Connected HistoriesBuilding Sources for British History, 1500–1900

Jane Winters (Head of Publications & IHR Digital, Institute of Historical Research)ALISS – Open doors, 13 December 2011

• British History Online• British Museum Images• British Library Newspapers, 1600–1900• Cause Papers in the Diocesan Courts of the Archbishopric of

York, 1300–1858• Charles Booth Online Archive• Clergy of the Church of England Database, 1540–1835• Convict Transportation Registers Database• House of Commons Parliamentary Papers

• John Foxe’s The Acts and Monuments Online• John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera• John Strype’s Survey of London Online• London Lives, 1690–1800• Nineteenth-Century British Pamphlets (JSTOR)• Proceedings of the Old Bailey Online, 1674–1913• Origins Network

Future additions• 65,000 19th-century books from the BL via JISC

Historic Books• Additional 19th-century material from BL

Newspapers• History of Parliament Online• Victoria County History• Lane’s Masonic Records 1717–1894

Facts and figures• Over 4 billion words• 469,000 publications• 3.1 million further pages of text• 87,000 maps and images• 254,000 individuals in databases• Over 100 million name instances

Challenges I• Different data types and structure

– Images with metadata only– Images with metadata and OCRed text– Structured databases– Rekeyed text– OCRed text (the two largest resources fall into this

category)

Challenges II• Different access arrangements

– Subscription only– Mixture of subscription and free content (British History

Online)– Free access to UK HEIs (via JISC), but subscription only for

non-UK– Free access

Contact

Web – www.history.ac.ukEmail – jane.winters@sas.ac.ukBlog – ihr-history.blogspot.comTwitter – @ihr_historyFacebook – www.facebook.com/IHRDigital