British History

Reference Shelf

This is a guide to researching British History at Boston College.

Reference Shelf

This page provides access points to BC's subscriptions to reference material on British history. Here, you can find resources for finding definitions (e.g., dictionaries); suggested scholarly material (e.g., bibliographies); as well as background material and explanations written by experts in their fields (e.g., encyclopedia and handbooks).

What's on This Page

This page has a lot on it. You can use the following anchors (links down the page) to jump straight to a relevant box.

Find Definitions

Oxford Reference Online
This is a quick go-to for high-quality, short, dictionary style descriptions, definitions, facts, and figures. Great for date and name checking.

English, modern

Oxford English Dictionary Online
Traces the usage of words, past and present, through three million quotations from a wide range of international English language sources.

English, old and middle

A Dictionary of English Manuscript Terminology 1450–2000 by Peter Beal
Call Number: Oxford Reference Premium Collection

Publication Date: 2008

Dealing with the subject of documentation—which affects everyone's lives (from every-day letters, notes, and shopping lists to far-reaching legal instruments, if not autograph literary masterpieces)—Peter Beal defines, in a lively and accessible style, some 1,500 terms relating to manuscripts and their production and use in Britain from 1450 to the present day.

The Elizabethan Invention of Anglo-Saxon England : Laurence Nowell, William Lambarde, and the Study of Old English
Full of fresh and illuminating insights into a way of looking at the English past in the sixteenth century ... a book with the potential to deepen and transform our understanding of Tudor attitudes to ethnic identity and the national past.

Lexicons of Early Modern English
Lexicons of Early Modern English (LEME) provides access to early books and manuscripts that document the English language from the beginning of printing in England to 1702.

Historical

A dictionary of British history by John Cannon; Robert Crowcroft (eds.)
Call Number: Oxford Reference Premium Collection

Publication Date: 2015

Written by over 100 specialist contributors, this dictionary describes the people and events that have shaped and defined domestic, political, social, and cultural life in Britain since 55 BC.
Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence by Nigel West
Call Number: Ebook Central

Publication Date: 2014

This second edition of Historical Dictionary of the British Intelligence covers the history through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1,000 cross-referenced entries on specific operations, spies and their handlers, the moles and defectors, top leaders, and main organizations. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the British Intelligence.

Find Biographical Information (Who's Who)

Biography and Genealogy Master Index
Indexes current, readily available reference sources, as well as the most important retrospective works that cover individuals, living and deceased, from every field of activity and from all areas of the world.
Biography in Context
Biographical information on thousands of people throughout history and from around the world.
Cambridge Dictionary of Irish Biography
The Dictionary of Irish Biography is a collaborative project between Cambridge University Press and the Royal Irish Academy and includes articles that describe persons in all fields, including politics, law, religion, literature, journalism, architecture, painting, music, the stage, science, medicine, engineering, entertainment. and sport.
Marquis Biography Online
International in scope, this database includes biographies of people in business, law, science, medicine, the arts, government, and entertainment. Updated daily, this source also includes biographies that have appeared in 24 Marquis Who's Who print titles since 1985, plus historical biographies from our Who Was Who in America volumes from 1607-1985.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Biographies of significant men and women in all areas of British history, from the fourth century BCE-present.

The Kings and Queens of Britain by John Cannon; Anne Hargreaves
Call Number: Oxford Reference Premium Collection

Publication Date: 2009

This authoritative and accessible guide to the British monarchy spans the Romano-British rulers of 55 BC to the present day House of Windsor. Generously illustrated with maps, photos, paintings, and genealogies, it contains a wealth of information on the rulers of Britain, including their policies, personalities, key dates, and legacies.

Find Scholarly Sources

Bibliography of British and Irish History
Provides bibliographic data on historical writing that deals with the British Isles, the British Empire and Commonwealth, the Republic of Ireland, and the Irish in America.
Oxford Bibliographies Online
Oxford Bibliographies include African Studies, Art History, Atlantic History, British and Irish Literature, Victorian Literature, and more.

