations with the Americas and other European powers; the Digital National Security archive from 1945 to the present. Documents on British policy overseas from 1918 to 1939; Trench journals from the First World War published between 1914 and 1919; backfiles of 15 major historical newspapers including the Chicago Tribune, The Guardian, The Observer, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.
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JSTOR: the scholarly journal archive This link opens in a new windowFull-text scholarly content providing retrospective online access to many important journals in a wide range of disciplines and subject areas in the arts and sciences. 19th century +
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Project muse This link opens in a new windowFull-text access to peer-reviewed journal articles in the social sciences from many of the world's leading university presses and scholarly societies.
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Oxford reference online This link opens in a new windowIncludes more than 100 specialist and general reference dictionaries. It brings together a collection of online dictionaries and thesauri into a single cross-searchable resource.
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Adam Matthew - World War Two StudiesThis collection features key primary sources offering unique insights into World War II policy and operations in the Pacific Europe.
Highlights include:
• Cabinet Papers (1940–1945): Defence and operational documents from Winston Churchill’s time as Minister of Defence.
• Japan and America: The Pacific War & Occupation (c1930–1955): Includes the papers of General Robert L. Eichelberger.
• Special Operations Executive (SOE), Series One (1940–1946): Focuses on British covert operations - espionage, sabotage, and subversion - in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy.
• Special Operations Executive (SOE), Series Two: Covers SOE activities in the Balkans.
• Soviet War Posters: A visual record of Soviet propaganda from the Battle of Stalingrad to the fall of Berlin.
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Archives direct via Adam MathewCollections from the National Archives, U.K.
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Documents on British policy overseas This link opens in a new windowDocuments origins of war 1898-1914, foreign policy 1918-1939, policy overseas 1945-
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House of Commons parliamentary papers This link opens in a new windowPapers presented to British Parliament 1801-1900
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UK Parliamentary Papers - Public Petitions to Parliament, 1833-1918 This link opens in a new windowThe archive provides access to the Records of the Select Committee on Public Petitions, offering insight into views and priorities held by various groups and people in Britain during the 19th century. Covers crime, taxation and education in Britain, British colonies and scientist concerns around pollution in Britain during the industrial revolution.
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State papers online: early modern government in Britain and Europe This link opens in a new window
Middle Eastern history
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U.S. intelligence on the Middle East, 1945-2009 via Brill This link opens in a new windowU.S. intelligence on conflicts in the Middle East, terrorist attacks etc. Ultra reports from World War I, 2002-2003 Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) assessments, Global War on Terror, the Iraq War, Iran’s nuclear program.
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Central Asia, Persia and Afghanistan 1834-1922: From Silk Road to Soviet Rule via Adam Matthew This link opens in a new windowContains official British government records relating to the region, content covering the decline of the Silk Road, through to the diplomatic confrontation between the British and Russian Empires.
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