Primary sources include works of literature, newspaper archives, images, and films. Reference materials include dictionaries and encyclopedias.
You have access to a wide range of digital sources, and also printed materials in the main collections and our Special Collections.
You have access to a very wide range of digitised literary works from antiquity to the present day. At the top of the list below are the most commonly used resources; further down you'll find more specialised primary source databases.
You have access to a wide range of online newspapers, dating from the 17th century to the present day. A very handy overview of our newspaper content provides access to individual resources. See the list below for details of selected titles.
Digitised images of a wide range of local and regional newspaper titles from the nineteenth century until 1913.
The Daily Mail Historical Archive, 1896-2016 includes more than one hundred years of this major UK national newspaper, viewable in full digital facsimile form, with copious advertisements, news stories, and images that capture twentieth-century culture and society
This archive contains digital images of the full text of the Guardian and Observer newspapers.
The Listener was a weekly magazine established by the BBC in 1929. Over its sixty-two-year history, the Listener attracted the contributions of literary icons such as E. M. Forster, George Orwell, Bertrand Russell, George Bernard Shaw, and Virginia Woolf. It also provided an important platform for new writers and poets, with W. H. Auden, Sylvia Plath, and Philip Larkin being notable examples.
The Telegraph Historical Archive contains full digital coverage of issues from the first in 1855 to 2016.
The Times Digital Archive includes digital images of every issue from its launch in 1785. The last three years of issues are not included in this archive.
The TLS Historical Archive contains authoritative, expert reviews of books, films and music. Coverage includes the earliest issue from 1902 to 2014.
Comprehensive online content of every issue from 1838-2010.
These resources are excellent for finding authoritative definitions of words and prhrases, and for researching the lives and contexts of writers and historical figures.
Via these resources you have access to millions of freeview TV and radio programmes, newsreels and screened performances of threatrical works.
These resources provide access to images of artworks, architecture, sculpture and related art forms.
Diaries, narratives, surveys, interviews. These resources are particularly useful if you are studying 20th Century literature.
Search for primary sources among the Library's collections of printed editions of literary works, letters, diaries and facsimiles.
From the first book published in English through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare, EEBO contains over 146,000 titles listed in Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475-1640) and Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700) and their revised editions, as well as the Thomason Tracts (1640-1661) collection and the Early English Books Tract Supplement. Subjects covered include literature, history, philosophy, linguistics, theology, music, fine arts, education, mathematics, and science.
The largest and most comprehensive online historical archive of its kind and an essential resource for advanced study of the eighteenth century, this collection contains every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in the United Kingdom between the years 1701 and 1800.
Full text editions of over 1500 works from antiquity to 1901. Each text comes with scholarly introductions and notes, and the database is fully searchable. Browse by author, or search for a work or word/phrase in specific texts or across the entire collection.
The Oxford English Dictionary is widely regarded as the accepted authority on the English language. It is an guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of 600,000 words— past and present—from across the English-speaking world.
Over 500,000 works of poetry, prose and drama from around the world, from Anglo-Norman times to the present day. The majority of the works are in English, with significant collections in other languages, notably from Germany, Spain, Latin America and South East Asia.
Full text digital versions of the TLS from the first issue in 1902. There is a time lag in uploading of content so the most recent issues are not available. Recent content is available via an Exact Editions database.
Digitised versions of newspaper content from the 17th to 20th centuries.
The University's Special Collections encompass a wide range of material from different time periods and on numerous subjects.
Some material can be viewed online and you can consult physical items by appointment in the Special Collections Reading Room on the first floor of the Arts and Social Sciences Library.
The Theatre Collection is one of the world’s largest archives of British theatre history and Live Art.
Our Introduction to finding and using archives in the UK guide provides further information about using UK archives for your research.