Library Guides: History Subject Guide: European and World History

European and World History Primary Collections (Trent Users Only)

Burney Newspapers Collection: Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century
- This digital archive contains British newspapers from the 17th and 18th centuries, offering invaluable historical insights into various aspects of British society, politics, and culture during that period.
British Union of Fascists: Newspapers and Secret Files, 1933-1951
- Primary source material pertaining to the British fascist movement led by Oswald Mosley covering 1933-1951.
China: Trade, Politics, Culture
- Unique manuscript material relating to the activities and observations of British and American diplomats, missionaries, business people, and tourists in China from 1793 to 1980. Includes rare periodicals, colour paintings, maps, photographs and drawings.
Defining Gender
- Access to primary source materials that explore gender roles and relations from the 15th to the early 20th century. Includes manuscripts, printed works, and rare documents that provide insight into the social, cultural, and historical aspects of gender.
Early English Books Online
- English literature and historical texts from the 15th to the 17th centuries. Includes early printed books as well as pamphlets, sermons, and more.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online (Gale Primary Sources)
- A digital collection of printed works from the 18th century. Includes books, pamphlets, and essays covering a wide range of subjects from the Enlightenment era.
Trent has ECCO I and II
Eighteenth Century Journals
- Rare printed British journals, periodicals and newspapers of the eighteenth century. All items are full text searchable.
Empire Online
- Access to primary sources, including documents, periodicals, and manuscripts, related to British colonial and imperial history.
English Historical Documents
- Primary source materials spanning British history from the early medieval period to the 20th century, includes government records, legal documents, letters, charters, and other historical texts.
Frontier Life: Borderlands, Settlement & Colonial Encounters
- A primary source database that explores the history of frontier regions, borderlands, and colonial encounters from the 16th to the 20th centuries. It provides access to manuscripts, maps, and other documents that detail the experiences of settlers, indigenous peoples, and colonial powers.
U.K. Parliamentary Papers
- A collection of historical documents from the British Parliament that includes reports, debates, and other parliamentary materials from 1801-present.
LGBT Studies In Videos
- This video collection explores LGBTQ+ history, culture, and identity. It features documentaries, interviews, and archival footage, providing a rich resource for studying gender, sexuality, and queer theory.
Mass Observation Online
- A unique collection of primary source materials from the Mass Observation Project, which documented everyday life in Britain from the 1930s to the 1950s. This database includes personal diaries, surveys, and reports, offers insights into British social history, cultural attitudes, and daily life during a transformative period.
Medieval Travel Writing
- A specialized database providing access to a collection of travel narratives, exploration accounts, and geographic descriptions from the medieval period.
Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice, 1490-2007
- A collection of historical documents related to slavery, abolition movements, and social justice.
Times Digital Archive 1785-1985
- A complete digital repository of The Times newspaper, providing access to its complete archive from 1785 to 1985. This database offers a rich historical record of global and local events, including detailed news reports, editorials, and advertisements.
Women and Social Movements in Modern Empires Since 1820
- Explores the history of women's activism and roles within imperial and colonial contexts. It focuses on the intersection of gender, empire, and social movements, offering primary sources, scholarly essays, and biographical profiles from various regions, covering the period from 1820 to the mid-20th century.

European and World History Primary Collections (Public Access)

British History Online (BHO)
- A digital library containing key printed primary and secondary sources for the history of Britain and Ireland, with a focus on the period 1300 to 1800, provided by the University of London's Institute of Historical Research.

Early Modern Resources
This site was created by Sharon Howard in 2001 while doing her PhD. The site was conceived as a gateway site for any one interested in studying the early modern period (c.1500-1800CE) – academics, students and others. Sharon Howard admits to not rigorously evaluating the sites listed and make no guarantees about their accuracy or value.
EuroDocs: Online Sources for European History
Listing of links that connect to European primary historical documents that are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile, or translated.
Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index
Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index covers journal articles, book reviews, and essays in books about women, sexuality, and gender during the Middle Ages.
Historical Directories
Historical Directories is a digital library of local and trade directories for England and Wales, from 1750 to 1919. It contains high quality reproductions of comparatively rare books, essential tools for research into local and genealogical history.
The History Guide
The History Guide has been created for the high school and undergraduate student who is either taking classes in history, or who intends to major in history in college. The purpose of The History Guide is to better prepare yourself for your history classes and to make your time in class more enjoyable and proficient.

The History Guide contains the complete content of three undergraduate courses in European history which will certainly be of use to those of you studying such topics at the college level or in A.P. European history classes. The History Guide contains ninety lectures in European history from ancient Sumer to the fall of Soviet-style communism in 1989. In essence, what is presented here is an online textbook in western civilization, with special reference to the western intellectual tradition.
Labyrinth
Georgetown University site of links to resources in Medieval Studies.
Old Bailey Online
A fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court.
Online Medieval and Classical Library
The Online Medieval and Classical Library (OMACL) is a collection of some of the most important literary works of Classical and Medieval civilization.
The ORB: The On-line Reference Book for Medieval Studies
The ORB is an academic site, written and maintained by medieval scholars for the benefit of their fellow instructors and serious students. All articles have been judged by at least two peer reviewers. Included are transcriptions and translation of medieval texts.