Databases
Below you'll find "best bet" library databases for secondary and primary sources.
- Historical AbstractsThe premier database for researching the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present. Please note: Subscription limited to six simultaneous users.
- JSTORSearchable full-text journal backfile collection. Individual titles are listed in the E-Journals A-Z.
- British History OnlineIncludes some of the primary printed and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles. The site was created by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust. Much of the content is available free online, but there are certain collections available only to those who subscribe to the premium content version.
- Empire OnlineOver 60,000 manuscripts and documents covering the reach of the British Empire, all the way to Australasia, South Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Also includes references to biographies and chronologies.
- Dissertations and Theses Global (ProQuest)
As the official digital dissertations archive for the Library of Congress, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses includes millions of searchable citations to dissertations and theses from 1861 to the present day with over a million full-text dissertations. The database offers full text for most dissertations added since 1997 and retrospective full-text coverage for older graduate works.
- America: History and LifeThe premier database for research on the history of the United States and Canada. Please note: Subscription limited to six simultaneous users
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowMulti-disciplinary full-text database with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. Indexes and abstracts more than 12,500 journals and a total of more than 13,200 publications including monographs, reports, and conference proceedings.
Primary Source Databases
- Migration to New Worlds, Module I: The Century of ImmigrationFrom the period 1800 to 1924, this module covers the migration experience, from motives and departures to arrival and permanent settlement.
- Global Commodities: Trade, Exploration, and Cultural ExchangeProvides access to primary sources that focus on 15 significant commodities whose stories are often intertwined: chocolate, coffee, cotton, fur, oil, opium, porcelain, silver and gold, spices, sugar, tea, timber, tobacco, wheat, and wine, and spirits.
- America's Historical Newspapers, 1690-1998Full-text access to colonial and early American history. Also covers large collection of African American publications. With issues from over 700 titles (for many titles the holdings are scattered); includes Kentucky titles.
- 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers Digital Archive Backfile
Newspapers, pamphlets, broadsides and books from London, the British Isles and the colonies gathered by the Reverend Charles Burney (1757-1817): "the largest and most comprehensive collection of early English news media." The present digital collection totals almost 1 million pages and contains approximately 1,270 titles. Title list Also available in the Gale NewsVault, a searchable collection of historical newspapers.
- 19th Century British Library NewspapersDigital facsimile images of both full pages and clipped articles from hundreds of 19th century U.S. newspapers.
- 19th Century U.S. NewspapersDigital facsimile images of both full pages and clipped articles from hundreds of 19th century U.S. newspapers.
- Access World NewsFull-text of over 600 U.S. newspapers. Access World News also covers over 1,300 foreign English-language news resources. Spanish-language editions of the newspapers are also included.
- Access International NewsSearch interface and list of the nearly 1,300 international news resources available in Access World News (NewsBank).
- HathiTrust Digital LibraryOur membership in HathiTrust provides UK affiliates the benefit of being able to download the full-text PDF of public domain titles. (Without a membership you are limited to a page.) To do so, users must log-in at the HathiTrust site with current linkblue credentials.
UK affiliates can also search copyrighted works, but the full-text of the work is not available for full-text viewing. However, the ability to search over 16.8 million volumes will allow you to identify useful titles.