INTERNET RESOURCES: HISTORY

This is a list of free websites. There are also links to databases accessible only through the Library website.

General   

• AHDS History The Arts and Humanities Data Service and collects, preserves, and promotes the use of digital resources, which result from or support historical research, learning and teaching.
• American and British History Resources on the Internet A guide from Rutgers University. Includes Reference Resources, Archival and MSS. Guides, General History Portals, Sites Organized by Subject, Sites Organized by Period, Full-text Documents by Period, History Associations & History Listservs.
• Best of History Web Sites A portal that contains annotated links to over 1000 history web sites.
• Center for History and New Media Hosted by George Mason University, the Center for History and New Media (CHNM) combines electronic multimedia, digital archives, and new technologies with historical scholarship.
• Discoverers Web Information found on the web about voyages of discovery and exploration.
• Early Modern Women Database This is a portal to more than 200 Web resources for the study of women in early modern Europe and the Americas, focuses on the time period from the 14th to early 19th centuries, although primary and secondary resources from antiquity to the present are represented here as well.
• Historical Text Archive Articles, books and links to other resources.
• History Guide A gateway to scholarly history websites.
• History On-Line History teaching resources from the Institute of Historical Research (IHR) in the UK.
• HyperHistory 3,000 years of world history including graphics, lifelines, timelines, and maps.
• In the First Person An index to letters, diaries, oral histories and personal narratives.
• International Institute of Social History One of the world's largest documentary and research institutions in the field of social history in general and the history of the labour movement in particular. The website includes several databases and digital collections.
• Oral History Directory The Oral History Directory details major oral history collections in English around the world. It currently details more than 1,900 collections from approximately 570 repositories around the world and is updated quarterly.
• Repositories of Primary Sources An international guide to web sites with manuscripts, archives, and other primary source materials.
• University History A web site that brings together high quality web resources in history.
• ViVa A Bibliography of Women's History in Historical and Women's Studies Journals
• Voice of the Shuttle: History Page Provides a structured and briefly annotated guide to online resources in humanities.
• World History at KMLA Outlines of world history.
• WWW-Virtual Library: The History Index Links to a vast array of historical resources. Categories include Research: Methods and Materials, Eras and Epochs, Historical Topics, By Countries and Regions.

Library databases: General history

New Zealand   

• Archives New Zealand Film Site Films from the National Film Unit and other government departments.
• Chinese Digital Community Historical and contemporary information, articles, images, audio, video, documents and web links about New Zealand's Chinese community.
• Dictionary of New Zealand Biography This website contains over 3,000 biographies of New Zealanders who have 'made their mark' on this country. The online dictionary includes some biographies that were omitted from the printed volumes. It does not include biographies of people who are alive.
• Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand Photographs, sounds, moving images, documents, graphs and maps combined with text in an encyclopedia of New Zealand.
• Index of Maori Names This index is from an unpublished manuscript compiled about 1925 by the missionary Rev. Henry James Fletcher (1868-1933) and digitized by the University of Waikato Library. In its original form it was 987 pages long, a vast index of Māori names referred to in books and journals, including the names of boundaries, Māori individuals, canoes, trees, landmarks and geographical locations.
• Matapihi Matapihi is a search engine to find pictures, sounds, objects, movies and texts from libraries, museums and galleries around New Zealand.
• The New Zealand Wars Nga Pakanga Whenua O Mua This website The New Zealand Wars has been established in order to bring together onto one website information and materials dealing with the New Zealand Wars.
• Niupepa This bilingual site has a collection of historic newspapers published primarily for a Māori audience between 1842 and 1932. As well as facsimile images of the original pages, the text can be searched.
• NZETC New Zealand Electronic Text Centre. The latest additions to this site are some volumes of the Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War.
• NZHistory.net.nz A searchable site co-ordinated by New Zealand's Ministry for Culture and Heritage, including online exhibitions, links to other NZ History web sites, and a discussion forum.
• Papers Past Papers Past showcases selected 19th- and early 20th-century New Zealand newspapers and periodicals. The site currently contains digital images of a million pages from more than 50 publications. There is no indexing and although the text is uncorrected it is searchable.
• Treaty of Waitangi Information from the Treaty of Waitangi Information Unit.

Library databases: New Zealand history

Pacific   

• Pacific Collection Links to Pacific related web sites. Compiled by the University of Hawai'i at Manoa Library.
• Pacific Research Online A database of all Pacific research expertise mainly based within New Zealand universities.
• Pacific Studies WWW Virtual Library Compiled by the Australian National University.
• South Seas James Cook's and others' journals and other resources for the study of the history of European voyaging and cross-cultural encounters in the Pacific during the years between 1760 and 1800.

