Here you can access recommended text-based databases relating to Theatre. For guidance on how to search databases effectively, see our Discovering information page where you will find a handy tutorial. For a full list of databases the Library subscribes to please see our recommended databases page.
Click on the information buttons below to find out more about each resource.
Black Drama, now in its expanded third edition, contains the full text of more than 1,700 plays written from the mid-1800s to the present by more than 200 playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries. Many of the works are rare, hard to find, or out of print.
Early English Books Online (EEBO) contains page images of every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473–1700.
Over 180,000 titles published during the 18th Century, including critical information in history, literature, religion, law, fine arts, and science.
Music, Radio and the Stage includes 15 trade and popular magazines covering all aspects of the music industry, theatre and broadcast radio in the US and UK covering the period 1880-2000.
UK’s national thesis service providing records of all doctoral theses awarded by UK Higher Education institutions and free access to the full text of as many theses as possible. Please note: UK theses not available on EThOS can be requested via the Inter-Library Loan service.
A scholarly index of film theory, history and criticism: particularly useful for finding scholarly writings on films, directors, cinema history. Further information about FIAF, and useful search tips can be found here: http://proquest.libguides.com/fiaf.
JSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources.
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.
Mass Observation Online makes available personal diaries, surveys, and other materials to provide records of public opinion from 1937 to 1967.
Authoritative guides to scholarship on a wide range of subjects, written and reviewed by leading academic experts.
Covers literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, etc. Contains current full text scholarly journals which cover these fields and a significant collection of recent scholarly books.
Includes citations to dissertations and theses from 1861 to the present day. Full-text is available for most dissertations added since 1997. The official digital dissertations archive for the Library of Congress, it also includes UK & Ireland content.
An excellent resource for literary study and research, including references to scholarly books, theses, journals and other critical materials, and approximately 500,000 literary works from around the globe. Highly recommended for in depth research.
Note: ProQuest One Literature incorporates Literature Online (LION)
Shakespeare in Performance showcases rare and unique prompt books from the world-famous Folger Shakespeare Library. These prompt books tell the story of Shakespeare’s plays as they were performed in theatres throughout Great Britain, the United States and internationally, between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries.
Database of UK television and radio programmes including terrestrial, cable, and satellite television (with regional variations); all national and many local radio stations; with data available at least 10 days before transmission.
Victorian Popular Culture is a portal comprised of four modules, presenting the darkened halls, small backrooms, big tops and travelling venues that hosted everything from spectacular shows and bawdy burlesque, to the world of magic, spiritualist séances, optical entertainments and the first moving pictures.
A searchable archive of American Vogue, from the first issue in 1892 to the current month. The Vogue Archive preserves the work of the world's greatest fashion designers, stylists and photographers and is a unique record of American and international fashion, culture and society from the dawn of the modern era to the present day.
Search the world’s leading scholarly journals, books, and proceedings in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities.
Includes: Science Citation Index; Social sciences Citation Index; Arts and Humanities Citation Index; Arts and Humanities Citation Index; Conference Proceedings Citation Index - Science; Conference Proceedings Citation Index - Social Science & Humanities.
This database provides a robust and significant collection of primary sources for the historical study of sex, sexuality, and gender.
Let us know what you think about this resource by emailing subject-librarians@bristol.ac.uk
Platform allowing cross searching of primary source database provided by Gale, covering newspapers, historic journals and other material.
The Stationers’ Company Archive is one of the most important resources for understanding the workings of the early book trade, the printing and publishing community, the establishment of legal requirements for copyright provisions and the history of bookbinding. This collection includes rare documents dating from 1554 to the 21st century.
London Low Life is a full-text searchable resource, containing colour digital images of rare books, ephemera, maps and other materials relating to 18th, 19th and early 20th century London.
Nineteenth Century Literary Society makes available more than 1,400 items from the archive of the historic John Murray publishing company. Primary source materials span the entirety of the long nineteenth century and document the golden era of the House of Murray from its inception in 1768.
This resource documents the performance and construction history of the new Globe and the indoor theatre space of the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. The material in this archive will be useful to students or researchers interested in Shakespeare in performance, theatre history, early-modern theatre and the cultural history of Shakespeare.
Black Drama, now in its expanded third edition, contains the full text of more than 1,700 plays written from the mid-1800s to the present by more than 200 playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries. Many of the works are rare, hard to find, or out of print.
If you want to do a thorough search of the literature on a topic, the best way to do this is to use a database. A database indexes journals and other sources of information, meaning you may search across all these indexed sources at once.
Databases are not always easy to use. To make sure you use databases to their full potential, book onto one of our training sessions, or get in touch to arrange a chat.