British History Sources, 1500-1900

Connected Histories brings together a range of digital resources related to early modern and nineteenth century Britain with a single federated search that allows sophisticated searching of names, places and dates. We have produced this short video guide to introduce you to the key features.

Connected Histories is a not-for-profit project. We welcome proposals for new content.

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Board of Longtitude
The Board of Longitude project makes available 68 volumes of papers recording the activity of this important public institution for the period 1714-1828. The collection also includes the papers of Neville Maskelyne (Astronomer Royal, 1765-1811) and John Pond (Astronomer Royal, 1811-35), as well as material from the National Maritime Museum.
British History Online
The digital library of primary and secondary sources for the history of Britain, from the Middle Ages to c.1900.
British Museum Images
The collection provides searchable access to almost 100,000 images, relating to early modern and 19th-century Britain.
British Newspapers, 1600-1900
The most comprehensive digital historic British newspaper archive in existence, with 3 million pages of historic newspapers, newsbooks and ephemera from national and regional papers.
Cause Papers in the Diocesan Courts of the Archbishopric of York, 1300-1858
Cause papers relating to disputes over matrimony, defamation, tithes, probate, breach of faith by the clergy, and church rights heard between 1300 and 1858 in the Church Courts of the diocese of York.
Charles Booth Archive
The online archive provides access to guides, digitised images and maps from the Booth archive collections at the London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of London Library.
Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540-1835
A database containing details of the careers of more than 130,000 clergymen of the Church of England between 1540 and 1835, from over 50 archives in England and Wales.
Convict Transportation Registers Database
Information on more than 123,000 of the 160,000 convicts transported to Australia between 1787 and 1867 included in the Convict Transportation Registers Series (HO 11) held in The National Archives of the UK.
Database of Mid-Victorian Wood-Engraved Illustration
A resource providing details and high-quality images of several hundred literary illustrations published in or around 1862
History of Parliament
Comprehensive accounts of parliamentary politics in England, then Britain, from the thirteenth century
House of Commons Parliamentary Papers
The Parliamentary Papers gives access to page images and searchable full text for over 200,000 House of Commons sessional papers and supplementary information from 1688 onwards.
John Foxe's The Acts and Monuments Online
John Foxe's The Acts and Monuments Online contains all four editions of Foxe's martyrology and ecclesiastical history which were published between 1563 and 1583.
John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera
The collection provides access to more than 67,000 scanned items from the Bodleian Library's holdings documenting various aspects of everyday life in Britain from the 18th to the early 20th century.
John Strype's Survey of London Online
This is a full-text electronic version of John Strype's enormous two-volume survey of 1720, complete with its celebrated maps and plates, which depict the prominent buildings, street plans and ward boundaries of the late Stuart capital.
Lane's Masonic Records
An electronic version of Lane's listing of the lodges established by the English Grand Lodges from 1717 to 1894
London Lives 1690-1800
London Lives provides a fully searchable edition of 240,000 manuscript pages from eight London archives and 15 datasets, giving access to 3.5 million names.
Newton Project
The Newton Project aims to publish a full online edition of all of Sir Isaac Newton’s (1642-1727) writings, both printed and manuscript. In addition to his scientific and mathematical works, the edition includes Newton's many alchemical and religious texts. Approximately 6.5 million words have already been transcribed, and the project is on-going.
Nineteenth-Century British Pamphlets
The most significant British pamphlets from the 19th-century held in UK research libraries.
Queen Victoria's Journals
Queen Victoria's Journals makes available 141 volumes of Queen Victoria's journal (or detailed diary), the first of which dates from 1832 when she was still Princess Victoria. It also includes a number of contextual essays, for example by Marina Warner o...
Science in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical
A searchable electronic index to the science content of sixteen nineteenth-century periodicals
The Proceedings of the Old Bailey Online, 1674-1913
The Old Bailey Online contains accounts of the trials conducted at London's central criminal court between 1674 and 1913; and also the Ordinary's Accounts - detailed narratives of the lives and deaths of convicts executed at Tyburn, published between 1676 and 1772.
Transcribed Papers of Jeremy Bentham
Newly transcribed manuscripts from the vast collection written and composed by the philosopher and legal reformer Jeremy Bentham.
Victoria County History
The greatest publishing project in English local history.
Who were the Nuns?
Who were the nuns? is a database of those women who entered the English convents in exile from the foundation of the first new house in Brussels in 1598 until 1800, containing information about 3,900 nuns who entered 23 convents and the Mary Ward Institute during this period.
Witches in Early Modern England
Witchcraft narratives from early modern England.

Using Connected Histories

When you do a search on Connected Histories you will be presented with results from a number of resources which are available on the web. Each result also includes a link so that you can click through to the original website and read the full result. However, a number of resources are no longer available on the web and so these are labelled with the statement "(external link no longer available)".

Unfortunately the continued availability of external, third-party websites and resources is outside our control.

Research guides

Our nine research guides will help you to get the most out of Connected Histories, whatever your interests.

Video introduction

Watch our screencast for a short introduction to the Connected Histories project, explaining how you can search, what resources are included, and what background material is available. We also have a list of frequently asked questions.

Funded by

British History Sources, 1500-1900

Search

Discover our resources

Board of Longtitude

British History Online

British Museum Images

British Newspapers, 1600-1900

Cause Papers in the Diocesan Courts of the Archbishopric of York, 1300-1858

Charles Booth Archive

Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540-1835

Convict Transportation Registers Database

Database of Mid-Victorian Wood-Engraved Illustration

History of Parliament

House of Commons Parliamentary Papers

John Foxe's The Acts and Monuments Online

John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera

John Strype's Survey of London Online

Lane's Masonic Records

London Lives 1690-1800

Newton Project

Nineteenth-Century British Pamphlets

Queen Victoria's Journals

Science in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey Online, 1674-1913

Transcribed Papers of Jeremy Bentham

Victoria County History

Who were the Nuns?

Witches in Early Modern England

Using Connected Histories

Research guides

Video introduction

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