History Databases

Asian Databases | Australian Databases | European Databases | Medieval Databases | United States Databases

Key databases for History
Cambridge Companions Online - Literature and Classics Cambridge Companions are lively introductions to major writers, artists, philosophers, topics and periods. They contain essays written to appeal to student readers. Together the chapters add up to a systematic critical account of, for example Plato, Luther, Tom Stoppard or Stravinsky, the French Novel or Jewish American Literature. Access to Cambridge Companions in Literature and Classics, and the Cambridge Companions in Philosophy, Religion and Culture, and Companions in Music.	Terms & conditions
Cambridge Histories Online Provides access to the complete series of Cambridge Histories from Cambridge University Press, browsable by 15 key subject areas including American, British, Economic History, Histories of science, the book, literature, theatre, religion, music, language, and warfare.	Terms & conditions
Historical Abstracts via Ebsco (1954-present) References to articles, books and reviews on world history (1450 to the present), excluding North America, including cultural diplomacy, economics, international relations and politics.	Terms & conditions
Internet History Sourcebooks Project A freely available collection of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts edited by Paul Halsall of Fordham University for educational use.
JSTOR Full text of major History journals. Does not include the current five years of issues.	Terms & conditions
Empire Online via Adam Matthews Full text primary sources and images on the art, culture, literature, racism, religion and imperialism of empire from 1492 - 2007. The creators have endeavoured to find sources from all continents.	Terms & conditions
Making of Modern Law Legal Treatises 1800 - 1926 Fully searchable legal treatises comprising over 21,000 works from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries on British Commonwealth and American law. These include casebooks, local practice manuals, books on legal form, works for lay readers, pamphlets, letters, and speeches.	Terms & conditions
Making of Modern Law: trials 1600-1926 Based on holdings of the law libraries of Harvard and Yale, and the Library of the Bar of the City of New York, the product offers online access to these important collections.	Terms & conditions
The Making of the Modern World: the Goldsmiths'-Kress Library of Economic Literature Part I ,1450-1850 & Part II, 1851-1914 The Making of the Modern World provides digital facsimile images of unique primary sources that track the development of the modern, western world through the lens of trade and wealth. Full-text searching across millions of pages of works from the period 1450-1850 (and 1851-1914 in Part II) provides researchers unparalleled access to this vast collection of material for research in the areas of history, political science, social conditions, technology and industry, economics, area studies and more.	Terms & conditions
More databases useful for History (A - Z)
China: Trade, Politics and Culture, 1793-1980 via Adam Matthews (China: Culture and Society not yet released) With manuscripts encompassing events from the earliest English embassy to the birth and early years of the People’s Republic, students are given an incredible insight into the changes wrought upon China during this period.	Terms & conditions
CIAO : Columbia International Affairs Online (1991-present) References and full text of articles, books, working papers and policy briefs on source for theory and research in international affairs Note: To view full text off-campus, click CIAO remote access button and register.
Dissertation & Theses Full Text Major source for information about doctoral dissertations and master's theses. Full text is available from 1997 to the present. Note: It contains very large files; may be slow to download off-campus.	Terms & conditions Help
Expanded Academic Index ASAP via Gale Infotrac (1980-present) Full text and abstracts from a large number of multidisciplinary journals.	Terms & conditions
Factiva Full text newspaper articles and pictures of over 8,000 international newspaper and newswire publications, from mid-1980s onwards. For Australian news sources, the Fairfax publications archive includes The Sydney Morning Herald 1986+, Australian Financial Review 1987+, BRW 1989+, and the News Limited archive includes The Australian 1996+. > Note: Click Logout when finished. 15 concurrent users only. Also use Proquest Newsstand databases for international & recent Australian news coverage.	User Guide Quick Search Tips Browser Help
Gale Virtual Reference Library Full text of academic encyclopedias. It includes the Dictionary of American History, Dictionary of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Encyclopedia of Black Studies, Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society, Encyclopedia of Russian History, Encyclopedia of Terrorism and Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World.	Terms & conditions
Google Scholar An academic version of the famous search engine.
History Cooperative - Discontinued Please check the catalogue catalogue for journals that used to be in this collection. Selected History journals published by the the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, University of Illinois Press, and National Academy Press.
