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Early modern history (British & W European c. 1500-c. 1800): Home

Purpose of this guide

This guide is intended for students and researchers at the University of Oxford seeking support in British and West European early modern history, although students and researchers from any field may find it useful.

Use this guide to find out about printed and online resources (including ebooks, ejournals, databases), reference works (incl. biographical dictionaries) and special collections for this historical period.

Looking for books, journals, databases and more, held in Oxford libraries? 

Search Oxford Libraries Online (SOLO)

Looking for early modern and modern archives held in the Bodleian Libraries?

Search Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts

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Getting started

Finding books

Use SOLO to search for books and journals held in Oxford libraries.

Use author and/or title searches to find books. If you are looking for books on a topic, type in useful subject terms in Advanced Search:

Examples:

  • Great Britain History Civil War
  • Reformation - Great Britain
  • France - History - 17th century - Sources
  • Germany - Social conditions - 18th century
  • Industries - England - 18th century
  • Enlightenment -- Italy -- History

Key resources

All Oxford's libraries provide access to a wide range of networked electronic resources which can be access from both SOLO (Oxford's local discovery tool) and Databases A-Z. In addition to generalist history journals, the key journals for early modern history are listed below:

While you can search for journal articles in SOLO, if you are searching by subject it is actually best to use special databases.This is particularly true if you don't have any or only complete references to articles or journals. The recommended databases are:

More information on literature searches.

Remote access to eresources

Current members of the University of Oxford have remote access to large numbers of eresources:

  1. Single Sign On. Sign on to SOLO, Databases A-Z or your University email and your browser retains the sign on. This allows you to access most e-resources as if you were on campus. 
  2. VPN (Virtual Private Network) to log on to the network via VPN. Once logged on you can access all e-resources as if you were on campus.

For further information see the Bodleian Libraries remote access guide.

Almunnus of the University of Oxford

If you are an alumnus, you can get remote access to a limited number of eresources.

Bodleian Library card holders

Bodleian Reader card holders can only access our digital resources from a library computer or a device connected to our ‘Bodleian-Libraries’ Wi-Fi network, not from offsite.

History Librarian (Research)

Profile Photo
Isabel Holowaty
she/her
Contact:
Upper Reading Room, Room 2.03 (North / History end)
Bodleian Library, Broad Street
Oxford, OX1 3BG
01865 2-77294
Website Skype Contact: iholowaty
Subjects: History - British

Book 1-1 with Isabel

 

History Librarian (Teaching)

Profile Photo
Rachel D'Arcy-Brown
Contact:
Upper Reading Room,
Room 2.03 (North / History end)
Bodleian Library,
Broad Street
Oxford,
OX1 3BG
01865 2-77294
Website