Searching for local
history on the web
These
are websites with search facilities known to have local history material
that have been useful to an amateur local
historian
ordered as general web search
engines then archives in Essex, UK, and worldwide
(words in italics are quote from the website)
General Web Searches
Google
www.google.co.uk [ about these... external
links on this page]
Use
more than one word and try enclosing two or more words in parenthesis
Google
Books
Search the world's most
comprehensive index of full-text books
Go
to Search tools and select Preview available to find books that can be read in
full
Restrict
the search with a date range: 1800..1900 (2
dots only between the years)
http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search
use this advanced search to search titles
only, etc.
http://books.google.com.tw/sitemap/Sitemap/History/Europe/Great_Britain/E_6.html
Google
books - catalogue of titles - Essex page
Google
Images
https://www.google.co.uk/advanced_image_search
Hits
are based on the filename of the image, the link text pointing to the image
and/or text adjacent to it.
One
can select a thumbnail image, view the full-sized image or browse its website.
By
2010 the index reached ten billion images and the service receives over one
billion views a day. (wiki)
A picture is worth a
thousand words.
It
can be more effective to cast an eye over hundreds of images than to read pages
of text based hits.
When
a humbnail is selected similar images are also show,
which can be useful.
Google
Scholar
Search scholarly papers (mainly academic articles)
Other
search engines are available
However, most, if not all, general web search
engines do not have access the full catalogues of many major on-line archives.
The
internal search mechanisms of these sites can be very productive, and in
many cases display actual books in full...
Essex Based
Essex
Record Office SEAX - Essex Archives Online
suggest always tick the search full catalogue box
Select/click
an item to see a summary
Most
the items can only be seen in full by visiting ERO in Chelmsford
A
few images can be viewed on-line
Some
genealogy related items can be viewed on-line with a fee
The Searchroom
contains an extensive reference library of local history publications and
books,
an
electronic catalogue of this material is (only) available at the Searchroom help desk.
Essex County Council -
Reference library online
These
useful sites identified here need a library card number for home use...
The Oxford
Dictionary of National Biography
- needs a library card number
ODNB includes
biographies of 59,879 men and women who died in or before the year 2011
The Times from 1785 to 2010 - needs a library
card number
Guardian
and Observer from
1791 to 2003 -
19th
Century British Library Newspapers
British
Library Newspapers consists of two major collections from the British Library
which span three hundred years of newspaper
publishing in the U.K - 17th and 18th and 19th Centuries.
The
collections contain full runs of 48 newspapers, nearly 3 million pages and 40
million articles.
The
articles are available free of charge with a library card number.
Essex Public Libraries
catalogue
https://classiccatalogue.essex.gov.uk/vs/Vubis.csp
Search
for library books anywhere in Essex, or at a specific library location, by
title or author.
Items
found may be Reference - Not Loanable copies and
require a journey to the particular library.
Unlocking Essex's Past -
Archaeology
http://unlockingessex.essexcc.gov.uk
- home page
http://unlockingessex.essexcc.gov.uk/monument_search
Identifies
and describes all local Listed Buildings and Listed Monuments.
In the Where?
box, Choose a location from the Find Area pull down list, and then Search
or, enter a location into the Name? box
(gives less results)
In
the results list - select/click on the Monument
Name column (for listed buildings and monuments)
The Essex Society for
Archaeology and History
http://www.essex.ac.uk/history/esah/library.asp
- about the library
http://libwww.essex.ac.uk/
- catalogue
One
can search the catalogue but then need to visit the Albert Sloman
Library at the Essex University
The Plume Library in
Maldon
The Thomas Plume Library was founded in
1704. Dr Thomas Plume bequeathed to his native town
his
collection of some 8,100 books and pamphlets. Although they may no
longer be borrowed,
books
from the Library may be consulted without appointment during normal opening
hours
and
the catalogue may be consulted online.
http://www.thomasplumeslibrary.co.uk/
- home page
http://library.thomasplumeslibrary.co.uk/HeritageScripts/Hapi.dll/search1
...general search + Complete subject list
The Essex Field Club
Archive
Individual books, articles and papers:
2,444 (all Essex
based)
Essex Field Club Bulletins &
Newsletters, Essex Naturalist, etc.
From 1880 onwards
http://www.essexfieldclub.org.uk/portal
http://www.essexfieldclub.org.uk/portal/p/Archive+Search .
. text search
http://www.essexfieldclub.org.uk/portal/p/Archive+Contents .