Oxford Reference Online Contains over 130 dictionaries, including bilingual dictionaries and the Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages and the Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment.	Terms & conditions
PAIS : Public Affairs Information Service via Proquest (1972-present) References to articles, government documents, reports, books, on contemporary social, economic and political issues.	Terms & conditions
Project Muse Full text of peer-reviewed humanities, arts, and social sciences journals from over 60 scholarly publishers.	Terms & conditions
Proquest Newsstand databases Search a wide range of international and Australian newspapers in ANZ Newsstand, Canadian Newsstand, and Proquest Newsstand. ANZ Newsstand covers Australian and New Zealand newspapers published by Fairfax Australia and News Ltd, AAP newswires and ABC transcripts. Key titles included: The Age (1/9/1996 - ), The Australian (2001- ), Canberra Times (21/5/2007 -), Courier Mail (Feb 2001 -), Sun Herald (1/9/1996 - ), Sunday Age (1/9/1996 - ), The Sydney Morning Herald (1/8/1996). Content list. Use Factiva for access to ANZ titles prior to these dates.	Terms & conditions
Web of Science via ISI Web of Knowledge Contains the Arts & Humanities Citation Index. Useful for subject and citation searching for any discipline.	Terms & conditions Tutorial
Women and Social Movements (1840 - present) This digital archive will eventually offer 150,000 pages of conference proceedings, reports of international women's organizations, publications and web pages of women's non-governmental organizations, and letters, diaries, and memoirs of women active internationally since the mid-nineteenth century. The collection profiles the work and lives of women activists to let you see how women’s social movements have shaped modern attitudes about poverty, child labour, literacy, disease prevention, and global inequality	Terms & conditions
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts : WPSA via Proquest (1975-present) References to articles, books and reviews on political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration / policy.	Terms & conditions
Databases useful for Australian History
APA-FT : Australian Public Affairs Full Text via Informit Online (1978-present) Contains APAIS: Australian Public Affairs Information Service 1978 to present, which indexes articles from published material on the social sciences and humanities. It also includes full text articles 1994/1995 to present, from the top 200 journals indexed. Journals available in Full Text Journals indexed	Help
ADB : Australian Dictionary of Biography Australia's pre-eminent dictionary of national biography. There are over 10,000 scholarly biographies of significant Australians who died before 1980.	Help
AHB : Australia's Heritage Bibliography via Informit Online (1987-present) References to published and unpublished material on Australia's natural and cultural environment.	Terms & conditions Help
Australian Newspapers Freely available resource that is part of the Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program. The full text of a small number of newspapers is available.	Help
Australian Studies Resources Full text of Australian literary and historical texts such as: Australian Literary and Historical Texts; Australian Federation Full Text Database; Journals of Inland Exploration, and First Fleet and Early Settlement. There are also links to resources like: Australian Key Journals: Periodicals Contents Index
China: Trade, Politics and Culture, 1793-1980 via Adam Matthews (China: Culture and Society not yet released) With manuscripts encompassing events from the earliest English embassy to the birth and early years of the People’s Republic, students are given an incredible insight into the changes wrought upon China during this period.	Terms & conditions
Confidential Print: Middle East, 1839-1969 (Archives Direct) via Adam Matthews British government Confidential Print files, issued by the Foreign and Colonial Offices, cover the Middle East From Egypt to Afghanistan, from 1839 - 1969.	Terms & conditions
Foreign Office Files for China, 1949-1980 (Archives Direct) via Adam Matthews The complete British Foreign Office Files dealing with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan in this period. Eye-witness accounts and detailed reports on life in China, 1949-1976. In depth analysis of the Communist Revolution and all the major figures. Material on the Korean War, the Cold War, US relations and the Cultural Revolution.	Terms & conditions
Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, 1947-1980 (Sections I, II and III) (Archives Direct ) via Adam Matthews DO 133, DO 134, FO 371 and FCO 37 files from The National Archives, Kew. Also covers neighbouring South East Asian countries such as Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Burma.	Terms & conditions
Humanities & Social Sciences Collection - search via Informit Online Humanities & Social Sciences Collection - browse titles This provides access to full content from a range of journals, monographs and books, conference proceedings, research papers and reference materials. The broad subject coverage ensures relevance to library users of all interests especially Aboriginal and indigenous studies, arts, history, law, literary studies, media, political science and sociology.	Terms & conditions
MacquarieNet: Australia's Online Reference Library Includes interactive maps of Indigenous Australia and census data. Although primarily aimed at school students, it contains numerous Australian Studies resources.
