Guides: HIST 384: Nineteenth-Century Britain: Home

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British History
by Kristen Howard Last Updated Apr 1, 2025 438 views this year
Modern European History
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Rare Books & Archival Collections Reference Guide
by Jennifer Garland Last Updated Mar 20, 2024 292 views this year

Find Primary Sources

Newspapers

British Library Newspapers (Gale Primary Sources)
Full-text database containing digitized regional and local newspapers published in Britain between the mid-eighteenth and mid-twentieth centuries.
Access to parts I-V, not part VI- Ireland, 1797-1950.

The Guardian and the Observer
Full text of the Manchester Guardian (Manchester) 1821-1955, the Observer (London), 1791-2003, and several other titles.
The Scotsman
Full text of the Scotsman/Daily Scotsman (Edinburgh), 1817-1950.

Periodicals

Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals (Gale Primary Sources)
Searchable facsimile resource for the study of British life in the 19th century.
British Periodicals (ProQuest)
Full-text database containing British periodicals from the late seventeenth to the early twentieth century.
Punch Historical Archive, 1841-1992 (Gale Primary Sources)
From 1841 to 1992, Punch was the world's most celebrated magazine of wit and satire. From its early years as a campaigner for social justice to its transformation into national icon, Punch played a central role in the formation of British identity—and how the rest of the world saw the British nation.

Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO)

Nineteenth Century Collections Online (Gale Primary Sources)
This database includes hundreds of primary source collections from across the world during the nineteenth century. Some collections focused on Britain are highlighted below.

British Politics and Society (NCCO)
Online archive including materials that enable in-depth examination and analysis of the growing calls for political reform in nineteenth-century Britain that were met with state resistance and marked a crisis of legitimacy for both the government and the reform movements themselves.
Highlights include the papers of several individuals (e.g., Charles James Fox and Sir Robert Peel), Home Office records, and papers related to working-class radicalism and governmental response.
British Theatre, Music, and Literature (NCCO)
Wide range of primary sources related to the arts in the Victorian era, from playbills and scripts to operas and complete scores sourced from the British Library and other renowned institutions. This collection includes many types of sources, including manuscripts, compositions, personal letters, annotated programs, meeting minutes, financial records, and popular literature.
Children's Literature and Childhood (NCCO)
Wide range of primary sources related to the experience of childhood in the long nineteenth century. Included in the archive are books and periodicals for children, primers and other material related to education, pamphlets produced by child welfare groups, documents and photos related to children and crime, newspapers produced by youths, and much more.

Thematic Collections

London Low Life (Adam Matthew)
London Low Life is a full-text searchable resource, containing colour digital images of rare books, ephemera, maps and other materials relating to 18th, 19th and early 20th century London.

Charles Booth's London
Explore poverty and labour in London between 1886 and 1903 using poverty maps and the original notebooks of Charles Booth, a British social science researcher, comprising over 450 volumes of interviews, questionnaires, observations and statistical information

Nineteenth Century Literary Society: The John Murray Publishing Archive (Adam Matthew)
Discover the work of one of the world’s most important publishing dynasties through this collection from the historic John Murray Archive. From book history to travel writing, politics to poetry, this newly digitised resource introduces an unparalleled repository for nineteenth century culture and the literary luminaries who shaped it.
Text mining is permitted, but certain conditions apply. Please contact Digital Scholarship Hub
British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries (Alexander Street)
A collection of British and Irish women's diaries and correspondence. Approximately 100 items correspond to the time period covered by this course; go to "Advanced Search" and enter the years you are interested in in the 'Date Written/Recorded' option.

Collections at McGill

19th-Century Chapbooks at McGill Library
McGill's Rare Books & Special Collections Library has an extensive collection of English-language chapbooks, including more than 400 published in London during the 19th century which have been digitized. Follow the link to see these digitized items; search for titles in the library catalogue to request them in the Rare Books Reading Room.

To learn more about the Chapbook Collection, see the online exhibit.

Literature

Rare Books and Special Collections (RBSC) has extensive holdings in 19th-century British literature including:

Children's literature (which includes the chapbook collection)
Hannah More Collection
Sir Richard Burton Collection
English Literature Manuscripts

Learn more about these collections and more on the RBSC Literature page.

Political and Regional History

Redpath Tracts collection consists of over 20,000 tracts and pamphlets divided into nine series illustrating the religious, political, literary, scientific and social history of the British Isles from 1561 to 1900.

Learn more on the RBSC Political and Regional History page.

Learn More

Learn more about the special collections held at McGill on the Special Collections page, and contact rarebooks.library@mcgill.ca for more information.

Find Secondary Sources

Find books

Library Catalogue

Find peer-reviewed articles

Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) (Brepols)
Provides bibliographic data on historical writing dealing with the British Isles, and with the British Empire and Commonwealth from 55 B.C.E. to the present.
Historical Abstracts (EBSCO)
This database contains references to journal articles, book reviews and some dissertations about the history of all parts of the world from 1450 on, EXCLUDING Canada and the United States. In the search options, select "Peer Reviewed" and enter "Historical Period" (e.g., Start Year: 1800 To End Year: 1900).
Humanities Index (ProQuest)
An international abstracting and indexing tool for research in the humanities, covering humanities journals, weekly magazines and newspapers published in the UK and other English speaking countries.
Coverage: 1962 - current.

Citations

Attend a Chicago Citation Style Workshop
Virtual workshop on Chicago citation style offered by McGill librarians. Click the link to find the date and time and register!
Chicago Manual of Style Citation Quick Guide
Purdue OWL Chicago Style Guide
Resource from Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) with explanations of how to write Chicago-style citations. Select the source type (books, periodicals, web sources) on the left-hand side.
McGill Library Citation Subject Guide
Under "citation styles by subject", select "History" for more resources on Chicago style.
Get Started with Zotero
Zotero is a free, open-source citation management system that will make it easier for you to write and cite throughout your undergraduate education and beyond! Get started early for the most benefits.

Liaison Librarian

Emily Jaeger-McEnroe

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Email me

Contact:

Humanities & Social Sciences Library

514-398-4701

HIST 384: Nineteenth-Century Britain