Library databases: Pacific history

Australia   

• Australian Council of Professional Historians Associations, Inc. (ACPHA) ACPHA is a national body representing professional historians in Australia. It has links to other professional historian organisations and resources.
• Australian History on the Internet A guide provided by the National Library of Australia.
• Australian Literary and Historical Texts Online and full- text searchable access to Australian literary and historical texts from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century. The site is developed and maintained by the Scholarly Electronic Text and Image Service (SETIS) at the University of Sydney Library.
• Australian Media History Database Research projects on Australian advertising, film, magazines, press, radio, television, and new media.
• Australian Newspapers Online
• Australian Periodical Publications 1840-1845 A digital library of Australian journals that began publication between 1840-1845.
• National Archives of Australia The site has general information about the archives, an online database to search the collection, and links to other archives.
• NLA Australian Newspapers Australian Newspapers, 1803 to 1954, from the National Library of Australia.
• Oral History Association of Australia OHAA membership details, conferences, and links to other oral history Web sites.
• PANDORA Archive (Preserving and Accessing Networked Documentary Resources of Australia.) A National Library of Australia archive of selected Australian online publications including electronic journals, organisational sites, government publications and ephemera.
• Project Gutenburg Australia Australian texts in the public domain.
• Transportation Records Database The National Archives of Ireland holdings of records relating to transportation of convicts from Ireland to Australia, 1788-1868.
• Trove An excellent search engine for Australian historical sources.

Library databases: Australian history

Asia   

• Digital South Asia Library Reference resources, images, maps, statistics, bibliographies & union lists, indexes, books and journals, other internet resources.
• East & Southeast Asia An annotated directory of Internet resources.
• Internet East Asian History Sourcebook Collections of public domain historical texts.
• Mongolian Culture Website of the Indo-Mongolian Society.
• NewspaperSG Newspapers from Singapore and Malaya.
• Vietnam War Bibliography Bibliography and links to online resources.
• The Vietnam Project Images, archives, oral history relating to the American Vietnam experience.
• The Wars for Vietnam: 1945 to 1975 Documents relating to the wars and links to other websites.

Library databases: Asian history

Britain and Ireland   

• Backstage A database for finding and searching performing arts collections in the UK.
• British History Online British History Online is the digital library of core medieval and early modern sources for British history from the Institute of Historical Research (University of London) and the History of Parliament Trust. Particular strengths include:
  The Journals of the Houses of Commons and Lords (16th-18th centuries), some 36 volumes
  The Victoria County History of England (some 80 volumes, with more projected)
  Some 70 volumes relating to the Cities of London and Westminster
  The Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae (31 volumes)
  The complete Ordnance Survey map series for England, Scotland and Wales.
• British Library Online Newspaper Archive Daily News, News of the World, Penny Illustrated, The Manchester Guardian, Weekly Dispatch.
• British Official Publications Collaborative Reader Information Service (BOPCRIS) Search and browse information from British Official Publications spanning the period 1688-1995. Key documents contain abstracts and subject indexing, and a limited number are available in fulltext.
• The Cabinet Papers 1915-1978 A selection of British cabinet papers from the National Archives.
• Historical directories Local and trade directories published in England and Wales from 1750 to 1919.
• Institute of Historical Research Resources for British history.
• MUNDUS Gateway to Missionary Collections in the UK Summary descriptions of more than 400 collections held in over 50 institutions in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Each description provides content and contextual information, and details of finding aids and of access conditions. There are links to missionary-related on-line resources and other useful web sites in the British Isles and the wider world.
• Old Bailey Online The Proceedings of the Old Bailey London 1674-1834. A fully searchable online edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing accounts of over 100,000 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court.
• In Search of Scotland Complements the BBC's ten-part series that explores the national identity of Scotland through its history. Includes documents, photographs, and public records, and related Web sites.
• The 1916 Rising: Personalities and Perspectives Online exhibition of materials from the National Library of Ireland.

Library databases: British history

Europe   

• Eurodocs Selected Transcriptions, Facsimiles and Translations.
• Munich Digitisation Centre The Digital Library Department from the Bavarian State Library, which includes digitised journals and primary source documents including the Monumenta Germaniae Historica (MGH).
• REESWeb World Wide Web virtual library for Russian & East European studies.
• TennesseeBob's Famous French Links History of France & the Francophone World.

Library databases: European history

Middle East

• The Gertrude Bell Project Letters, diaries, and photographs from Gertrude Bell's travels in the Middle East in the late 19th and early 20th Century.
• The Middle East 1916 - 2001: A Documentary Record The Avalon Project at Yale Law School.

North America   

• AMDOCS Documents for the Study of American History Primary documents freely available on the Internet.
• American Memory A Library of Congress gateway to primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States. The site offers more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections.
• American Presidency Project A searchable database of papers relating to the American Presidency.
• American Social History Online Primary sources including images (photographs and cultural materials), books and pamphlets, journal articles, maps, sheet music, videos, data sets, political cartoons and posters, and oral histories.
• American Studies Crossroads Project Crossroads is an international networking and curriculum innovation project of the American Studies Association. It includes Communities (organizations, communities and professional resources), Curriculum (resources for teachers and administrators of American Studies Programs), Technology & Learning (links and information on teaching with technology and integrating multimedia and network technology into the classroom), and Reference & Research (primary texts, finding aids, directories & indices for American Studies resources.)
• American Women's History: a Research Guide Provides citations to print and Internet reference sources; selected large primary source collections; and provides information about researching tools to find additional books, articles, dissertations, and primary sources. Produced by Ken Middleton, Todd Library, Middle Tennessee State University.
• American Women Through Time Timelines, Notable Women, States, and Topics (art, ethnic groups, religion, etc.).
• Automobile in American Life and Society Design, environment, gender, labor, race.
• A Biography of America The companion website to the video series.
• BlackPast.org Reference materials and sources on African American history.
• Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers Newspapers from California, Florida, Kentucky, New York, Utah, Virginia and the District of Columbia published between 1900 and 1910. Over a period of approximately 20 years, National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) will create a national, digital resource of historically significant newspapers published between 1836 and 1922 from all U.S. states and territories.
• U.S. Census Bureau Population, housing, economic and other data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau.
• Council of State Historical Records Coordinators (COSHRC) A national organization comprising the individuals who serve as State Historical Records Coordinators and their deputies. COSHRC encourages cooperation among the states and state boards on matters of mutual interest, define and communicate archival and records concerns at a national level, and work with the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) and other national organizations to ensure preservation of and access to documentary heritage.
• Densho The Japanese-American Legacy project. Densho's mission is to preserve the testimonies of Japanese Americans who were unjustly incarcerated during World War II.
• FedStats Gateway to statistics from over 100 U.S. Federal agencies.
• France in America History of the French presence in North America from the first decades of the 16th century to the end of the 19th century.
• FRASER: Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research Historical economic statistical publications.
• Historical Census Browser Census data from 1790 to 1960 from the University of Virginia.
• Law Library of Congress Research services, digital resources and links for legal research including historical documents.
• The Malcolm X Project Scholarly resources for the study of Malcolm X.
• Women Working, 1800-1930 Manuscripts, pamphlets and photographs from Harvard University's library and museum, relating to women's role in the United States economy.

Library databases: North American history

Latin America   

• Handbook of Latin American Studies (HLAS) Searchable bibliography on Latin America edited by the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress.
• Internet Resources for Latin America Information and links to other Internet resources including Latin American news sources, additional metasites, and various databases containing Latin American content.
• Latin American Environmental History Online searchable bibliography.
• Latin American Network Information Center (LANIC) Perhaps the most comprehensive Internet site for information on Latin America.
• Latin American Pamphlet Digital Collection Pamphlets published during the 19th and the early 20th centuries.
• SLAS Society for Latin American Studies UK-based association for those interested in the study of Latin American affairs.

Library databases: Latin American history

20th Century   

• The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II A collection of primary sources.
• Cold War International History Project Perspectives and primary source documents from both sides of the Cold War.
• League of Nations Statistical and disarmament documents.
• The Nizkor Project A site dedicated to the refutation of Holocaust denial.
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum History and impact of the Holocaust and genocides.
• The World War I document archive Primary source documents of the war.
• World War II Resources Primary source materials on the Web. Original documents regarding all aspects of the war.

Library databases: 20th century history

19th Century   

• NINES Nineteenth-century Scholarship Online, "a scholarly organization devoted to forging links between the material archive of the nineteenth century and the digital research environment of the twenty-first."
• Victoria Research Web VRW is dedicated to the scholarly study of nineteenth-century Britain.
• The Victorian Web A searchable guide to various categories in Victorian studies (including political and social history, science, technology, religion, gender matters)

Library databases: 19th century history

18th Century   

• 18th Century Resources Contains categories on British, American, Canadian, and European history, as well as General Resources. Edited by Jack Lynch of Rutgers University.
• Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution More than 600 primary documents relating to the French Revolution.

Library databases: 18th century history

Early Modern   

• Codices Iconographici The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich has catalogued and digitised its early modern Codices iconographici (pictorial manuscripts with little or no explanatory text).
• Erasmus Center for Early Modern Studies Website includes the Erasmus Online database.
• The Witchcraft Bibliography Project Bibliography of books and articles on witchcraft in early modern Europe.

Library databases: Early modern history

Medieval   

• Britannia History.  Index to the Middle Ages Timelines, narrative histories, biographies, articles, and primary sources and texts relating to 1066 - 1485 A.D.
• Byzantium: Byzantine Studies on the Internet Texts, images, academic and teaching material and more links.
• Calendar of Patent Rolls Full-text search of the Calendar of Patent Rolls 1348-1452. Project of Professor G.R. Boynton and the University of Iowa Libraries. What are Patent Rolls?
• Catalogue of Digitized Medieval Manuscripts A simple and straightforward means to discover medieval manuscripts available on the web. Very much a work in progress, the database will initially provide links to hundreds of manuscripts, which we expect quickly to grow to thousands.
• Centre for Medieval Studies in the University of Toronto Web site of a leading medieval studies centre.
• De Re Militari: The Society for Medieval Military History An international scholarly association established to foster and develop interest in the study of military affairs and warfare in the Middle Ages and Pre-Modern Period.
• Documenta Catholica Omnia Patrologia Latina and Patrologia Graeca - the Latin and Greek texts in church history.
• The Domesday Book Online
• English Medieval Legal Documents Wiki
• Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index Searchable index of journal articles, book reviews, and essays in books about women, sexuality, and gender during the Middle Ages.
• Internet Medieval Sourcebook Medieval and Byzantine collections of public domain historical texts.
• The Institute for Medieval Studies Information about the annual IMC International Medieval Congress at the University of Leeds, conference proceedings, and the International Medieval Bibliography (IMB).
• The Labyrinth: Resources for Medieval Studies A metasite with links to many other online resources in medieval studies.
• MEMDB Medieval and Early Modern Data Bank Currency exchanges and prices in the medieval and early modern Europe.
• Medieval and Renaissance Europe: Primary Historical Documents This metasite has links to medieval manuscript facsimiles, original language texts, and English translations.
• Medieval English Towns Historical information about cities and towns in England during the Middle Ages, with particular but not exclusive emphasis on medieval boroughs of East Anglia and on social, political and constitutional history. Includes primary documents (translated into English) relevant to English urban history.
• Medieval Manuscripts Online from Auckland City Libraries.
• Medieval Studies at UC-Davis A useful metasite with many links to other sources.
• NetSERF: The Internet Connection for Medieval Resources A searchable gateway to over 1,450 websites on the Middle Ages, categorised by subject (archaeology, architecture, art, Arthuriana, civilizations, culture, drama, history, literature, music, people, philosophy, religion, science and technology, and women).
• Online Medieval and Classical Library OMACL is a collection of some of the most important literary works of Classical and Medieval civilization.
• The ORB (Online Resource Book for Medieval Studies) ORB articles are judged by at least two peer reviewers. Includes the ORB Encyclopedia, Reference Shelf, Textbook Library, External Links, and ebooks.
• Parker Library on the Web 200,000 pages from 529 medieval manuscripts at the Parker Library.

Library databases: Medieval history

Medicine, Science and Technology   

• Aldo Leopold Archives The Leopold Collection houses the raw materials that document not only Leopold's rise to prominence but the history of conservation and the emergence of the field of ecology from the early 1900s until his death in 1948.
• The Chymistry of Isaac Newton A scholarly online edition of Newton's work on alchemy.
• The Complete Works of Charles Darwin All of Darwin's published works, including books, contributions to periodicals, and letters published in his lifetime or by his family
• Darwin Correspondence Project Darwin's correspondence provides us with an invaluable source of information, not only about his own intellectual development and social network, but about Victorian science and society in general. They provide a remarkably complete picture of the development of his thinking, throwing light on his early formative years and the years of the voyage of the Beagle, on the period which led up to the publication of The Origin of Species and the subsequent heated debates.
• ECHO Exploring and Collecting History Online A directory to 5,000+ websites concerning the history of science, technology, and industry.
• Einstein Archives Online Digitized manuscripts and a database of Einsteins writings.
• Eugenics Archive Image archive on the American eugenics movement.
• From Gutenberg to the Internet Information technology from printing to the Internet.
• The Galileo Project The life and work of Galileo Galilei. Text and images about his family, his contemporaries and the science of his time. The site also features Dava Sobel’s English translations of all 124 surviving letters from Galileo’s daughter Maria Celeste.
• Internet History of Science Sourcebook Online historical texts and links to related websites.
• Linus Pauling and the Race for DNA The discovery of the double helix structure of DNA from the perspective of Linus Pauling.
• Linus Pauling and the International Peace Movement
• Profiles in ScienceThe National Library of Medicine's Profiles in Science website has the archival collections of twentieth-century leaders in biomedical research and public health.
• Sources for the history of science, technology and medicine The George Mason University catalogues, annotates and reviews websites relating to the history of science, technology and medicine. Accessible through their ECHO (Exploring and Collecting History Online) site.
• Statisticians in History Biographies on some of the most accomplished statisticians in history, and papers they wrote.

Images and maps   

• British Cartoon Collection British political and satirical prints (ca. 1621-ca. 1853, bulk, 1780-1830) highlighting aspects of British political life, including tensions with its colonies and other nations, as well as society, fashion, manners, and theater.
• Images from the History of Medicine Provides access to nearly 60,000 images in the prints and photograph collection of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, illustrating the social and historical aspects of medicine.
• Manuscripts & Pictorial Collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library.
• Maps, Historical Links to websites featuring historical maps.
• Matapihi Matapihi is a search engine to find pictures, sounds, objects, movies and texts from libraries, museums and galleries around New Zealand.
• Picture Australia Images of Australian history from several Australian cultural institutions.
• Picturing U.S. History An interactive resource for teaching with visual evidence. Includes an annotated guide to some of the most useful visual resources available online.

Libraries and Archives   

New Zealand | International

New Zealand Libraries & Archives

• Archives New Zealand
  The national archives preserves and provides access to significant public archives relating to New Zealand life, and to the individual lives of New Zealanders from the beginning of British government in 1840 to the present day. Archway is the online catalogue of of over 1.5 million records that have been transferred from government agencies to the four offices in Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin and Wellington.
• Archive of Maori and Pacific Music
  The University of Auckland has the world's largest ethnographic sound collection relating to the Pacific.
• Auckland City Council Archives
• Auckland Museum Library
  One of the major historical research resources in New Zealand. The online catalogue does not yet list all the books, journals and maps in the Library, but does include a complete list of the manuscripts held there.
• The Community Archive (formerly NRAM National Register of Archives and Manuscripts)
  A catalogue of archival collections held in museums, local government bodies, libraries, historical societies, community repositories, and in-house business, educational, religious and sporting archives throughout New Zealand.
• The Film Archive
  The New Zealand Film Archive, Nga Kaitiaki O Nga Taonga Whitiahua collects, protects and projects New Zealand's film and television history.
• Hakena
  The Hocken Library archives and manuscript catalogue.
• National Library of New Zealand
• New Zealand National Maritime Museum
  The New Zealand Maritime Index includes a number of publications currently being indexed in the Bill Laxon Maritime Library.
• Tapuhi
  Alexander Turnbull Library's collection of archives, manuscripts and pictorial works.

International Libraries & Archives

• Archival Internet Resources
  An index of archival indexes, lists, and databases of archival resources.
• ArchiveGrid
  A directory of thousands of libraries, museums, and archives.

Australia

• Archives of Australia
  National archive, with focus on records created since the formation of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. Also some 19th century records relating to functions transferred by the colonies to the Commonwealth government, including shipping and post offices.

United Kingdom

• A2A Access to Archives
  Catalogues describing archives held throughout England and dating from the 10th century to the present day.
• Archives Hub
  A gateway to descriptions of archives in UK universities and colleges.
• Public Record Office
  The national archive of England, Wales and the United Kingdom, that preserves the records of central government and the courts of law from the 11th century to the present day.

United States

• National Archives
  U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
• Repositories of Primary Sources
  From University of Idaho, a listing of over websites describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical photographs, and other primary sources.

Copyright©The University of Auckland Library
Comments and suggestions to: Philip Abela
Last updated: 30 March, 2012