Librarian
HIS976: Victorian London
Welcome to this research guide for HIS976, Victorian London. Explore this site for contextual readings, resources, and tips for getting the most our of your research process. Try to make this guide part of all of your research processes this semester. Please do not hesitate to reach out for assistance on your research projects, after you have attempted your searches on our catalogue and in our databases.
Cover of:Tallis's History and Description of the Crystal Palace, and the Exhibition of the World's Industry in 1851. London: John Tallis and Co., 1852.
Source: Internet Archive. Original in the collection of the University of California Libraries. https://archive.org/details/tallisshistoryde01tall/mode/2up
Research Information
This guide page contains useful resources for research specific to this course, but also remember to browse the menu to the left to discover other content that is available on General History databases and resources.
Key Indexing Resources
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Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new windowThis database contains abstracts of articles from journals relating to the history of the world (excluding Canada and the US) from 1450 to the present. Also included are abstracts of important books in this field.
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C19: Nineteenth Century Index This link opens in a new windowC19 Index is a bibliographic database for 19th century research, providing integrated access to the most important finding aids for books, periodicals, official publications, newspapers and archives. Users can query collections simultaneously, or can conduct more detailed research using collection specific search screens.
The Proceedings of the Old Bailey from 1770-1913, detailing trials at London's central criminal court, are now searchable in C19 Index.
Digital Collections (Access for TMU Community Members Only)
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Black Studies Center This link opens in a new windowBlack Studies Center brings together essential historical and current material for researching the past, present and future of African Americans, the wider African Diaspora, and Africa itself. It is comprised of several cross-searchable, component databases, which include:
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British And Irish Women's Letters And Diaries This link opens in a new windowBritish and Irish Women’s Letters and Diaries includes the immediate experiences of women, as revealed through pages of published letters and diaries from 1500 to 1900, including several thousand pages of previously unpublished materials. Drawn journal articles, pamphlets, newsletters, monographs, and conference proceedings, much of the material is in copyright. Represented are all age groups and life stages, all ethnicities, many geographical regions, the famous and the not so famous.
The collection also includes biographies and an extensive annotated bibliography of the sources in the database. -
British Periodicals This link opens in a new windowThis database provides access to the searchable full text of hundreds of periodicals from the late seventeenth century to the early twentieth, comprising millions of high-resolution facsimile page images. Topics covered include literature, philosophy, history, science, the social sciences, music, art, drama, archaeology and architecture.
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Defining Gender This link opens in a new windowThis exciting collection of original source material from British and European archives will enrich the teaching and research experience of those studying history, literature, sociology, education and cultural studies from a gendered perspective. Manuscripts, printed works and illustrations combine to address the key issues from both masculine and feminine perspectives.
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Empire Online This link opens in a new windowThis resource brings together manuscript, printed and visual primary source materials for the study of 'Empire' and its theories, practices and consequences. The materials span across the last five centuries and are accompanied by a host of secondary learning resources including scholarly essays, maps and an interactive chronology.
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English Historical Documents This link opens in a new windowEnglish Historical Documents Online contains over 5,500 indexed and fully searchable primary documents from 500 to 1914. This includes American Colonial Documents, which was previously out of print. The online version of the standard series of primary source documents in British history, conceived in wartime and with volumes published since 1953, can also be found here.Sources include government and cabinet proceedings, military dispatches, newspaper articles, pamphlets, personal and official letters and diaries. It covers political and constitutional topics and social, economic, religious and cultural history.
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JSTOR This link opens in a new windowJSTOR has created a full text digital archive of core scholarly journals with complete back runs of many titles. As part of JSTOR’s agreement with publishers, current issues (usually the last 3 – 5 years) are not digitized by JSTOR and may be obtained elsewhere. The Toronto Metropolitan University Library has access to the entire content of JSTOR’s archival journal collections.
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Nineteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new windowNineteenth Century Collections Online is a multi-year global digitization and publishing program focusing on primary source collections of the long nineteenth century, with archives releasing incrementally beginning in spring 2012.
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Oral History Online This link opens in a new windowOral History Online provides in-depth indexing to more than 2,500 collections of Oral History in English from around the world.
The collection also provides keyword searching of more than 271,000 pages of full-text by some 9,000 individuals from all walks of life. It also contains pointers to some 3,000 audio and video files and over 17,000 bibliographic records.
Digital Collections (Open Access, Freely Available)
United Nations Treaty Collection
This publication provides information on the status of over 500 major multilateral instruments deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations (as of 1 January 2009) and covers a range of subject matter such as Human Rights, Disarmament, Commodities, Refugees, the Environment and the Law of the Sea. The number of treaties deposited with the Secretary-General keeps growing steadily. This publication reflects the status of these instruments, as Member States sign, ratify, accede or lodge declarations, reservations or objections. It is over one thousand pages in length and is published annually in hard copy (three volumes). The on-line version is currently updated daily.
Archival Newspapers
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British Library Newspapers, Part I & II: 1800-1900 This link opens in a new window
Sourced from the extensive holdings of the British Library, this resource delivers a wide range of irreplaceable local and regional voices to reflect the social, political, and cultural events of the nineteenth. These newspapers, emerging during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as a crucial channel of information in towns and major cities, provide researchers with a unique, first-hand perspective on history.
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Times Digital Archive, 1785-2019 This link opens in a new window
Researchers can search through the complete digital edition of The Times (London), using keyword searching and hit-term highlighting to retrieve full facsimile images of either a specific article or a complete page. The entire newspaper is available, with all articles, advertisements and illustrations/photos divided into categories to aid searching.
There are numerous digitization initiatives for local newspapers around the world. See for example:
The British Newspaper Archive. Unfortunately RU does not have institutional access. Independent researchers may find it cost effective to purchase limited personal access.
see also Carol Singer's archived guide at Bowling Green State University to Historical Worldwide Newspapers Online
Many of the papers that Singer's guide links to are versions from the de-indexed Google News Project. For example:
"Organ of the Women's Freedom League"
Finding Primary Sources
To find primary sources try using Omni, Advanced Search, Subject contains ...
Use keywords for your topic or historic person along with one of the following words:
- archives
- charters
- correspondence
- diaries
- documents
- interviews
- letters
- manuscripts
- notebooks
- oratory
- pamphlets
- personal narratives
- pictorial works
- sources [this term is often used for collections of primary sources]
- speeches
Examples of Omni, Advanced, Subject contains searches: [unless otherwise noted]
- diaries london england
- feminism england london sources [Omni simple keyword search]
- great britain history sources
- london england pictorial works victorian [Omni simple keyword search]
- london england pictorial works edwardian [Omni simple keyword search]
- london england 19th century speeches
- london england history maps
- london england social life customs sources
- victorian history london sources
- victorian history london sources [Omni simple keyword search]
- edwardian history london sources
- edwardian history london sources [Omni simple keyword search]
A Sampling of Freely Accessible Primary Sources
Many governmental bodies, academic and public libraries, museums, and private organizations are creating digital collections. Often access is free of charge. Use a search engine to look for names of countries, provinces/states, cities, organizations, or individuals AND archives.
Read the About section to determine who is the publisher, what is their purpose, is this a credible source ...
UNITED KINGDOM:
Charles Booth's London [website hosted by the London School of Economics; includes some primary sources]
London Metropolitan Archives [open at the collections page]
Museum of London [link is to the site's Collections tab]
Victoria and Albert Museum, London (V&A), Online Collections
Wellcome Library, focuses upon Medical History, digital collections
WORLD:
Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy (from Yale Law School, includes international Treaties)