Library Subject Guides
As a History student, you are expected to find and use high quality literature. You'll need to use a range of different sources and demonstrate your ability to find good results in order to impress your tutors and to develop your research skills.
Books can be a great place to start your reading around a topic.
History books are located in the Q section on the second floor of the JB Morrell Library. Many books will also be available online as e-books. Look for the links in YorSearch, under the View It section of each book.
| Shelf location | Subject |
|---|---|
| Q | History |
| Q 30 | Ancient History |
| Q 40 | Europe |
| Q 50 | Asia |
| Q 60 | Africa |
| Q 70 | North America |
| Q 80 | South America |
| Q 90 | Australasia and islands of the Pacific |
The University has access to Collections 1 to 4 and the Wellcome Trust Collection.
All journal titles are listed on YorSearch, and can be found by searching the journal title.
If you don't have a specific title in mind, you can browse journals in your subject area on Browzine. Journals are organised by field of research, such as:
You can also search across hundreds of journals simultaneously using one of our journal databases:
For alumni access please see the Virtual Library JSTOR section on Alumni Learning.
Archives hold unique collections of unpublished sources. They can be an essential tool in Humanities research, offering access to a wealth of manuscripts, personal records, popular ephemera, diaries and more. Although archives may offer digital access to some of their key resources, the majority of archival collections are physical holdings that may never have been fully indexed. When consulting archives you may find only minimal searchable information about the collection - for example that the archive holds 6 boxes of papers relating to that person or thing. Archivists may be able to help you narrow down your search a little further, but it is not unusual for researchers to have to sift through the bulk of materials themselves. Although this can feel intimidating, it can also present opportunities to be the first researcher to ever study a specific resource.
The University of York's Borthwick Institute for Archives holds materials of local, national and international importance dating from the 11th cenury to the present day. Their collections cover a vast range of disciplines, from Arts & Performance and 20th Century Politics through to Natural Sciences and Healthcare from the 18th-20th centuries (particularly relating to mental health). You can search the Borthwick's archives using their catalogue Borthcat. For guidance on how to search their collections effectively please see the Archives Skills Guide.
To discover archival collections across the UK please see the links below.
You can still access European Views of the Americas: 1493 to 1750 on the Classic interface until 31st December 2025. See MyEBSCO data for how to access data on the New UI saved in MyEBSCO on the Classic interface. There is also important information about Custom Folders, which have not been migrated to the New UI.
Much of the current government information is available via the Web. The Politics Subject Guide is also a useful place to start.
The University has access to the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (18th - 21st centuries).
The Stuart and Cumberland Papers from the Royal Archives, Windsor Castle are on trial until 3rd March 2025.
See the Law Subject Guide for full details of searching for legal sources.
Printed copies of law reports are available in the Morrell Library at J REPORTS. These include:
The following resources can be used to research individual histories of British people through access to records such as birth, marriage, death certificates, census information and in some cases employment/service records. Wider sources offer the opportunity to examine first person accounts, organisational records, and historic maps, to build up a picture of an individual's life and times. We additionally recommend making use of our historic newspaper collections and the other primary sources that you find elsewhere on this page to further enrich your research.
You will need to register for an account the first time you access Digimap.
To start a more detailed search for articles and other research evidence, you'll need to use bibliographic databases. These are large indexes that allow you to search for articles from hundreds of different journals at the same time. The databases do not necessarily give you access to the full text, instead they will usually include the citation information and a brief abstract that gives a summary of the work. If you find citations for resources that we don't hold at York you can request the full text via the "Tell us what you need" link on YorSearch.
The University holds many subject specific bibliographic databases as listed below. If your work is more interdisciplinary we recommend using one of the larger databases such as Web of Science which, despite the name, covers all subject areas and allows you to search effectively across multiple disciplines.
You can still access the legacy BBIH interface.
You can still access the legacy IMB interface.
Historic and contemporary newsreel, newspaper & magazine collections. These resources can be a valuable tool when researching, giving insight into how a specific topic has been perceived by the general public over time.
The University has access to Collection I.
The University has access to Collection 1 .
The Economist from 1997 onward is also available via YorSearch.
For access you need to register for a personal THE account at the site.
You must register using your York email address @york.ac.uk and create your own username and password (the username will display on public parts of the site e.g. comments).
For access off-campus please use the VPN.
Information about theses is available on the main Library website.
All University PhD and MPhil theses are available in the Library in hard copy (find them using YorSearch). For Masters theses, only certain Departments make these available via our Digital Collections, which you can find linked to in the top pane in YorSearch.
All York PG Research students are required to upload their thesis into the White Rose Research Online, a shared online respository for academic publications from the Universities of York, Sheffield and Leeds. You can also access theses from outside the University:
