Background Sources
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Nineteenth-Century Britain
by
ISBN: 0191518107The nineteenth century was a time of massive growth for Britain. In 1800 it was overwhelmingly rural, agrarian, multilingual, and almost half-Celtic. A century later it was largely urban and English. The effects of the Industrial Revolution caused cities to swell enormously. London, for example, grew from about 1 million people to over 6 million. Abroad, the British Empire was reaching its apex, while at home the world came to marvel at the Great Exhibition of 1851 with its crowning achievement--the Crystal Palace. Historians Christopher Harvie and Colin Matthew present a comprehensive and authoritative guide to the social, economic, and political events that marked the era on which many believed the sun would never set.
Secondary Source Databases
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Historical Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new windowSearch for journal articles on all aspects of world history (excluding the US and Canada) from 1450 to the present. (EBSCO)
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JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Search for journal articles on topics in the arts, humanities, social sciences and some math/science. Most journals have volumes/issues dating from the 19th century to within 3-5 years of present day. (ITHAKA)
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Project Muse This link opens in a new window
Search for journal articles on topics related to the arts, humanities, and social sciences. (Project MUSE)
Other Database Resources
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Dictionary of National Biography This link opens in a new windowAccess biographies of people who shaped British history and culture. Note: Only one user at a time may access this database. (Oxford)
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Historical Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new windowSearch for journal articles on all aspects of world history (excluding the US and Canada) from 1450 to the present. (EBSCO)
Archival Resources
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Archival Resources of the Virginias (ARVAS) This link opens in a new window
Search for information on archival materials housed in historical societies, libraries, museums, colleges, and universities across Virginia and West Virginia. The online finding aids help researchers discover primary source materials that document the history, culture, and people of these two states. (ARVAS)
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ArchiveGrid This link opens in a new window
Access archival finding aids for historical documents, personal papers, and family histories held in archives from thousands of libraries, museums, and archives from around the world. (OCLC)
Primary Source Databases
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18th Century Collections Online This link opens in a new windowSearch books, pamphlets, and broadsides published between 1701-1800 in Britain (and its territories), Ireland, and the United States. The database includes materials in a variety of languages (although it's mostly English), and it contains an array of works - from encyclopedias to novels to law books to religious tracts to auction catalogs. (Gale)
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19th Century British Pamphlets Collection This link opens in a new window
Search pamphlets digitized from the collections of several UK universities. These pamphlets cover key political, social, technological, and environmental issues of 19th century Britain. (JSTOR)
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19th Century Collections Online: Women and Transnational Networks This link opens in a new windowSearch primary source documents that focus on issues at the intersection of gender and class -- from the late eighteenth century to the era of suffrage in the early twentieth century -- through a European and North American perspective. (Gale)
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Archives of Latin American and Caribbean History, Sixteenth to Twentieth Century This link opens in a new window
Search for primary source documents on history, culture, peoples, and societies of Latin American and the Caribbean. Documents include original manuscripts, signed letters, expedition records, reports, maps, diaries, descriptions of voyages, and ephemera. (Gale)
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Archives of Sexuality and Gender This link opens in a new window
Search for primary sources on the historical study of sex, sexuality, and gender. The content dates from the sixteenth century to the present. (Gale)
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Crime, Punishment, and Popular Culture, 1790-1920 This link opens in a new window
Find primary source material covering the rapid revolution of the justice and penal system during the nineteenth century, as well as the rise of sensationalism around crimes and criminals that captured the public's imagination. On one end of the spectrum, you will find trial transcripts, court proceedings, and the development of the police and forensic techniques; on the other end, you will also find popular fiction and detective novels; and bridging the two are newspaper accounts, true crime literature, and related ephemera. (Gale)
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Food and Drink in History This link opens in a new window
Search for primary source documents that illustrate the links between food and identity, politics and power, gender, race and socio-economic status, as well as chart key issues around agriculture, nutrition, food production, and advertising. Items include manuscript cookbooks, advertising ephemera, correspondence, government reports, and other illustrated content. (AM)
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Virginia Company Archives This link opens in a new window
Search for primary source documents from the Virginia Company of London, 1606-1624. Centered upon the archives of the Ferrar family who played a significant role in the Company's administration, this database documents the founding and economic development of the Virginia colony, relations between colonists and indigenous peoples, and early trade between Britain and America. (AM)
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Women's Studies Archive This link opens in a new window
Search for primary source documents focusing on the evolution of feminism and political activism in the 19th and 20th centuries. Topics covered include suffrage, abolition of slavery, alcohol and temperance movements, birth control, pacifism, civil rights, socialism, and more. Also included is a collection that focuses on "female forerunners," women who broke new paths in society through business, social reform, popular culture, health care, and more. (Gale)
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Women, War and Society, 1914-1918 This link opens in a new window
Search for primary source documents that illuminate the broad scope of British women's activities during World War I. The database includes materials from the Imperial War Museum in London, such as charity and international relief reports, pamphlets, photographs, press cuttings, magazines, posters, correspondence, minutes, records, diaries, memoranda, statistics, circulars, regulations and invitations, and interpretative essays from leading scholars. (Gale)
Boatwright Library Archival Collections
Boatwright Library is home to more than 12,000 rare books and 100 archival collections housed in the Book Arts, Archives, and Rare Book department located on the newly renovated Ground Floor of the library. Students are encouraged to make an appointment to use materials in the glass reading room located on that floor. Please email archives@richmond.edu for assistance.