. choose a volume from pull-down list
UK Based
PastScape
Discover England's
archaeological and architectural heritage. PastScape
is a quick and easy way to search over 420,000 records held in the National
Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE). You'll find information on
archaeological, architectural and maritime sites. This holds similar material to Unlocking Essex's Past but also links
directly to www.old-maps.co.uk
The British Newspaper
Archive
http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/
In partnership with the British
Library
561 newspaper titles with 12,685,425 pages online, covering 1710-1959
Search
for text, or browse by title, place, date, etc.
Snippet
results only are shown and free - registration and fee is required to view the
full articles
Archaeology Data Service
Archive
Search
http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archsearch/
Search
for Goldhanger (45 results)
Search
for blackwater essex
(47 results)
Unpublished
Fieldwork Reports
http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/greylit/query.cfm
Search
for Goldhanger (3 results)
Archives
http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/
Search
for Essex (25 results)
The
Archaeological Journals 1844-1963
http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/archjournal/volumes.cfm
Nation Library of
Scotland - maps
This
website has many maps for both Scotland and England, including a large number
of Ordinance Survey maps. There are both ancient and relatively modern maps
plus many types of specialist maps. It is a large complex time consuming site
that requires practice for best results. See Old Maps Online below for an easier to use site.
www.old-maps.co.uk
www.old-maps.co.uk is an historic map archive
and a joint venture with Ordnance Survey
with
maps dating from 1843-1996.
There are eleven very detailed historic maps to choose from.
Enter
a location, select a map and Enlarge View, wait for
high definition map to appear,
Select
full-screen, and remove blue box if necessary, zoom & pan.
There
is a fee for printed copies.
British History Online
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/
British History Online is
a not-for-profit digital library based at the Institute of Historical Research.
It brings together material for British history from the collections of
libraries, archives, museums and academics. Our collection currently contains
over 1,250 volumes and is always growing.
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/search
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/catalogue
- browse
British Library
Catalogue
Over 13 million items in the British
Library's collections.
Anyone can search the catalogue free
of charge.
One can also order copies of parts of
many items and pay by credit card.
Connected Histories 1500-1900
http://www.connectedhistories.org
Connected Histories is a partnership
between the several UK universities.
It provides integrated access to
electronic content already available on distributed websites.
Some
content is free, some is via a subscription.
http://www.connectedhistories.org/search.aspx
Worldwide
Internet
Archive
Internet Archive is a non-profit
library of millions of free books -
- search the history of over 549
billion pages on the on the internet
The Internet Archive and Open Library
offers over 8,000,000 fully accessible public domain eBooks.
Good
search facilities, can display actual book or just text, needs practice to use.
https://archive.org/advancedsearch.php
https://archive.org/details/texts
- also searches texts
HathiTrust
The HathiTrust
is a partnership of major research institutions and libraries
working
to ensure that the cultural record is preserved and accessible long into the
future.
6,910,806 book titles currently
digitized.
Has a FULL-TEXT search and a CATALOG:
with author, title, etc. and a search
Find
a book and then search for text again within the book. Some books are text
search only.
Old Maps Online
Old Maps Online indexes
over 400,000 maps
from all around the world.
For
most of the UK maps it links into Nation
Library of Scotland maps (see above).
Easy to use.
WorldCat
WorldCat
is the world's largest library catalogue, helping you find
library materials online
2 billion items available here through
a library - find items in libraries near you
WorldCat only identifies a library sources.
The Online Books Page
of the University of Pennsylvania
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/search.html
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/archives.html
The archives area vast range of online
literature beyond what we index individually,
we
list some of the major sources and indexes of free online texts,
in
all languages, both general and specialized.
The Biodiversity
Heritage Library
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/
Search books, journals, authors and
subjects
172,495
volumes available to the world as part of a global biodiversity community.
The Zoologist journal
from 1843-1916 is
available here.
A
monthly journal of natural history (later succeeded by: British Birds) at...
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/40487#/summary
UNZ
In January 2012, Ron Unz launched the website called UNZ.org
Many Millions of Pages of Readable,
Searchable Content at Your Fingertips
high-quality
content material, mostly published over the last 150 years in America and
England,
Periodicals, Books, and Authors
Forgotten Books
The world's largest online library
with 484,473 books available on demand.
All of our books can be read online
with our online book reader.
This feature is available even to
unregistered users.
Includes10783
UK and Ireland Medieval to Early Modern History books.
Amazon Books
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Search-Books
Amazon
has an incredible database of historic book titles and authors, not all of
which are available.
Some
items found will be on-demand re-prints. The search facility finds a full title
and author with minimal words.
Ebay
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/ebayadvsearch
Ebay has a very large number of historic
items of interest, such as postcards and rare books.
100
year old Local postcards occasionally appear with views never seen before.
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