Good for: Locating scholarly resources focused on literary interpretation or critical theory.
Contains: Citations to literary criticism in journal articles, book chapters, books, and more.
Dates covered: 1926-present.
Good for: Finding scholarly and popular materials related to Shakespeare’s plays.
Contains: Index of scholarship, performance reviews, recorded performances, and more.
Dates covered: 1966-present.
Good for: Finding scholarship on the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Contains: Index of secondary sources.
Dates covered: 400-1700.
For more information on streaming databases, please visit the Online Movies & Streaming Video Guide.
Good for: Viewing theater productions and documentaries about theatrical productions.
Contains: Streaming video.
Good for: Streaming videos including documentaries, features and independent films.
Contains: Films.
Good for: Finding the meaning, history, and pronunciation of words.
Contains: Authoritative, researched historical dictionary entries.
Good for: Exploring word histories from the early modern period.
Contains: Compilation of dictionaries.
Dates covered: 1480-1702.
Good for: Reading or performing Shakespeare's plays and consulting scholarly editions.
Contains: Modern spelling and critical reference editions of Shakespeare's plays.
Shakespeare and performances
Good for: Documents revealing the history of the book trade and printing/publishing community.
Contains: Primary sources from the Stationers Company in London.
Dates covered: 1554-2007.
Good for: Studying Shakespeare's plays in performance using evidence from prompt books.
Contains: Prompt books, primary sources like correspondence, photos, and playbills.
Good for: Records and plans about the modern reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.
Contains: Performance and architectural archives.
Dates covered: 1997-2016.
Good for: Learning about design concepts for various performance types.
Contains: Books, periodicals, archival material, and instructional videos.
Good for: Examining scripts of plays submitted for license in England before 1824.
Contains: Archive of plays, diaries, playbills, theatre records, and correspondence.
Dates covered: 1737-1824.
Other writers from the era
Good for: Researching early English literature and culture.
Contains: Most extant printed books in English published before 1700.
Dates covered: 1475-1700.
Good for: Researching 18th-century English literature and culture.
Contains: Most extant books published in English.
Dates covered: 1701-1800.
Good for: Examining 17th- and 18th-century poetry in handwritten drafts and commonplace books.
Contains: Manuscripts and scrapbooks.
Dates covered: 1660-1830.
Good for: Studying women's writing in the British Isles.
Contains: Manuscripts written or compiled by women.
Dates covered: 1500s-1600s.
Other historical sources from the era
Good for: First hand accounts of European exploration, trade and colonization worldwide using primary sources.
Contains: Manuscripts, maps, illustrated documents, diaries, and ship logs.
Dates covered: 1420-1920.
Good for: Finding and using digital images for research and teaching.
Contains: Art digital images and related data.
Good for: Researching the lives of women in Great Britain and Ireland.
Contains: Women's letters and diaries.
Dates covered: 1500-1900.
Good for: Evidence of changing views about gender, themed around conduct, domesticity, consumption and leisure, education, and the body.
Contains: Primary sources like correspondence, advice literature, periodicals, ephemera and government documents.
Dates covered: 1500s-1920.
Good for: Reading primary sources that document the evolution of feminist consciousness and the women's rights movement.
Contains: Books and periodicals.
Dates covered: 1543-1945.
Good for: Examining primary sources that tell the story of global trade in chocolate, coffee, cotton, fur, opium, oil, porcelain, silver and gold, spices, sugar, tea, timber, tobacco, wheat, and wine and spirits.
Contains: Archival collections.
Dates covered: 1500-present.
Good for: Exploring firsthand travel accounts of British tourists in Europe before 1850.
Contains: Travel accounts.
Dates covered: 1550-1850.
Good for: Studying significant British historical documents.
Contains: Primary sources like treaties, statutes, declarations, government and cabinet proceedings, plus editorial commentary.
Dates covered: 476-1914.
