Library Subject Guides
If you know the name of the journal you need, you can search for it in YorSearch. Most journals can be accessed online by logging in with your University username and password. Some will only be available in print in the Library; click on the item to check what print copies are available and where they are shelved.
You can use Google Scholar to search for academic materials like journal articles, peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports. When you use a campus-networked PC, Google Scholar will automatically link to the University of York library catalogue and display articles where we have full-text access. When off campus, you will need to select University of York Library in the Settings option (under Library Links).
Here is a selection of the electronic journal packages that provide access to the full text of articles most relevant for History:
Bibliographic databases are generally lists of references to books, journal articles, book chapters and conference proceedings, sometimes in a specific subject area. Some bibliographic resources focus on particular time periods or countries whilst others are more general. They may include an abstract or summary of the material, but in general they do not contain the full text of the publications referred to, although there may be a link to an online full text version if one is available and subscribed to by the University of York.
Biographies:
General:
Bibliographical:
As well as the general bibliographical resources for History listed in the Journals and articles box above, try these resources specifically for the Medieval period.
Texts and translations:
Historical Documents:
Other sources:
Remember to look at other tabs in this box for further medieval resources:
Look also in the E-books box for useful ebook collections: Internet Archive and Gallica are both excellent resources for material out of copyright. Gallica includes digitised journals e.g. Le Moyen Age. Manchester Medieval Sources Online is also good for secondary sources.
Bibliographical:
As well as the general bibliographical resources for History listed in the Journals and articles box above, try these resources covering the Early Modern period.
Primary texts & documents:
Other sources:
Remember to look at other tabs in this box for further Early Modern resources:
Bibliographical:
As well as the general bibliographical resources for History listed in the Journals and articles box above, try these resources covering the eighteenth century.
Primary texts & documents:
Contemporary journals:
Other sources:
Remember to look at other tabs in this box for further eighteenth century resources:
Bibliographical:
As well as the general bibliographical resources for History listed in the Journals and articles box above, try these resources covering the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Primary texts & documents:
Contemporary journals:
Film material:
Other sources:
Remember to look at other tabs in this box for further nineteenth and twentieth century resources:
Newspaper collections:
Individual newspaper titles:
The following titles are available online as individual newspaper archives. For a more comprehensive list of newspaper titles see the Newspapers section on the Library's E-resources Guide.
Free online newspaper resources:
Information about freely available online newspaper resources can be found on the Websites tab in this box.
Official publications:
The Library holds print and microform collections of UK government publications. Guides are available to help you use these publications:
Much of the current government information is available via the Web. The Politics Subject Guide is also be a useful place to start.
Historical government publications available online:
Historical legislation:
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 provide access to historical legal resources online:
UK and European history resources freely available online:
Global history resources freely available online:
Freely available newspaper resources:
Freely available multimedia resources:
All University PhD and MPhil theses are available via the library catalogue. Masters theses for some subjects are held in the Library for 6 years.
All York research students registered in or after October 2009 are required to upload their thesis into the White Rose Research Online, a shared online repository for academic publications from the Universities of York, Sheffield and Leeds.
You can also access theses from outside the University:
Information about history theses is available from the Institute of Historical Research
This is a list of some microforms in the Library which are of potential use to historians. It excludes certain classes. First, all microforms connected with women's history (see Historical Sources for Women's Studies - specifically the information in the box 'Letters, Diaries, and Papers on Microfilm); second, all the publications of historical record societies such as the Bedfordshire Historical Record Society; and third, all microforms of other books and theses.
Some of the material is on microcard, some on microfiche, and some on microfilm, as shown below. Please use YorSearch to find out the location of this material. Hard copy can be made from microfiche and microfilm materials, but not from microcard, by using the Library's reader-printers.
In addition to the microform sources available here, there are major collections that are available in other libraries or via Inter-Library Loan.
| Abolition and emancipation. Part 1: sources from the Huntington Library. (Contains papers of Thomas Clarkson, William Lloyd Garrison, Zachary Macaulay, Harriet Martineau, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and William Wilberforce.) | Microfilm |
| Ancient correspondence. 1175-1538. PRO Class SC 1. Brighton: Harvester Microform, [1985]. | Microfilm |
| Association of All Classes of All Nations. Proceedings of the 3rd (-4th) Congress of the Association of all Classes of All Nations and the first (-second) Congress of the National Community Friendly Society. Birmingham, 1838 (-1939). | Microfilm |
| Bradlaugh, Charles. The Bradlaugh papers. Wakefield: EP Microform, 1975. | Microfilm |
| Britain and Europe since 1945. Brighton: Harvester P., 1973-1980. | Microfiche |
| British Library. Calendars of charters and rolls in the manuscript collections of the British Library. | Microfilm |
