Students working on a research project on the history of the British empire, start here.

There are many kinds of primary sources related to British and British colonial history available online, either completely for free or for free to you because of your affiliation with ISU. (Students at other universities, check out your library’s website).

This is a guide to those online collections of primary sources - you will find links to historic newspapers, magazines, photographs, letters and diaries, government records, scientific publications, political pamphlets, and more. I’ve done my best to organize the many, many, digitized sources that are available by region, type, and theme. Scroll down to navigate through different types of primary sources using the links below, or the tabs in the dropdown menu on the top of the page. This bibliography focuses on the history of the British empire in the 19th and 20th centuries. If you have suggestions for additional resources to include, please email them to me at tmsoja@ilstu.edu.