Institute of Historical Research Digital Collections
The IHR is a provider of major research resources including British History Online, a library of nearly 1300 volumes of primary and secondary content. The Institute is also home to research resources such as the HLF-funded Layers of London.
Black British Archives
Since 1981 Black Cultural Archives (BCA) has embarked on the journey to collect and preserve materials that redress the historical balance and representation of people of African and Caribbean descent in Britain. Our archive collection is now one of the most comprehensive collections that document the history and cultural heritage of Black Britain.

Originating as a community archive amassed over many years, the archive has been transformed into a professional archive that meets international quality standards and houses over 50 sq metrics of archival materials across two sites. With the support of Heritage Lottery Fund, archivists and trained volunteers continue to catalogue, contextualise and expand the archive collection. Our unique archive collection differs from conventional, traditional archives as it remains rooted in the community that created it.

Indices and Catalogues

British Nursing Index
British Nursing Index is a nursing and midwifery database, covering over 220 UK journals and other English language titles. A significant feature is the inclusion of articles relevant to nurses and midwives from medical journals and those for healthcare management and professions allied to medicine.
Eight Centuries
Scholarly database for finding published material from the 12th century through 1960.
English Short Title Catalogue
The English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC) provides extensive descriptions and holdings information for items of all types published in Great Britain and its dependencies in any language from the beginnings of print through the 18th century -- as well as for materials printed in English anywhere else in the world.
Film Index International
Film Index International, produced in collaboration with the British Film Institute, offers detailed film information on over 125,000 films from more than 170 countries from the first silent movies to current. FII also includes a personality database covering over 900,000 profiles along with searchable plot summaries, full cast and crew lists, references in film journals and international film awards and prizes.
Humanities & Social Science Index Retrospective
Humanities and Social Sciences Index Retrospective is an index to articles from nearly 1,200 English-language periodicals, including many of the most important scholarly journals of the 20th century. More than 1,300,000 articles and 240,000 book reviews are included.
Humanities Index
Formerly known as the British Humanities Index, or BHI, indexes about 400 internationally respected humanities journals and weekly magazines published in the UK and other English speaking countries, as well as quality newspapers published in the UK.
Index Religiosus
A reference bibliography for academic publications in Theology, Religious Studies and Church History. Initial information was drawn from the bibliography of the Revue dhistoire ecclsiastique and the Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses.
Waterloo Directory of English Newspapers and Periodicals, 1800 - 1900 (Series 2)
The Waterloo Directory of English Newspapers and Periodicals: 1800-1900 (Series 2) provides access to information about thousands of newspapers and periodicals published in England between January 1, 1800 and December 31, 1900.

Find Background Information

Oxford Research Encyclopedias
Working with international communities of scholars across all fields of study, this includes BC's subscriptions to several comprehensive collections of in-depth, peer-reviewed summaries on an ever-growing list of topics in the humanities as well as social and natural sciences ranging from African and American History to Linguistics, Neuroscience, and Global Public Health.
Oxford Reference Online
Alongside short, dictionary style descriptions, definitions, facts, and figures, this collection also includes dozens of encyclopedia - particularly strong in British and European history.

Individual Titles

The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England by Michael Lapidge; John Blair; Simon Keynes; Donald Scragg
Call Number: Blackwell reference online

Publication Date: 2013

The only reference work to cover the history, archaeology, arts, architecture, literatures, and languages of England from the Roman withdrawal to the Norman Conquest (c.450 - 1066 AD) Includes over 700 alphabetical entries written by 150 top scholars covering the people, places, activities, and creations of the Anglo-Saxons Updated and expanded with 40 brand-new entries and a new appendix detailing "English Archbishops and Bishops, c.450-1066" Accompanied by maps, line drawings, photos, a table of "English Rulers, c.450-1066," and a headword index to facilitate searching.

Literature

Play Index
This database indexes over 31,000 plays published individually or in collections from 1949 to the present. It covers a wide range of plays written in or translated into English, including one-act plays, pageants, plays in verse, radio and television plays, and classic drama. One may search for plays by title; author; subject; style; genre; cast type.

British Literature by David Scott Kastan (ed)
Call Number: Oxford Reference Online

Publication Date: 2006

In five hundred substantial essays written by major scholars, the Encyclopedia of British Literature includes biographies of nearly four hundred individual authors and a hundred topical essays with detailed analyses of particular themes, movements, genres, and institutions whose impact upon the writing or the reading of literature was significant.

