Themes covered include: childhood and family, objects, food, disability, the body, the home, women, dress and fashion, theatre, animals, the sea, work, leisure and consumption etc. Each theme goes from antiquity through to the 21st century giving you a vast selection of online chapters to access. You can search by time or place as well as by theme.
Additional access instructions:
A database of "petitions to the state from veterans and their families for welfare payments as a result of injuries and bereavement sustained during the English Civil Wars." The site also provides supporting background information, including a bibliography, about the conflicts in England and Wales, their significance, and other insights into 17th-century life that the documents offer. Civil War Petitions is a joint project of the universities of Leicester, Nottingham (the site host), Cardiff, and Southampton.
An invaluable research tool providing biographical information about individual clergymen and the succession of clergy in individual parishes. You will also find details about patrons, schools and schoolteachers.
This project offers rare and invaluable sources for examining the lived experience of people who witnessed this pivotal era of English history. From 'ordinary' people through to more prominent individuals and families, these documents show how everyday working, family, religious and administrative life was experienced across England.
For a quick overview, watch this.
Additional access instructions:
Authenication required for off campus access
fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery
A high quality online reference source bought specially for the early modern History courses at Portsmouth.
fully searchable in EBSCO Discovery
The full text of thousands of books published in Britain from 1475 to 1900. This collection comprises Early English Books Online (EEBO) and Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO), plus nineteenth century books from the British Library collection.
This version will cease to exist on 31st July 2024. We already have separate access to ECCO via Gale and will have EEBO via ProQuest (this is currently being trialled).
An online tutorial on reading the handwriting found in documents written in English 1500-1800; includes a practice section. Provided by the UK National Archives, developed in partnership with the School of Library, Archive and Information Studies (SLAIS), University College London.
This key resource for the early modern period brings you original historical documents ranging from high level international politics and diplomacy to the charges against a steward for poisoning people. The correspondence, reports, memoranda, and parliamentary drafts from ambassadors, civil servants and provincial administrators present a full picture of Tudor and Stuart Britain in terms of domestic and foreign policy. In addition, Eighteenth Century Part 1 gives you access to State Papers Domestic, Military, Naval and Registers of the Privy Council 1714-1782, so naval historians can read all papers covering Lords of the Admiralty and Naval Commanders, plus casualty lists.
Watch this video showing you how to work effectively with State Papers Online.
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Our referencing page helps you reference sources correctly with guidance for an extensive range of print and online sources.
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