History Librarian
Finding Primary Sources
This list focuses on databases that emphasize colonialism. There are many other options for primary sources, especially British and American. Please see my British and Irish History Research Guide and United States History Research Guide for those lists, or ask me.
- Archives Direct This link opens in a new windowA suite of collections sourced from The National Archives, Kew, the official archive of the United Kingdom.
- Archives Unbound This link opens in a new windowGateway to a variety of subject specific digital microfilm collections.
- British Online Archives This link opens in a new windowOnline archive of documents related to British history.
- East India Company This link opens in a new windowIndia Office Records from the British Library, 1595-1947.
- Empire Online This link opens in a new windowOver 60,000 images of original manuscripts related to Empire Studies sourced from libraries and archives around the world.
- FBIS: Foreign Broadcast Information Service Daily Reports This link opens in a new windowProvides CIA translations of newswires and broadcast services from around the world in full-text from 1941-1996.
- HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new windowSearchable access to 17 million+ volumes, with full text access to 6 million+ volumes.
- House of Commons Parliamentary Papers This link opens in a new windowIncludes over 200,000 House of Commons sessional papers from 1715 to the present, with supplementary material back to 1688.
- India, Raj & Empire This link opens in a new windowManuscript Collections form the National Library of Scotland documenting the history of India.
- Making of Modern Law: Foreign, Comparative and International Law This link opens in a new windowHistorical treatises, codes and cases from Western Europe, Scandinavia, Canada, Cuba, China and India, 1600-1926.
- Making of Modern Law: Legal Treatises This link opens in a new windowA searchable, full-text database of 22,000 English language legal treatises from the U.S. and U.K.
- Making of Modern Law: Trials This link opens in a new windowDescribes the courtroom dramas that rocked society in America, the British Empire and the world.
- Making of the Modern World,1450-1914 This link opens in a new windowDigital and searchable editions of more than 70,000 titles, published between 1450 and 1945.
- ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new windowIncludes bills, laws, Congressional publications, hearings, reports, Congressional Record, CRS Reports and executive agency documents
- Times of India, 1861-2006 This link opens in a new windowSearchable access to the backfile of The Times of India, in full page images digitized from microfilm.
- Travel Writing, Spectacle and World History This link opens in a new windowAccounts by American women of their travels across the globe from the early 19th century to the late 20th century.
- Women and Social Movements in Modern Empires Since 1820 This link opens in a new windowPrimary texts on women’s voices as agents or opponents of empire in the United States and abroad.
- World Newspaper Archive This link opens in a new windowProvides full text searchable access to historical newspapers published in Africa, East Europe, Latin American and South Asia.
Finding Secondary Sources
Use the Library Catalog to find books. Be sure to pay attention to the date and publisher of the book - the Catalog does include older materials and primary sources.
- U-M Library Catalog Search This link opens in a new window
Catalog Search results will include everything in the University of Michigan Library physical collection (books, audio, video, maps, musical scores, archival materials, and more), as well as materials available online such as electronic books, streaming audio and video, and online journals.
Use these databases to find articles from scholarly journals. Scholarly journals also have features like book reviews, so make sure it's a research article.
- Historical Abstracts with Full Text (EBSCO) This link opens in a new windowCovers the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present, including world history, military history, women's history, history of education, and more.
- America: History & Life with Full Text (EBSCO) This link opens in a new windowCovers the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present.
- U-M Library Articles Search This link opens in a new windowUse Articles Search to locate scholarly and popular articles, as well as reference works and materials from open access archives.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowFull-text access to the archives of 2,600+ journals and 35,000+ books in the arts, humanities, social sciences and sciences.
- Project MUSE This link opens in a new windowFull-text access to scholarly journals & e-books published by over 120 scholarly societies & university presses.
Citation
- Chicago Manual of Style Online This link opens in a new windowProvides searchable online access to the 17th (2017) and 16th (2010) editions of the standard style manual.
Last Updated: Apr 28, 2025 1:47 PM
Subjects: Course Help