LibGuides: History Subject Guide: Primary sources: Online

Primary sources: Online collections

Adam Matthew Primary Resources This link opens in a new window
Adam Matthew publishes unique primary source collections from archives around the world. The University of Dundee has access to the following named collections : Colonial America; Defining Gender; East India Company; Empire Online; Apartheid South Africa and Race Relations in America. This link allows you to search across all these collections, or within one collection.
For off campus access use your University of Dundee username and password.
Black thought and culture This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
This database contains 1,303 sources with 1,210 authors, covering the non-fiction published works of leading African Americans. Where possible the complete published non-fiction works are included, as well as interviews, journal articles, speeches, essays, pamplets, letters and other materials.
Defining Gender 1450-1910 This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Defining Gender provides access to a collection of original documents relating to gender studies, gathered from Libraries and Archives worldwide. The collection includes letters and diaries; conduct and advice literature; poetry, and pamphlets, and manuscript journals.
For off-campus access use your University of Dundee username and password
Early encounters in North America This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
This database contains 1,482 authors and over 100,000 pages of letters, diaries, memoirs and accounts of early encounters. Particular care has been taken to index the material so that it can be used in new ways. For example, you can identify all encounters between the French and the Huron between 1650 and 1700.
John Johnson collection This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
An archive of printed ephemera. The collection provides access to thousands of items selected from the John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera at the Bodleian Library, offering unique insights into the changing nature of everyday life in Britain in the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
Access is via the UK Federation. Follow the Remote users: login via your home institution link, choose the UK region, and University of Dundee.
Sixties: Primary Document and Personal Narratives 1960-1974 This link opens in a new window
The Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives 1960–1974 brings the 1960s alive through diaries, letters, autobiographies and other memoirs, written and oral histories, manifestos, government documents, memorabilia, and scholarly commentary. With 125,000 pages of text and 50 hours of video at completion, this searchable collection is the definitive electronic resource for students and scholars researching this important period in American history, culture, and politics
For off-campus access Login with your University of Dundee username and password

Europeana
Europeana provides cultural heritage enthusiasts, professionals, teachers, and researchers with digital access to European cultural heritage material. Discover artworks, books, music, and videos on art, newspapers, archaeology, fashion, science, sport, and much more.

Newspapers and magazines

British Library newspapers, 1800-1900 This link opens in a new window
Includes full runs of national and regional newspapers representing different political and cultural segments of the 19th century British society. Access is to collections 1 & 2, including The Dundee Courier, & The Glasgow Herald.
For off campus access use your University of Dundee username and password.
British Periodicals This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
This collection covers early magazines from the 17th to the early 20th Century. The collection is full text searchable, and covers a wide range of subject matter, ranging from popular journalism to literary, scientific and political publications.
For off campus access sign in with your University of Dundee username and password.
Burney Collection Newspaper Archive (17th to 18th century) This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Newspapers and news pamphlets gathered by the Reverend Charles Burney (1757 - 1817) form the largest single collection of 17th and 18th century English news media. Includes over 1,200 titles
Irish Times This link opens in a new window
The Irish Times, Ireland's leading quality newspaper, delivers news, opinion and analysis to 793,000 readers each week. Coverage: 1859-2021.
For off-campus access use your University of Dundee username and password
JISC journal archives This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
More than 3.75 million articles from the archives of over 600 journals of major publishers and societies – Brill, Institution of Civil Engineers, Institute of Physics, ProQuest, Oxford University Press and Royal Society of Chemistry. The service also contains the recently digitised ‘Spare Rib’ magazine, available open access.
For off campus access Click on the enter symbol - type or select 'University of Dundee' in the search box and login with your Dundee username and password
Scotsman Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
The Scotsman, with coverage from 1817-1950
Access is via the UK Federation. Login with your University of Dundee username and password.
The Times Digital Archive 1785-2019 This link opens in a new window
The Times in full text, including news, editorials, advertising, and images
For off-campus access Login with your University of Dundee username and password
Weekly Irish Times This link opens in a new window
The Irish Times, Ireland's leading quality newspaper, delivers news, opinion and analysis to 793,000 readers each week. Coverage 1876-1941
For off-campus access use your University of Dundee username and password.

