Research guides: HIS477 Topics in the Social and Cultural History of Victorian Britain: Home

Primary Sources

Things to keep in mind when looking for primary sources

Start with what you already have—draw from course materials and secondary sources to identify citations to primary sources, key words, and historical figures.
There isn’t going to be only one place to search for them.
Each database and search tool will be unique and will take time and experimentation to use effectively.
Consider language in your search for primary sources (i.e. historical or outdated language, place name changes, and untranslated sources).
Not everyone’s primary sources were collected—the historical record is incomplete and leaves out many voices.
Working with primary sources related to colonized or other marginalized peoples may be very upsetting, please take care.
Ask for help! Primary sources can be very challenging to find, and U of T Librarians are here to help you in your search

Recommended Newspapers

19th Century British Newspapers This link opens in a new window
British Library Newspapers delivers a wide range of irreplaceable local and regional voices to reflect the social, political, and cultural events of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries

Daily Mail (London, England)
Daily mail historical archive, 1896-2016. A daily newspaper and online news service serving the London, England area. Search in the search box at the top left and sort by "oldest" to see victorian era articles
Financial times (London, England)
Illustrated police news (London, England)
Manchester guardian (Manchester, England : 1828)
The Telegraph Historical Archive, 1855-2016
The Times (London) Best viewed from Gale Times Digital Archive in the Library catalog

Recommended Magazines

Punch
The Graphic
Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News
The Gentlewoman (The Lady)
Note: Only available only as microtext. Ask the library if you have questions about accessing it.
The illustrated London news
illustrated London News became the world's first fully illustrated weekly news magazine, marking a revolution in journalism and news reporting.

How to find additional 19th century British newspapers and magazines

For magazine databases take a look at this guide: Newspapers - Magazine Databases

In Library Search you can also filter your search to include only magazine articles.
On the left-hand side of the results, there are filter options. For Magazine articles, select "Magazine Articles" under "Filter your results". Then click Apply Filter

If you want to locate a specific newspaper, look it up by its title in the LibrarySearch. Enter the subject in the library search box.

Tips:

Click on "Advanced Search" and select "title" from the drop down menu
Click on "Advanced Search" to perform a Boolean search or search across multiple fields.
On the search result page, under "format", filter to "newspapers"

Recommended resource to find additional 19th century British newspapers and magazines

The Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals 1824-1900
Contains articles and citations of 19th century opinion on a wide range of subjects with over 40 monthly and quarterly titles.

Recommended Primary Source Databases

London Low Life This link opens in a new window
Primary sources, including literature, pamphlets, advertisements, and broadsides from the 19th to early 20th centuries documenting street culture, social reform and the Victorian underworld.
Victorian Popular Culture: A Portal This link opens in a new window
Printed books, journals, photographs, posters, and other ephemera documenting spiritualism and entertainment in Britain, America, and Europe during the Victorian period.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
Monographs, newspapers, pamphlets, manuscripts, ephemera, maps, photographs, statistics, and other kinds of documents. Key Victorian Collections: British Politics and Society, British Theatre, Music, and Literature: High and Popular Culture
JSTOR 19th Century British Pamphlets This link opens in a new window
JSTOR's 19th Century British Pamphlets collection includes pamphlets from various UK university collections, which cover topics of public debate and political, social, technological, and environmental issues.
British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
Collection of the personal writings of over 500 women representing diverse races, social classes, and geographical regions, from the 18th to mid-20th centuries.
Eight Centuries This link opens in a new window
A database covering source material dating from 1106 until 1960, aggregating indexes, catalogs, collections, and other finding aids. 8C provides access to articles, newspapers, books, U.S. patents, government documents, and images, with links to full-text where available.