Handbooks and Companions

Cambridge Histories - British & European History
This collection features multiple titles that feature as handbooks on topics such as European economic history, histories of violence and slavery, capitalism and communism as well as specific periods including the World Wars. They also include geographic/state focuses such as Ireland, Scandinavia, and Turkey, among others.

Cambridge Companions Online
Cambridge Collections Online offers subject or theme based collections of content. At present, there are two collections comprising the Cambridge Companions in Literature and Classics and the Cambridge Companions in Philosophy, Religion and Culture. Each collection is updated with new Companions on publication and are cross-searchable.

Individual Titles

A companion to the history of the English language
Addresses the linguistic, cultural, social, and literary approaches to language study. Available through Blackwell reference online.

A Historical Companion to Postcolonial Literatures in English by Prem Poddar (Editor); David Johnson (Editor)
Call Number: JSTOR

Publication Date: 2008-06-24

A comprehensive introduction to the major events, figures, and movements that have shaped the postcolonial history of the Anglophone world. With entries from more than fifty leading scholars arranged alphabetically by topic, this volume brings together the postcolonial histories of Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific, the Caribbean, and Canada.
A Companion to the Anglo-Norman World by Christopher Harper-Bill; Elisabeth Van Houts (eds.)
Call Number: JSTOR

Publication Date: 2002

With its wealth of information and skilful display, the book is a very useful companion for any traveller through this crowded territory.
The Oxford Companion to Black British History by David Dabydeen (Editor); John Gilmore (Editor); Cecily Jones (Editor)
Call Number: Oxford Reference Premium Collection

Publication Date: 2007

Essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the long and fascinating history of black people in the British Isles, The Oxford Companion to Black British History explores the subject from its beginnings in Roman times to the present day.
The Oxford Companion to British History by John Cannon (Editor); Robert Crowcroft (Editor)
Call Number: Oxford Reference Premium Collection

Publication Date: 2015

Describes and analyses the people and events that have shaped and defined life in Britain over more than 2,000 years of political, social, and cultural change.
An Oxford Companion to the Romantic Age by Iain McCalman (Editor); Clara Tuite (Editor); Kate Fullagar (Editor); Patsy Hardy (Editor); Jon Mee (Editor); Gillian Russell (Editor)
Call Number: Oxford Reference Premium Collection

Publication Date: 2001

The Companion's two-part structure presents forty-two essays on major topics, by leading international experts, cross-referenced to an extensive alphabetical section covering all the principal figures, events, and movements in the broad culture of the period.
The Oxford Companion to Scottish History by Michael Lynch
Call Number: Oxford Reference Premium Collection

Publication Date: 2007

More than a historical dictionary or encyclopedia, the Companion’s coverage extends from Orkney and Shetland to Galloway, from the Western Isles to the Borders, includes historical personalities such as Columba, Macbeth, and William Wallace, and stands alone - when compared to its competitors - in providing analysis of issues such as national identity and living standards and by offering readers a broader range of topics and approaches.
The Oxford Handbook of Modern Scottish History by T. M. Devine; Jenny Wormald (eds)
Call Number: Oxford Handbooks Online : History

Publication Date: 2012+ (updated)

Authors have produce a large-scale volume which reconsiders in fresh and illuminating ways the classic themes of the nation's history since the sixteenth century as well as a number of new topics which are only now receiving detailed attention.

Genealogical Support

Family and Local History by David Hey (ed)
Call Number: Oxford Reference Premium Collection

Publication Date: 2008

Comprehensive and authoritative guide available to all things associated with the family and local history of the British Isles.
The Oxford Dictionary of Local and Family History by David Hey
Call Number: Oxford Reference Premium Collection

Publication Date: 1997

This dictionary provides both amateur and professional historians with quick answers to questions of terminology that may arise in the course of research.

O'Neill Library

Bapst Library

Burns Library

Educational Resource Center

Law Library

Social Work Library

Theology & Ministry Library

O'Connor Library

Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies

British History

Reference Shelf

Reference Shelf

What's on This Page

Find Definitions

English, modern

English, old and middle

Historical

Find Biographical Information (Who's Who)

Find Scholarly Sources

Indices and Catalogues

Find Background Information

Individual Titles

Literature

Handbooks and Companions

Individual Titles

Genealogical Support