Manuscripts

Medieval and Early Modern Sources Online (MEMSO) This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Medieval and Early Modern Sources Online (MEMSO) is an essential resource for the study of Britain and its place in the world during the medieval and early modern period (c. 1100-1800). MEMSO contains a large repository of state papers, chronicles, accounts and correspondence from the archives of Britain, Ireland and continental Europe. This is complemented by an ever-growing collection of original manuscript images taken from the English State Papers held at the National Archives.
For off campus access use your University of Dundee username and password.
Historical texts (includes EEBO, ECCO and 19thc. British Library titles) This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
A collection of over 350,000 books published in England from 1475 to 1900. Includes Early English Books Online, Eighteenth Century Collections Online and 19th century titles from the British Library.
For off campus access select 'Click to sign in' icon, Login, type or select University of Dundee and sign in with your University of Dundee username and password
Early European Books Online. Collections 1-4 This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Early European Books traces the history of printing in Europe from its origins through to the close of the seventeenth century, offering full-colour, high-resolution facsimile images of rare and hard-to-access printed sources.
For off-campus access select Login through your library or institution, select region United Kingdom(UK Access Management Federation for Education and Research, select institution University of Dundee then login using your University of Dundee username and password

British Library Digitised Manuscripts
Use this website to view digitised copies of manuscripts and archives in the British Library’s collections. Highlights of the collection include he Harley Golden Gospels, Beowulf, the Silos Apocalypse, Leonardo da Vinci’s Notebook, the Petit Livre d’Amour and the Golf Book.
Manuscripts Online
Manuscripts Online enables you to search a diverse body of online primary resources relating to written and early printed culture in Britain during the period 1000 to 1500. The resources include literary manuscripts, historical documents and early printed books which are located on websites owned by libraries, archives, universities and publishers.

Public records, government documents and legal sources

UK Parliamentary Archive
The Parliamentary Archives collects, preserves and makes accessible the records of UK Parliament. They operate a free public archives service, and provide gudies on researching parliamentary records.
Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707 (RPS)
The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707 (RPS) is a fully searchable database containing the proceedings of the Scottish parliament from the first surviving act of 1235 to the union of 1707. The culmination of over ten years’ work by researchers from the Scottish Parliament Project based in the School of History at the University of St Andrews, the online edition seeks to make this key historical source freely available to all in a technologically advanced and user-friendly format.
Domesday Book
Domesday Book, England's oldest and most famous public record, describes the condition of England south of the river Tees in 1066 and 1086 thus documenting the Norman Conquest, one of the greatest upheavals in English history. It contains a body of evidence unparalleled for England at so early a period. For more than 99% of the 15,000 places named there, Domesday provides the first recorded description of their human and natural resources.
National Archives: The Cabinet Papers
The cabinet papers are a unique collection of conclusions and reference materials that detail the role of the UK government Cabinet Office and its history.

UK Parliamentary Papers This link opens in a new window
Full-text access to government documents from 1688-2003, with information on social, political, economic and foreign policy. Includes Bills, House Papers and Command Papers, including reports of committees and commissions, accounts and financial returns, statistical information, treaties and foreign correspondence
Select "login through institution", then select United Kingdom and then University of Dundee from the drop-down menu. When promted, log in with your University of Dundee username and password.
Statistical accounts of Scotland This link opens in a new window
The two Statistical Accounts of Scotland, covering the 1790s and the 1830s, are among the best contemporary reports of life during the agricultural and industrial revolutions in Europe.

Historic maps

Old Maps Online
Old Maps Online indexes over 400.000 maps, made available from library, museum and university collections around the world.
National Library of Scotland Maps
The NLS have digitised a large range of historic, military and OS maps covering the whole of Scotland. Use this site to explore how Scotland's towns and cities have developed over time.

Digimap Historic Map Service This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Explore past landscapes and visualise change through time with Historic Digimap. Access to scanned maps of Great Britain dating back to 1840 with the ability to view maps from different times side-by-side making visual comparisons easy. The historic map collection is extensive, however map series rarely provide complete coverage of Great Britain.
For off-campus access use your University of Dundee username and password. Additionally, to access the Digimap Historic Map Service, you must first register.