Online British Imperial History Archives and Collections
This list was compiled particularly to help students navigate imperial history topics while archives and libraries are closed. It focuses on sources for histories of the British Empire; see also the list of digital archives relating to global history. We welcome suggestions of additonal resources.
General Collections and Databases
Adam Matthew Digital (themed collections of UK National Archive documents, available on free trial):
Bodleian Historical Databases:
https://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/az.php?a=all&s=53553
- In particular: https://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/modern-sc/commonwealthafrican
- And also subsections on Gender and Women’s History, News and Newspapers, etc.
Bodleian Digital Collection https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/
British Empire Online list of sources https://webhost.lclark.edu/campion/hist328/online.htm
British History Online (1300-1800) https://www.history.ac.uk/research/digital-history/british-history-online
British Oral History collections:
British Library’s Oral Histories: https://www.bl.uk/collection-guides/oral-history
Reading’s The Immigrant Project: http://www.theimmigrantsproject.org/
Sikhs in Scotland: https://scottishsikhs.org/ http://www.sikhsinscotland.org/
Birmingham Black Oral History Project: https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/a66c7458-9b47-338c-a9a4-609dce928594
Making Histories: http://www.makinghistories.org.uk/find-a-story.html
British Parliamentary Debates (from 1800) https://hansard.parliament.uk/
- The National Archives, UK c. 5% of TNA has been digitised, including series such as the Cabinet Papers (CAB): http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
- See also https://nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/?letter=&search=&research-category=online
British Pathé and Reuters Historical Collection https://www.britishpathe.com/
- Wide range of newsreel collections from 1910 onward.
Cambridge University Digital Library https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/
- Relevant collections include: Royal Commonwealth Society, Royal Commonwealth Society 150, Joseph Needham Collection, Bateson Archive (eg 1880s tour of central Asia), Voices of Civilian Internment: WWII Singapore, Royal Greenwich Observatory Archives, Darwin-Hooker Letters.
Chatham House Online Archive 1920-2008:
http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/f/89vilt/LGDBaz/32840599
CIA Electronic Reading Room https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/home
Colonial Film http://www.colonialfilm.org.uk/
Commonwealth Online Archive https://library.commonwealth.int/Library/Catalogues/Search.aspx
The Digital Grainger https://digital-grainger.github.io/grainger/ The first edition of The Sugar-Cane, a 168-page poem about eighteenth-century Caribbean sugar plantations, appeared in London in 1764.
Foreign Relations of the US Collection https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments
See also Digital National Security Archive (George Washington University – Collection of Non-Governmental Papers relating to Foreign Affairs/Security) https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/digital-national-security-archive
Gale / Cengage Historical Newspapers:
http://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/history/2020/03/25/gale-primary-sources-access-until-1-sept-2020
Historic Environment Image Resource:
http://heir.arch.ox.ac.uk/pages/home.php?login=true
Indigenous Digital Archive: https://omeka.dlcs-ida.org/s/ida/page/home
Institute for Historical Research researcher guide:
https://www.history.ac.uk/library/collections/online-resources/open-access-resources
League of Nations Digitized Publications and Archives https://libraryresources.unog.ch/c.php?g=462663&p=3163194
Legacies of British Slave-Ownership Project: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/
Musée national de la Marine: http://mnm.webmuseo.com/ws/musee-national-marine/app/collection - French naval and colonial objects
Missionary archives, e.g.:
Basel Mission Photographs http://www.bmarchives.org
Yale Divinity School https://web.library.yale.edu/divinity/digital-collections
Oxford and Empire Project’s Objects of Empire Collection (digitised material culture on Cabinet): https://oxfordandempire.web.ox.ac.uk/objects-empire-cabinet
ProQuest History Vault (*temporary access to 31 May 2020): https://congressional.proquest.com/historyvault
- Collection is primarily USA-focused, but does include: sections on British Foreign Office Correspondence; and Creation of Israel – British Foreign Office correspondence on Palestine and Transjordan, 1940-48.
Royal Museums Greenwich: http://collections.rmg.co.uk/
Collections of Britain’s National Maritime Museum, The Royal Observatory, Cutty Sark, and the Queen’s House, including imperial, maritime, and scientific holdings
Red Cross Archives (Humanitarianism) https://blogs.icrc.org/cross-files/international-conferences/
See also Audio-Visual Collections of the Red Cross https://avarchives.icrc.org
Slave Revolt in Jamaica, A Cartographic Narrative http://revolt.axismaps.com/map/Foreign
SOAS Digital Collections https://digital.soas.ac.uk/
Wilson Centre Digital Collections (Histories of Internationalism) https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org
Canada, between the US and Empire, 1883-1904: In the Papers of the Governor General
Héritage – Canadiana: http://heritage.canadiana.ca/ - digitized microforms of French and British colonial and military correspondence, 17th – 18th centuries and beyond
International African Institute (Leiden) database of online resources: https://www.internationalafricaninstitute.org/repositories
Simon Fraser University Digital Collections (Immigrant/Indigenous Experience in Canada) https://digital.lib.sfu.ca