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Finding primary resources for modern British history

• Identify secondary sources on your topic.
  Consult bibliographies of secondary sources to identify primary sources.
• Identify persons involved with the topic.
  Search for papers, letters, memoirs / autobiographies, manuscript collections, and archives.
• Search library catalogs for collections of primary documents or guides to such collections.

Before looking specifically for primary resources develop a good understanding of the topic you are researching.  Use encyclopedias and secondary sources.  Both will help find primary sources, either directly or by providing you with information you need to efficiently locate appropriate primary sources.

Identifying secondary sources

Search library catalogs using subject keywords.  When you find materials that are on target, carefully observe subject headings. Click on  those headings to do further searches.  Repeat the process with more discovered headings as appropriate.

While engaged in this process, watch for subject headings which include the word "bibliography".  Materials so described will help find additional materials, both primary and secondary.

Once materials have been identified the footnotes and bibliographies contained in each will likely suggest primary resources that are available. Some bibliographies separate primary and secondary materials.

Search for identified materials in the library catalog.

Identify persons involved with the topic

Using secondary sources, identify persons involved.  These might include cabinet ministers, diplomats, rulers, eye-witnesses, writers.

Do author searches in the library catalog to find collections of papers, memoirs/autobiography, etc.

Search the library catalog for primary documents in general

The word "sources" is often used in subject headings to indicate primary source materials. Searches can be general or specific and use keywords or exact subject headings.  For instance, searching for the keywords "British foreign policy sources" will retrieve 3 items.  Note that the subject headings reveal that "great britain" and "foreign relations" and not "british" or "foreign policy" are the expressions used in the headings. New searches can than be created using either subject keywords or exact subject headings.

Other heading subject sub-divisions which identify primary materials:

Correspondence
Description and travel
Diaries
Interviews
Notebooks
Personal narratives

Additional searching tips:

• If investigating the foreign relations between specific countries, use both country names when doing searches.
• Do not neglect more general searches.  Very specific searches like "suez" and "crisis" and "sources" might yield results but unless more general searches are also done compilations of documents which might include the suez crisis will be missed.

Searching for material in other libraries

Once local resources have been identified it might be necessary to expand the search toother library catalogs.

• Be sure to try ConnectNY.  You can repeat your online catalog searches in the ConnectNY catalog, which is a union catalog of the holdings of several New York colleges.  You can place ILL requests directly from the CNY catalog. Requests take about 2 days to arrive.
• If you are willing to consider traveling ( be aware that collections of primary materials are often non-circulating and not available through interlibrary loan) you might target large research libraries in our area or in an area you plan to visit anyway. Locally, good bets are Cornell, Syracuse and Binghamton.
• Use Worldcat.  This is a huge union catalog of library collections all over the world.  It has a direct link to interlibrary loan so if the material is available for loan there is a good chance it can be obtained for your use.  Plan ahead.  This process can take 7 to 10 days on average, but may take longer.

Finding further primary resources

Depending on your topic, periodical and newspaper accounts contemporary with your topic might provide additional primary documentation. 

Finding tools for these include:

Times (London) Digital Archive (GaleGroup)-full text 1785-1985

Early English Books Online (EEBO) covers: 1478-1700. Early English Books Online (EEBO) contains digital facsimile page images of virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473-1700 - from the first book printed in English by William Caxton, through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare and the tumult of the English Civil War.

Periodicals Index Online

International Index to Periodicals

The Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals, 1824-1900

Additional aids for finding primary resources

Macfarlane, Alan.
A guide to English historical records / Alan MacFarlane.
Cambridge [Eng.] ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1983.  LASR Main DA32.5.M33 1983

British Foreign Policy, 1918-1945   CASE Ref DA578.A88

Selected sources in Case Library

General

English historical documents.
London : E. Methuen ; New York : Oxford University
LASR Main DA26 .E55 1979 (12 vols.)

Documents on British foreign policy, 1919-1939.
Great Britain. Foreign Office. 1946-<1985 >
LASR Main DA566.7 A18

Documents on British policy overseas / edited by Rohan Butler and M.E. Pelly. 1984-<1989 >

NOTE Accompanied by microfiches in folders entitled: Microfiches of
documents calendared in Documents on British policy overseas;
these fiches consist of reproductions of documents related to
those in the printed vols and referred to in the calendars
following individual documents in the printed vols.

LASR Main DA588 .D63 1984
CASE MFiche Research DA588 .D63 1984

Consists of:  series 1; v.1-7+microfiche; series 2; v.1-4+microfiche; series 3, v.1-2

In the First Person: an index to letters, diaries, oral histories and personal narrativesI http://www.inthefirstperson.com/firp/index.aspx
 Accounts of famous historical events such as:  

Manchester Medieval Sources – “original medieval history documents” “From the terror of the Black Death to the drama of the Norman invasion, Manchester Medieval Sources brings alive the reality of life in the medieval world through these first hand accounts.” 

