LibGuides: History: Primary Sources by Era or Topic: British Empire, 1650-1800

Online Reference Books

British Primary Source Collections, 1650-1800

The full text of letters and diary entries, often from works that have been previously published as books containing collections of letters or diaries. Use the Browse indexes to find works about specific historical or life events.

British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
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1500-1900.
Searchable collection of women's letters and diaries.
Early Modern England This link opens in a new window
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1500-1700
Records, correspondence and manuscript collections support research into early modern governance, the networks of prominent families, the organization and dissemination of knowledge in health and medicine, humanities and the sciences, and material cultures.
Includes correspondence, diaries, essays, family papers, and church, legal, government and tax records.
Women’s Voices and Life Writing, 1600-1968 This link opens in a new window
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Digitized diaries and oral histories of lesser-known women of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales providing narratives that reveal personal perspectives on race, gender, class, disability, sexuality, aging, and more.

Use the date range limit to narrow your search to a relevant time period.

British Library Newspapers This link opens in a new window
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1732-1950
National and regional British newspapers representing different political and cultural views.
Historical Newspapers: The Irish Times and The Weekly Irish Times This link opens in a new window
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1859-2022
Newspaper from Dublin, Ireland published daily except Sundays.
Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Newspaper Collection This link opens in a new window
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1603-1800
Newspapers, pamphlets, proclamations, and newsbooks from the British Library.
Also searchable in Gale Primary Sources.
Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Nichols Newspaper Collection This link opens in a new window
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1672-1737
British newspapers, periodicals, pamphlets and broadsheets from the Bodleian Library.
Times Digital Archive, 1785-2019 This link opens in a new window
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1785-2019
The Times (London) newspaper.

Search for articles published in popular magazines and journals from different times in history.

British Periodicals Collection I and II This link opens in a new window
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1681-1920
Popular British periodicals mostly from the 19th century.
Eighteenth Century Journals This link opens in a new window
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1685-1835
Literary, satirical, political, religious and theatrical magazines and newspapers from Britain, Ireland, Scotland, India and the Caribbean.

Collections of several types of primary sources curated around a topic or theme.

Age of Exploration This link opens in a new window
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1420-1920
Primary sources like manuscripts, maps and illustrated documents, diaries and ship logs recording the experiences of Europeans as they explored trade routes, colonized the Americas and Australasia, and raced to the North and South Poles.
Americana This link opens in a new window
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1493-1975
Search all American history archival collections from Adam Matthew Publishers.
Combined search of American History, American Indian Histories and Cultures, American West, Everyday Life & Women in America c.1800-1920, Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975, Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice, and Virginia Company Archives.
China Studies This link opens in a new window
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1750-1980
Primary source documents like printed books, pamphlets, paintings, manuscripts, diaries, newspapers and periodicals offer evidence of Chinese life and culture over the past 300 years
Combined search of: China, America and the Pacific, China: Culture and Society, and China: Trade, Politics and Culture.
Churchill Archive This link opens in a new window
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1690-1965 (mainly 1940-1955)
Primary source historical documents from the archives of Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister during and after World War II.
Colonial America This link opens in a new window
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1606-1822
British government documents from the CO 5 series about administering the American colonies.
Part of Americana combined search portal
Defining Gender This link opens in a new window
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1500s-1920
Primary sources selected to illustrate changing views about gender, themed around conduct, domesticity, consumption and leisure, education, and the body.
Early Modern England This link opens in a new window
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1500-1700
Records, correspondence and manuscript collections support research into early modern governance, the networks of prominent families, the organization and dissemination of knowledge in health and medicine, humanities and the sciences, and material cultures.
Includes correspondence, diaries, essays, family papers, and church, legal, government and tax records.
East India Company This link opens in a new window
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1599-1947
British government records from the India Office chart the history of British trade and rule in the Indian subcontinent and beyond.
Eighteenth Century Drama: Censorship and the Stage This link opens in a new window
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1737-1824.
Archive of plays submitted for license in England between 1737 and 1824, as well as diaries, playbills, theatre records and correspondence.
Empire Online This link opens in a new window
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1492-1969
Primary sources about British colonies in Africa, North and South America, Australia, and South Asia, 1492-1969.
Food and Drink in History This link opens in a new window
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9th century-2015
Cookbooks, advertising ephemera, government reports, films, and other primary sources revealing the evolution of food and drink within everyday life and the public sphere.
Frontier Life: Borderlands, Settlement and Colonial Encounters This link opens in a new window
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1650-1920
Primary sources like expedition records, letters, diaries and government records from Europeans creating colonies in North America, Africa, and Australasia.
Global Commodities: Trade, Exploration and Cultural Exchange This link opens in a new window
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1500-present
Primary source materials 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.
The Grand Tour This link opens in a new window
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1550-1850
Firsthand travel accounts of British tourists visiting Europe.
India, Raj and Empire This link opens in a new window
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1615-1947
Documents recording the history of South Asia between the initial involvement of the East India Company and Indian and Pakistani independence.
Literary Print Culture: The Stationers Company Archive This link opens in a new window
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1554-2007
Collection of primary source documents related to the workings of the early book trade, the printing and publishing community, the establishment of legal requirements for copyright provisions and the history of bookbinding.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online: British Politics and Society This link opens in a new window
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- Good for: Finding primary sources about the development of urban centers and of the restructuring of society that took place during the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain.
- Contains: Government and archival collections
- Dates covered: 1750-1916
Also searchable in Gale Primary Sources.
Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice This link opens in a new window
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1490-2007
Case studies documenting slavery in America, the Caribbean, Brazil and Cuba, along with material examining European, Islamic and African involvement in the slave trade.
Victorian Popular Culture This link opens in a new window
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- Good for: Finding primary sources related to popular entertainment in America, Britain, and Europe.
- Contains: Books, posters, scrapbooks, and optical toys.
- Dates covered: 1779-1930.
Virginia Company Archives This link opens in a new window
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- Good for: Researching the Atlantic world and early Colonial period.
- Contains: Archival collection (Ferrar Papers).
- Dates covered: 1590-1790.
Part of Americana combined search portal
Witchcraft in Europe and America This link opens in a new window
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1500-1930
Manuscripts, pamphlets and books about witch hunts, including anti-persecution writings, works by penologists, legal and church documents, exposés of persecutions, and philosophical writings and transcripts of trials and exorcisms.