| British Museum. English cartoons and satirical prints, 1320-1832, in the British Museum. | Microfilm |
| Byland Abbey. [Transcripts and extracts of a general cartulary.] Bodleian Library, MS. Dodsworth, 63, ff. 9-78. | Microfilm |
| Clarke, Sir William. Sir William Clarke manuscripts, 1640-1664. Hassocks: Harvester P., 1977. | Microfilm |
| The French Revolution research collection. editors: Jean-Paul Bertaud, Georges Miraval, David Geggus, editor-in-chief Colin Lucas. (Sections only). | Microfiche |
| Holyoake, George. Holyoake papers. (On permanent loan from Dr. E. Royle.) | Microfilm |
| Holyoake, George. Selected pamphlets, 1841-1904. (In the series Religion, radicalism and freethought in Victorian and Edwardian Britain.) (On permanent loan from Dr. E. Royle.) | Microfilm |
| Home Office. Civil disturbance, Chartism and riots in nineteenth-century England: Disturbance Papers selected from HO 45. | Microfilm |
| Keene, Derek J. and Harding, Vanessa. Historical gazetteer of London before the Great Fire. | Microfiche |
| Labour Party, National Executive Committee. National Executive Committee minutes, 1900-1955. Hassocks: Harvester P., 1974. | Microfiche |
| Lascelles and Maxwell Letter Books, 1739-1769. Wakefield: Microform Academic Press. | Microfilm |
| Left in Britain. Hassocks: Harvester P., 1974. Contains, among other things, the Socialist standard, 1904-1972. | Microfilm |
| The Lisle letters. Public Record Office, SP 3/1-18. | Microfilm |
| London. Court of Hustings. Husting rolls of deeds and wills, 1252-1485. | Microfilm |
| London directories from the Guildhall Library, 1677-1855. Reading, Primary Source Media, [n.d.]. (Housed in King's Manor Library.) | Microfilm |
| London Trades Council. Minutes and papers, 1860-1953. London: World Microfilms, 1971. | Microfilm |
| Macfarlane, Alan. Records of an English village: Earls Colne, 1400-1750. | Microfiche |
| Meaux Abbey. Chartulary of the abbey of Melsa, or Meaux, in the County of York. British Library, MS. Lansdowne 424. | Microfilm |
| Meaux Abbey. Cronica monasterii de Melsa, 1150-1400. British Library, MS. Egerton 1141. | Microfilm |
| Morice, Humphry. The Humphrey [sic] Morice papers from the Bank of England, London. | Microfilm |
| National Community Friendly Society. Minute books of the Owenite societies, 1838-1845. Hassocks: Harvester P., 1976. (On permanent loan from Dr. E. Royle.) | Microfilm |
| Palmerston, Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount . [The Russell papers: correspondence with Lord John Russell, 1862-1864.] P.R.O. 30/22, 30/23: 1-210. | Microfilm |
| Place, Francis. The Francis Place papers from the British Library. | Microfilm |
| Privy Council. Acts, colonial series, 1613-1783. | Microfiche |
| Radical politics and the working man in England, series two: The Francis Place Collection in the Department of Printed Books in the British Library, 1770-1853. | Microfilm |
| Religion, radicalism and freethought in Victorian and Edwardian Britain. Collection of periodicals, 1834-1916. (On permanent loan from Dr. E. Royle.) | Microfilm |
| Religion, radicalism and freethought in Victorian and Edwardian Britain. The records of the Leicester Secular Society, 1842-1943. (On permanent loan from Dr. E. Royle.) | Microfilm |
| Religion, radicalism and freethought in Victorian Britain. Manchester Domestic Missionary Society reports, 1833-1908. (On permanent loan from Dr. E. Royle.) | Microfilm |
| Sex and sexuality, 1640-1940: literary, medical and sociological perspectives. Part 1. (Marlborough: Adam Matthew Publications, 1998). | Microfilm |
| The Tanner manuscripts: church, state and politics in England 1550-1700. Parts 1-4. From the Bodleian Library, Oxford. (Brighton: Harvester Press Microform Publications, 1977). | Microfilm |
| Thorne, Parish. Parish of Thorne minute book, 1816-1894. | Microfilm |
| The Times. 1785-1991. | Microfilm |
| Trades Union Congress, Parliamentary Committee. Minutes, 1888-1922. London, Micrographic Exports. | Microfilm |
| Trades Union Congress, Parliamentary Committee. Reports, 1910-1918. London, Micrographic Exports. | Microfilm |
| York Courant. 1728-1805. | Microfilm |
There are lists of microforms of interest to historians; those available here are noted below.
Borthwick Institute of Historical Research, York. Historical records available on microform in York. York, 1994.
British Library. Microform collections: government publications and the social sciences; comp. by Dorothy Walker. London, 1992.
British Library. Microform research collections at the British Library. London, 1989.
Munro, D.J. Microforms for historians: a finding-list of research collections in London libraries; 2nd ed. London, 1994.
This finding-list includes the microform holdings of the British Library Document Supply Centre, items from where can be obtained via the Inter-Library Loan system. A maximum of ten reels of microfilm or one hundred microfiches may be borrowed against one Inter-Library Loan request form; the maximum loan period is fifteen weeks.
The Library subscribes to a large number of e-books. You can access individual e-books via YorSearch, but you may also wish to search across e-book collections for relevant material:
YorSearch: Use YorSearch, the Library catalogue, to find books. Some books will be available as e-books that you can access online from anywhere; look for the link in YorSearch.
Reading lists: Each of your modules will have a reading list linked to from the module site on the VLE.
History books are held in the Q section of the Library: Click here to see History shelf locations
York Digital Library (YODL) provides access to over 69,000 resources, which include images, archive material and rare books. Some of the material is public, some of the collections can be accessed by members of the University only and some collections are restricted to students taking certain courses. Remember to login so that you can see the full range of resources available to you.
You can access past exam papers and MA theses which have been selected by the History department in our Digital Collections, which you can find linked to in the top pane in YorSearch.
Use the following links to search Library collections outside the University of York. Remember that you can use the Library's Interlending service to get items that we don't have in stock at York, or you can catch our free minibus to the British Library Document Supply Centre at Boston Spa. You can visit and sometimes borrow from other libraries using the SCONUL Access scheme.