The Normans in Europe
The Black Death
Women of the English nobility and gentry 1066-1500
Chronicles of the Revolution 1397-1400
The reign of Richard II
Catholic England
Faith, religion and observance before the Reformation
The Annals of St-Bertin
Ninth-century histories, volume I
The Annals of Fulda
Ninth-century histories, volume II
Women in England, 1275-1525

Russia

British documents on foreign affairs--reports and papers from the
Foreign Office confidential print. Part I, from the mid-
nineteenth century to the First World War. Series A, Russian,
1859-1914 / editor, Dominic Lieven.
 c1983.
LASR Main JZ632 .B74 1983 v.1-6

Soviet Union

The Foreign Office and the Kremlin : British documents on Anglo-
Soviet relations, 1941-45 / edited, with an introduction, by Graham Ross.  1984.
LASR Main D750 .F67 1984

Latin America

British documents on foreign affairs--reports and papers from the
Foreign Office Confidential Print. Part I, From the mid-
nineteenth century to the First World War. Series D, Latin
America, 1845-1914 / editor, George Philip.
LASR Main JZ632 .B744 1991 vol. 1-9

British documents on foreign affairs--reports and papers from the
Foreign Office confidential print. Part II, from the First to
the Second World War. Series D, Latin America, 1914-1939 / editor, George Philip.
LASR Main JZ632 .B755 1989 vol. 1-20

British documents on foreign affairs--reports and papers from the
Foreign Office confidential print. Part III, From 1940 through
1945. Series D, Latin America / general editors, Paul Preston and Michael Partridge
LASR Main JZ632 .B764 1999 vol. 1-11

British documents on foreign affairs--reports and papers from the
foreign office confidential print. Part IV, From 1946 through
1950. Series D, Latin America / general editors, Paul Preston
and Michael Partridge
LASR Main JZ633.6.L29 B75 2000 vol. 1-7

Africa

British documents on foreign affairs--reports and papers from the
Foreign Office confidential print. Part I, From the mid-
nineteenth century to the First World War. Series G, Africa,
1848-1914 / editor, David Throup.
LASR Main JZ632 .B747 1995 vol. 1-25

British documents on foreign affairs--reports and papers from the
Foreign Office confidential print. Part II, From the First to
the Second World War. Series G, Africa, 1914-1939 / editor, Peter Woodward.
LASR Main JZ632 .B757 1994 vol. 1-30

British documents on foreign affairs--reports and papers from th
Foreign Office confidential print. Part III, From 1940 through
1945. Series G, Africa / general editors, Paul Preston and Michael Partridge
LASR Main JZ632 .B767 1998 vol. 1-5

British documents on foreign affairs--reports and papers from the
Foreign Office confidential print. Part IV, From 1945 through
1950. Series G, Africa, 1946 / general editors, Paul Preston
and Michael Partridge
LASR Main JZ632 .B777 2000 vol. 1-5
 

Near and Middle East

British documents on foreign affairs--reports and papers from the
Foreign Office confidential print. Part I, From the mid-
nineteenth century to the First World War. Series B, The Near
and Middle East, 1856-1914 / editor, David Gillard.
LASR Main JX632 .B745 1984 vol. 1-20

British documents on foreign affairs--reports and papers from the
Foreign Office confidential print. Part II, From the First to
the Second World War. Series B, Turkey, Iran, and the Middle
East, 1918-1939 / editor, Robin Bidwell.
LASR Main JZ632 .B752 1985 vol. 1-35

British documents on foreign affairs--reports and papers from the
Foreign Office confidential print. Part III, From 1940 through
1945. Series B, Near and Middle East / general editors, Paul Preston and Michael Partridge
LASR Main JZ632 .B762 1997 vol. 1-10

British documents on foreign affairs--reports and papers from the
Foreign Office confidential print. Part IV, From 1946 through
1950. Series B, Near and Middle East, 1947 / editor, Malcolm Yapp.
LASR Main JZ632 .B772 1999 vol. 1-4; 7-10

 Empire and the end of Empire

Imperial policy and colonial practice, 1925-1945 / editors, S.R Ashton and S.E. Stockwell.
LASR Main JV1018 .I46 1996 pt. 1-2

The Labour government and the end of empire, 1945-1951 / editor,
Ronald Hyam.
LASR Main DA18 .L23 1992 pt. 2-4

The Conservative government and the end of empire 1951-1957 /
editor, David Goldsworthy.
LASR Main DA18 .C66 1994 vol. 1-3

Documents on British foreign and security policy / Royal United
Services Institute for Defence Studies
LASR Main DA589.8 .D63 1998 vol. 1

Documents and speeches on British Commonwealth Affairs, 1931
-1952.
LASR Main 940.084 M317d v.1-2

Select documents on the constitutional history of the British
Empire and Commonwealth : the foundations of a colonial system
of government / edited by Frederick Madden with David
Fieldhouse.
LASR Main KD5025 .S45 1985 vol. 1-6

Great Britain. Board of Trade.
Journal of the Commissioners for Trade and Plantations ...
Preserved in the Public Record Office.
London : H. M. Stationery Off., 1920-38.
LASR Main DA25 .H55 vol. 1-14

Colonies

Ghana / editor, Richard Rathbone.
LASR Main DT509.13 .G47 1992 pt. 1-2

Secret papers from British Royal Archives / chief editor, P.N
LASR Main DS463 .S43 1998