Materials from the rare book collection are searchable using the "Rare Books" tab on the library homepage. You may request rare books through the library's catalog, but they must be used only in the rare book reading room (the glass room) during open hours or by appointment. You will find lots of 18th- and 19th-century materials about Britian in the collection, including a series of original pamphlets from the World War I era.
Archival collections relation to this course include the following:
- SC-15: H.M.S. Glory Logbook: Original British naval logbook recording a Royal Navy Officer's experience as a Midshipman on the HMS Glory from 1899-1901.
- MS-68 British Parliamentary Papers Collection - contains published parliamentary papers concerning British involvement in slavery and related to trade issues with the United States.
- MS-70 William Roxburgh Collection - contains botanical prints commissioned by British botanist William Roxburgh.
- MS-71 and MS-72 John Gould Print Collections - contains prints produced by Britain's leading ornithologist John Gould
News, Newspaper & Periodical Databases
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17th & 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Search a collection of British newspapers and pamphlets gathered by Rev. Charles Burney (1757-1817), which helps chart the development of the newspaper from published transcripts to coffee house newsbooks to the newspaper as we know it today. (Gale)
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19th Century British Library Newspapers This link opens in a new windowSearch a collection of national and regional newspapers of Victorian Britain (1800-1900). Note: UR has access to parts I and II of this database. (Gale)
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19th Century UK Periodicals (Part II: Empire) This link opens in a new windowSearch a collection of periodicals that focus on the role Britain played as an imperial power throughout the 1800s. It contains periodicals from Australia, Canada, Ceylon, India, New Zealand, and South Africa. (Note: We only have access to Part II: Empire). (Gale)
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British Periodicals, 1681-1937 This link opens in a new windowSearch a wide range of more than 160 periodicals published in Britain. Topics covered include literature, philosophy, history, science, the social sciences, music, art, drama, archaeology and architecture. (ProQuest)
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Economist Historical Archive, 1843-2020 This link opens in a new windowSearch for articles from the archives of The Economist. Find editorials, news, and commentary that offer insight into British, European, American, and world affairs. (Gale)
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LGBTQ+ Source This link opens in a new windowSearch for journal articles on topics related to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities. (EBSCO)
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National Geographic Virtual Library This link opens in a new windowAccess the archives of the National Geographic Magazine from 1888-present. (Gale)
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Times Digital Archive, 1785-2019 This link opens in a new windowSearch for articles from the archives of the Times of London newspaper, which covers general news, culture, fine arts, politics, history, and more. (Gale)
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Women's Periodicals: Social and Political Issues This link opens in a new window
Search for articles from historical women's periodicals published from the late 18th century to the early 1930s. Some of the titles were conceived and published by men, for women; others were conceived and published by male editors with strong input from female assistant editors or managers; while others were conceived and published by women, for women. These periodicals illuminate the lives of women, the role of women in society, and the development of the public lives of women as the push for women's rights—woman suffrage, fair pay, better working conditions—grew in the United States and England. (Gale)
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Women's Studies International This link opens in a new window
Search for articles from journals that publish feminist research in areas of sociology, history, political science, public policy, international relations, arts and humanities, business, and education. (EBSCO)
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Illustrated London News Historical Archive, 1842-2003 This link opens in a new windowSearch for articles from this fully-illustrated weekly British newspaper. It covers topics such as the arts, discovery and exploration, fashion, industry and trade, military history, politics, science and medicine, social history, sports, transportation, and travel. (Gale)