This guide is intended for students and researchers at the University of Oxford who are interested in British and West European History. Students and researchers from related fields may find it useful.
Use this guide to find out about books and online resources for British and West European history, including ebooks, ejournals and bibliographic databases.
The history collections aim to cover primary and secondary source material for the late Roman to the modern periods for British, Western European and some world history. Topical coverage includes social, political, economical, ecclesiastical, cultural history, etc. but also historiography, diplomatics and palaeography.
Historians benefit hugely from having access to the Bodleian Library's Legal Deposit collections as they have access to material not widely available. Read more about Legal Deposit and the recently enacted electronic Legal Deposit.
Teaching and research collections for British and Western European history are considerable at Oxford University. They are held primarily by the Bodleian Library and the History Faculty Library.
Through Legal Deposit and extensive purchasing, primary and secondary source materials are acquired as comprehensively as possible.
Research collections for Western European history are actively developed in the Bodleian Library to provide excellent coverage of both national and regional history, especially of France and Germany. Many monographs are also shelved in the Gladstone Link, which is located underground between the Old Library and the Radcliffe Camera.
The History Faculty Library has good collections of European history for teaching purposes.
Guides to 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. The key resources are listed below:
A full listing of databases relevant to history is available in the History subject list in Databases A-Z.
Most key history journals are now available electronically. JSTOR, OUP, CUP and Wiley will provide all back issues, while current issues are provided by some of the major publishers, such as Project Muse, Ingenta, etc. A full listing of e-journals is available in Oxford University e-Journals.
History of Art (Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library, History Faculty Library)
History of Science (Radcliffe Science Library, Bodleian Library, History Faculty Library) - Resource guide (pdf)
History of Medicine (Radcliffe Science Library, Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, History Faculty Library) - Resources guides
Ancient History and Archaeology (Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library, Bodleian Library) - Resource guides
Celtic Studies (Taylor Institution Library, Bodleian Library, History Faculty Library) - Resources guide
Legal history (Bodleian Law Library) - Resources guides
Archives, early printed books & rare books (Special Collections Bodleian Library) - Resources guides
Enlightenment and 18th century collections (Taylor Institution Library)
British Government Papers (Official Papers) - Resources guides
Military and Naval history collections (Codrington Library, All Souls' College)
Economic and Social History collections (Nuffield College Library)
History of Slavonic and Central & East European countries (Bodleian Library, Taylor Institution Slavonic & Modern Greek Library, History Faculty Library, St Antony's College Library)
History of the USA (Vere Harmsworth Library, History Faculty Library)
History of Latin America (Bodleian Library, Latin American Centre Library, History Faculty Library)
History of sub-Saharan Africa, the Commonwealth & former British colonial territories (Weston Library, History Faculty Library)
History of the Middle East & North Africa (Bodleian Library, Oriental Institute Library, Middle East Centre Library, History Faculty Library)
History of the Indian sub-continent (Bodleian Library, History Faculty Library)
History of China (Bodleian Library, Bodleian K B Chen China Centre Library)
History of Japan (Bodleian Japanese Library)
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?
The Oxford History of Britain by Theses from other UK Universities: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global (only partial full-text) [Oxford users only]
EThOS (British Library)
Institute of Historical Research History Theses: The IHR publishes a list of history theses as part of British History Online. Theses from UK universities completed between 1901 and 1970 and between 1970 and 2014 are now available. More information.