Sri Lanka / editor, K.M. De Silva.
LASR Main DS489.7 .S75 1997 pt. 1-2

Malaya / editor A.J. Stockwell.
LASR Main DS597 .M35 1995 pt. 1-3

The West Indies / editors S.R. Ashton and David Killingray.
LASR Main F2131 .W46 1999

Colonies -- North America

Early encounters in North America [electronic resource] : peoples, cultures, and the environment  -
 includes British exploreres encounters with Native Americans.
"100,000 pages of letters, diaries, memoirs and accounts of early encounters. Indexing provides for browsing and searching of the bibliographic, image and full-text elements within the database"

Great Britain. Parliament.
Proceedings and debates of the British Parliaments respecting
North America, 1754-1783 / edited by R.C. Simmons and P.D.G. Thomas.
LASR Main E187.G79 1982

Great Britain. Parliament.
Proceedings and debates of the British parliaments respecting
North America, by edited by Leo Francis Stock.
LASR Main 973.2 G79 vol. 1-5

Great Britain. Public Record Office.
Documents of the American revolution, 1770-1783. (Colonial Office
series) Ed. by K. G. Davies.
LASR Main E203 .G68 1972 vol. 1-21

World War One

British documents on the origins of the war, 1898-1914 / edited
by G.P. Gooch and Harold Temperley.
LASR Main D505 .G68 vol. 1-11

Report of the Dardanelles Commission. Selections.
The Dardanelles Commission.
Abridged ed.
LASR Main D568.3 .G74 2000 pt. 1-2

Encylopedia of  World War I: a political, social and military history (about 300 pages of documents in last vol) ABC Clio

World War Two

Encyclopedia of World War II: a political, social and military history. (300+ pages of documents at end of last vol.) ABC Clio

Slave Trade

The British transatlantic slave trade / general editor, Kenneth Morgan.
LASR Main HT1162 .B75 2003 vol. 1-4

The business of abolishing the British slave trade, 1783-1807 /
Judith Jennings.
LASR Main HT1162 .B87 1997

 Domestic Issues

Great Britain: the lion at home; a documentary history of
domestic policy, 1689-1973. Editor: Joel H. Wiener.
LASR Main DA470 .W48 vol. 1-4

History of suffrage, 1760-1867 / edited by Sarah Richardson ;
LASR Main JN945 .H577 2000 vol. 1-6

 Calendars of State Papers and other documents

Acts of the Privy Council of England.
London, H. M. Stationery Off., 1890-1921.
LASR Main 942 G79 vol. 1-33

Calendar of state papers, foreign series, of the reign of
Elizabeth ; preserved in the State Paper Department of Her
Majesty's Public Record Office / edited by Joseph Stevenson.
LASR Main 942 c130 vol. 3-4;6-7;11-12;15-17;19;22

Calendar of state papers, foreign series, of the reign of Edward
VI., 1547-1553, preserved in the state papers department of Her
Majesty's Public Record Office. Edited by William B. Turnbull.
LASR Main 942 C128

Calendar of state papers, foreign series, of the reign of Mary,
1553-1558, preserved in the state paper department of Her
Majesty's public record office. Ed. by William B. Turnbull.
LASR Main 942 C129

Calendar of state papers, Domestic series, of the reign of
Charles II ... Perserved in the state paper department of Her
Majesty's Public Record Office. Edited by Mary Anne Everett.
LASR Main 942 C126 vol. 1; 8-12;16;18;20

Calendar of the state papers relating to Ireland, of the reigns
of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth. Preserved in
the State Paper Department of H. M. Public Record Office.
LASR Main 941.5 C12 vol. 1

Calendar of State Papers, Domestic series, of the reign of
Charles I, 1625-[1649] preserved in the State Paper Department
of Her Majesty's Public Record Office  1858-97.
LASR Main 942 C123 vol. 1-4;11;15;19;21-22

Calendar of the state papers, relating to Scotland, preserved in
the State Paper Department of Her Majesty's Public Record Office.  1858.
LASR Main 941 C12 vol. 1-2

Great Britain. Public Record Office.
Calendar of state papers, Domestic series, of the reigns of
Edward VI., Mary, Elizabeth, 1547-1580, preserved in the State
paper department of Her Majesty's Public Record Office. 1856-72.
LASR Main 942 C1219 vol. 1

Letters and papers, foreign and domestic, of the reign of Henry
VIII : preserved in the Public Record Office, the British
Museum, and elsewhere in England / arranged and catalogued by J. S. Brewer. 1862-1932.
LASR Main 942 C121 vol. 3, pt. 1-4 pt1;4 pt.3; 6; 11;12; 13 pt.2;14 pt.1; 17; 19 pt1.-21 pt. 2; 25

The parliament rolls of medieval England [electronic resource]
"Contains full text and translation of the meetings of the English parliaments from Edward I to Henry VII, covering the years from 1275 to 1504"

Created by David Hughes, modified by mpoulin@mail.colgate.edu 07/19/10
©1998 Colgate University Libraries