Digitized collections of books published during different time periods.

Sabin Americana: History of the Americas This link opens in a new window
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Good for: Finding primary source materials on exploration, trade, colonialism, slavery and abolition, the western movement, Native Americans, military actions and more.
Contains: Historical books, pamphlets, serials and other documents about North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean.
Dates covered: 1500-1926
Early English Books Online (EEBO) This link opens in a new window
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1475-1700
Books on all subjects published in England between 1475 and 1700.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
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1701-1800
Books on all subjects published in English between 1701 and 1800.
Gerritsen Collection-Women's History Online, 1543-1945 This link opens in a new window
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1543-1945
Books and periodicals reflecting the evolution of a feminist consciousness and the movement for women's rights.
Hathi Trust This link opens in a new window
Access to nearly any public domain (pre-1924) book owned and scanned by a library. UNLV users can login with their ACE accounts and download entire "full view" books/documents.
Making of Modern Law (MOML) This link opens in a new window
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1600-1926
Cross-search five Making of Modern Law databases: Making of Modern Law: Foreign, Comparative and International Law 1600-1926, Making of Modern Law: Foreign Primary Sources, Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources 1620-1926, Making of Modern Law: Treatises, 1800-1926, and Making of Modern Law: Trials 1600-1926.

Congressional Publications (ProQuest Congressional) This link opens in a new window
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1789-
U.S. legislative information, including access to many full-text Congressional publications, bills, laws, regulations, committee information, and more. Includes the U.S. Serial Set.
Comprehensive access to U.S. legislative information, including access to many full-text Congressional publications, bills, laws, regulations, committee information, and more. Additionally, searchers can retrieve CIS Legislative Histories for public laws. Contains an index of congressional publications from 1789 to the present and locate information about members and committees. Statutes at Large and Congressional Indexes from 1789-1969 are included.
Digital U.S. Bills and Resolutions 1789-2016 This link opens in a new window
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1789-present
Contains searchable full text of all U.S. bills and resolutions from 1789 to the present.
Individual bills may be directly accessed or searched via a composite bill profile page that links out to its various versions.
HeinOnline Law Journal Library This link opens in a new window
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Online law journals and full text federal legal materials.
HeinOnline is an image-based, fully searchable database made up primarily of law journals. Newer content is not added until the end of a volume year so the most recent issues are likely a year old. Coverage varies by title, but most sources go back to volume one. In addition to journals, it also contains treaties, the federal register, some classic treatises and some federal legislative materials. Subscription to HeinOnline is sponsored by the Wiener-Rogers Law Library.

Great Britain

Routledge English Historical Documents This link opens in a new window
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476 -1914
Primary sources with editorial commentary representing significant British historical documents, like treaties, statutes, declarations, government and cabinet proceedings and more.
Making of Modern Law (MOML) This link opens in a new window
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1600-1926
Cross-search five Making of Modern Law databases: Making of Modern Law: Foreign, Comparative and International Law 1600-1926, Making of Modern Law: Foreign Primary Sources, Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources 1620-1926, Making of Modern Law: Treatises, 1800-1926, and Making of Modern Law: Trials 1600-1926.

Digitized photos and art images.

ARTstor This link opens in a new window
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Art digital images and related data.
A repository of hundreds of thousands of digital images in the areas of art, architecture, the humanities, social sciences and related data; the tools to actively use those images; and a restricted usage environment that seeks to balance the rights of content providers with the needs and interests of content user.

These links allow you to search across multiple databases at the same time.

AM Explorer This link opens in a new window
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1493-1975
Search all archival collections from Adam Matthew Publishers.
Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
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Includes 19th Century UK Periodicals, Archives of Sexuality & Gender (LGBTQ History), British Library Newspapers, The Economist (1843-2014), Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Nineteenth Century Collections Online, Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers, Sabin Americana (1500-1926), China and the Modern World, London Times Digital Archive, and London Times Literary Supplement.
Historical Periodicals from ProQuest This link opens in a new window
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1740-1940 with some more recent
Search all ProQuest historical periodical collections simultaneously.
American Periodicals‎ (1740 - 1940)
British Periodicals‎ (1681 - 1939)
Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive‎ (1880 - 2000)
The Harper's Bazaar Archive‎ (1867 - current)
Periodicals Archive Online‎
The Vogue Archive‎
Women's Magazine Archive‎ (1846 - 2005)
The Women's Wear Daily Archive‎

Microfilm Research Collections

UNLV Libraries Microform Collection Finder This link opens in a new window
Discover microform research collections at UNLV Libraries.
Browse or search brief descriptions of the research collections available on microform at Lied Library. Use a very broad search term (for example, try "women and history" instead of "Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention") because this tool searches short summaries of very large microfilmed collection. The Microform Collection Finder does not search the microfilm itself.

Web Sources

18thConnect
Unified search of online 18th century sources and scholarship

History: Primary Sources by Era or Topic

Online Reference Books

British Primary Source Collections, 1650-1800

Microfilm Research Collections

Web Sources

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