MIHILIST : Australasian Military History Database via Informit Online (1987 - August 1999) References to articles and books on pre-1980 Australian, New Zealand and Papua-New Guinean military history and related topics.	Terms & conditions Help
Libraries Australia The national database of material held in Australian libraries. You can search for a publication and locate which libraries have copies.	Help
Picture Australia Hosted by the National Library of Australia, this is a searchable site of photographs of Australian people, places and events.	Terms & conditions Help
AHRR : Australian Historic Records Registry via Informit Online (1788-1988) A list of paper-based records (letters, diaries, photographs, financial records, posters, sketches, recipe books, catalogues, minute books, registers and other material) held in private hands in Australia.	Help
RAAM : Register of Australian Archives and Manuscripts A guide to collections of personal papers and non-governmental organisational records held by Australian libraries and archives.	Help
Australia's Oral History Collections : a national directory Maintained by the National Library of Australia, this site is a searchable database of Australian oral history recordings. The collections document Australian life, customs, politics and traditions.	Help
Pandora Maintained by the National Library of Australia, Pandora is an archive of networked documentary resources and websites relating to Australia.	Help
Sydney Morning Herald Archive (1955-1990) Freely available index to the newspaper. click on the "Browse and search the 1955-1990 archive for FREE" link. To obtain the text of the articles, it is essential to pay, so use the microfilm copy of the SMH (1842-present) in Fisher Audiovisual MIC 079.9941 11 or Factiva (1986-present) to obtain the full text.
Trove Digitised Newspapers Searchable, full-text Australian newspapers digitised by the National Library of Australia, including The Sydney Morning Herald 1842-1954 and many more.
Australian Women's Weekly Index (1946-1971) A database created by researchers at Flinders University that indexes the years 1946, 1951, 1956, 1961, 1966 and 1971 of this magazine.
AUSCHRON : Chronology of Australian Historic and Current Events via Informit Online (1992-present) Provides a listing of significant events in Australian history with emphasis on current happenings, and covering all topics from politics and law to the arts and sport.	Terms & conditions Help
40 years of the National Trust Journals, 1961-2001 The full text of: National Trust Bulletin, May 1961-July 1979; National Trust Magazine, September 1979-February 1991; National Trust Quarterly, April 1991-October 1997; Reflections, February 1998-October 2001, and out of print material from: conference proceedings, technical bulletins , education kits, Trust alerts and selected images. Available on Library workstations from the "Additional Databases" folder on the PC Desktop.
Chronicles This is an index to sources of Australian biography in a wide variety of sources, including Who's Whos, biographical dictionaries, topical and local histories, and published family histories.	Help
Databases useful for European History
EEBO : Early English Books Online Access to the full text of over 125,000 titles published in English between 1473-1700.	Terms & conditions
ECCO : Eighteenth Century Collections Online Access to the full text of over 150,000 titles published in England or in English between 1701-1800. It is based on the English Short Title Catalogue and contains works reproduced up to 2002. The State Library of NSW holds the microfilm set, including reproductions that have been made since 2002+.	Terms & conditions
Defining Gender via Adam Matthews Full text primary sources and images on Conduct and Politeness, Domesticity & the Family, Consumption & Leisure, Education & Sensibility and The Body from 1450 - 1910. Documents are derived from British and European archives	Terms & conditions
Eighteenth Century Journals Portal I-IV via Adam Matthews Consists of newspapers and periodicals published between 1680 - 1820, drawn from major Library collections.	Terms & conditions
Financial Times Historical Archive 1888 - 2007 Every item ever printed in the paper, from 1888-2007, can be searched and browsed article by article and page by page. Cross-search the Financial Times Historical Archive and The Times Digital Archive with NewsVault	Terms & conditions
The Grand Tour via Adam Matthews A collection of manuscript, visual and printed works - letters, diaries, printed guidebooks; published travel writing; paintings and sketches; architectural drawings, and maps for the study of travel and architecture, c1550-1850	Terms & conditions
House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (1688 - present) The House of Commons Parliamentary Papers are vital to the historical record of Britain, its former Colonies and the wider world.	Terms & conditions
London Low Life via Adam Matthews 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.	Terms & conditions
Mass Observation Online with Update I via Adam Matthews Mass Observation was a pioneering social research organisation whose papers provide insights into the cultural and social history of Britain from 1937 to 1965. Mass Observation Online offers an unparalled insight into everyday life in the 1930s and 1940.	Terms & conditions
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography : ODNB An illustrated collection of more than 50,000 specially written biographies of the people who shaped all aspects of Britain's past, from the fourth century BC onwards. Articles include detailed bibliographies.	Terms & conditions
Times Digital Archive via Gale Infotrac, 1785-1985 Full text of every page published by The Times (London) from 1785-1985. You may view an image of the original article or the full page upon which it appeared. Cross-search the Financial Times Historical Archive and The Times Digital Archive with NewsVault	Terms & conditions Help
BOPCRIS : British Official Publications Collaborative Reader Information Service Freely available index to approximately 39,000 selected British official publications from 1688-1995. Please contact the History Librarian if you need assistance.