Poverty, philanthropy and social conditions in Victorian Britain
This multi-archive collection, comprising collections from the National Archives at Kew, the British Library and Senate House Library navigates the complex social climate of nineteenth and early twentieth-century Britain between the introduction of the New Poor Law in 1834 and the eventual abolition of the workhouse system in 1930
Ephemera and printed books relating to the circus and freakshow, from the National Fairground Archive, University of Sheffield 1783-1940 1800-1925
Collection relating to circus life and freakshows, from the National Fairground Archive. Includes material from the John Bramwell Taylor Collection of posters and printed ephemera, and the Orton and Spooner Collection of fairground architecture photographs.
19th century UK periodicals
The Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals series covers the events, lives, values, and themes that shaped the nineteenth century world. The collection is comprised of material published primarily in England.

British Government Publications

Hansard
The official report of all Parliamentary debates. Find Members, their contributions, debates, petitions and divisions from published Hansard reports dating back over 200 years.
Parliamentary Debates (old version, 1803 -2006)
Parliamentary Papers (1715+)
The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913
A fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court.

For more information please see the Foreign government information guide

Secondary Sources

Why should you use secondary sources with primary sources?

Secondary sources complement primary sources: a secondary source can bring clarification and deeper understanding to a primary source.

A historian who has expertise in a specific time period can provide contextual information through a secondary source that allows a student to maximize his/her appreciation of the primary source's value.

If you are researching a subject that you do not know a lot about, doing background reading in a secondary source can introduce you to some of the primary sources that are relevant to the subject area.

Use the Library website to find journal articles

In Library Search you can also filter your search to include only articles.

On the left-hand side of the results, there are filter options. For articles, select "articles" and or "peer reviewed articles" under "Filter your results". Then click Apply Filter.

Use the Library website to find books

In the library homepage search box, type in the keywords relevant to your research topic. When searching for books, remember to use simple, broad keywords.

From the list of results, underneath Filter your results on the left sidebar select "Books" under Format and select "APPLY FILTERS" when prompted to see the the library catalogue search results.

Narrow down your list of books

You can refine your search with various filters on the left sidebar, such as Library, Subject, Publication Date, and Language.

For ebooks, you can also click on the Online checkbox at the top of the page underneath show only

Subject Databases

Why should you use subject specific databases?

The library catalogue may produce too many search results
You want to search for more specific time periods

Recommended Subject Specific Database

Historical Abstracts (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
The definitive index of literature covering world history (excluding the United States and Canada) from the 15th century to the present.

How to use Historical Abstracts (EBSCO)

Historical Abstracts Getting Started Guide

Subjects A-Z
All encompassing database list to find the best research resources for your topic. Scroll to "History" and browse by Article databases, Dictionaries & Encyclopedias, or Primary sources

Citing Your Sources

Excelsior OWL Citation Style Guides
Support for APA, MLA, and Chicago documentation styles.
Chicago Formatting and Style (16th ed.) from Excelsior
Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide (17th ed.)
Online subscription to Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. (UTORid login required)
The Chicago manual of style online by University of Chicago Press
**The 16th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style has been superseded by the 17th edition.** While digital technologies have revolutionized the publishing world in the twenty-first century, one thing still remains true: The Chicago Manual of Style is the authoritative, trusted source that writers, editors, and publishers turn to for guidance on style and process. For the sixteenth edition, every aspect of coverage has been reconsidered to reflect how publishing professionals work today. Though processes may change, the Manual continues to offer the clear, well-considered style and usage advice it has for more than a century. The sixteenth edition offers expanded information on producing electronic publications, including web-based content and e-books.
How to Cite Primary Sources in Archives & Special Collections
Citing Primary Sources in Chicago

FAQ

How do I choose good key words?

Using RADAR to evaluate your resources

Ask Us!

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Acknowledgements

This guide is currently maintained by Jesse Carliner. Please send any suggestions, comments, and reports of broken links to jesse.carliner@utoronto.ca

Fall 2023 update: Samantha Zani, TALint student

Researrrrch Guides

HIS477 Topics in the Social and Cultural History of Victorian Britain

Ask Us

Primary Sources

Welcome to the new catalogue

Secondary Sources

Use the Library website to find journal articles

Use the Library website to find books

Subject Databases

Citing Your Sources

FAQ

Ask Us!

Acknowledgements

Library links

Libraries

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