Nineteenth Century Freely available index to the collection of over 25,000 nineteenth-century works available on microfiche. The Library has the Women Writers segment in Fisher Audiovisual MIC 820.8 327.	Help
Victorian Popular Culture: Sensation, Spiritualism and Magic & Circuses, Sideshows and Freaks via Adam Matthews Victorian Popular Culture contains a wide range of source material relating to popular entertainment in America, Britain and Europe in the period from 1779 to 1930, and shows how interconnected these worlds were	Terms & conditions
Iter Italicum Contains information on Humanistic Latin Renaissance manuscripts and their location in libraries. Available on Library workstations from the "Additional Databases" folder on the PC Desktop.
Databases useful for Medieval History
IMB : International Medieval Bibliography(1967-present) References to articles, books and reviews on all aspects of the European Middle Ages; also the Middle East and North Africa during 400-1500.
Medieval Family Life via Adam Matthews The Paston Family Papers have long been a subject of both literary and historical interest. They are Britain’s first surviving records of private correspondence, describing everyday life in East Anglia during the Wars of the Roses and the Black Death. Plus four other valuable collections relating to medieval families in Essex, Oxfordshire, Yorkshire and Warwickshire, c1400-1490.	Terms & conditions
Medieval Travel Writing via Adam Matthews The full-text and images of European travel writing manuscripts from the later medieval period, with a focus on journeys to central Asia and the Far East, including accounts of travel to Mongolia, Persia, India, China and South-East Asia.	Terms & conditions
ARTstor A searchable repository of digital images and related data, drawn from different sources Technical requirements: Flash Player: Version 6 or above; Java: Sun Version 1.3 or above; Pop-up blocking software: Must be disabled or set to allow pop-up windows from www.artstor.org; Cookies: Must be enabled. More...	Terms & conditions
Internet Medieval Sourcebook Freely available, full text primary sources hosted by the Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies.
More databases useful for United States History
America : History and Life via EBSCO (1990-present) References to the articles, books and reviews on the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present
America’s Historical Newspapers, (Early American Newspapers 1690-1876) Search, or browse hundreds of hundreds of historical newspapers via a timeline-based interface. Includes the complete contents of every newspaper. Key title list A companion to Early American Imprints	Terms & conditions
Digital National Security Archive De-classified U.S. government documents organised into collections covering world events and U.S policy from WWII onwards. The Library has full text access to these collections only: China and the US from hostility to engagement, 1960-1998 Terrorism and US policy, 1968-2002 United States and the Two Koreas: 1969 - 2000 CIA Family Jewels Indexed
Early American Imprints Series 1, Digital Evans (1639-1800) Full text of 37,000 books, pamphlets and broadsides published in America between 1639-1800.	Terms & conditions
European Views of the Americas: 1493-1750 A bibliographic index which is a comprehensive guide to printed records about the Americas written in Europe before 1750.	Terms & conditions
Everyday Life and Women in America, c.1800-1920 via Adam Matthews Documents the social and cultural forces that shaped the everyday lives of Americans from 1800 to 1920. It provides: fully-searchable access to 75 rare periodicals, rare pamphlets, hundreds of monographs illuminating all aspects of family life, essays, sS=trong coverage of prescriptive literature and manuals for domestic management.	Terms & conditions
ProQuest Historical Newspapers Contains the full text and full image articles from major American newspapers: Chicago Tribune (April 23, 1849-Dec. 31, 1985); The New York Times (Sept 18, 1851-Dec. 31, 2006); The Wall Street Journal (July 8, 1889-Dec. 31, 1992). Note: Cannot be searched in combination with other Proquest databases.	Terms & conditions
American Memory : Historical collections for the National Digital Library Freely available, full text primary source materials on American history and culture in the Library of Congress.
Nineteenth Century in Print : Books and Periodicals Freely available; a selection of full text books and magazines published in the United States during the nineteenth century, primarily during the second half of the century.
Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice, 1490-2007 Includes extensive coverage of topics such as the African Coast; the Middle Passage; the varieties of slave experience (urban, domestic, industrial, farm, ranch and plantation); Spiritualism and Religion; Resistance and Revolts; the Underground Railroad; the Abolition Movement; Legislation; Education; the Legacy of Slavery and Slavery Today.	Terms & conditions
Virginia Company Archives via Adam Matthews A key source for the study of the Atlantic World and Early Colonial Period, & London's economic history in the Early Modern era. It documents: the founding and economic development of Virginia as seen through the papers of the Virginia Company of London, 1606-1624; the role of the Ferrar family in the settlement of North America from Jamestown to the Bermudas; trade between Britain and America; the ethnic and gender composition of early Virginia; tensions amongst the colonists; and early relations with Native Americas.	Terms & conditions

The University of Sydney - Library

History Databases