HIS 4310 Senior Seminar: Primary Sources for 20th century British history

Over 85,000 film clips from the archives of British Pathe TV.

original film footage uploaded to YouTube from British Pathe

A collection of British Historical Population Reports

The Online Historical Population Reports (OHPR) collection provides online access to the complete British population reports for Britain and Ireland from 1801 to 1937.

A vision of Britain between 1801 and 2001, includes maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.

Explore the Collections of the National Portrait Gallery.

Accessed via ProQuest's International NewsStream, provided by--
TRAVELER electronic databases provided by Arkansas State Library.
This project is made possible by a grant from U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services to the Arkansas State Library under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act. Additional state funds are provided by the Arkansas Department of Education.

Digital collections focusing on British history relating to particular topics, i.e. European Union and the Women's Movement.

Primary source treasures from the twentieth century held at the British National Archives.

Nine million plus records from the National Archives are available for download. To view ONLY those records available for download, select "available to download" option.

"The British Election Study (BES/BGES) series, which began in 1963, aims to explore the changing determinants of electoral behaviour in contemporary Britain. The surveys have taken place immediately after every general election since 1964. Besides the main election surveys, other datasets have also been produced. For example, separate sub-sample surveys of ethnic minority groups, country-specific studies of Scotland and Northern Ireland, and several inter-election longitudinal panel studies, have also been conducted."

"The British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey series, which began in 1983, is designed to produce annual measures of attitudinal movements to complement information gathered from a) large-scale government surveys that deal largely with facts and behaviour patterns, and b) party political attitudes data produced by the polls. One of the main purposes of the BSA is to monitor patterns of continuity and change, and examine the relative rates at which social attitudes change over time."

"The Annual Population Survey (APS), which began in 2004, aims to provide data that can produce reliable estimates at local authority level. Key topics covered in the survey include education, employment, health and ethnicity. The APS comprises key variables from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), all its associated LFS boosts and the APS boost sample."

"The Labour Force Survey (LFS), which began in 1973 as an annual survey, is a unique source of articulated information using international definitions of employment and unemployment and economic inactivity, together with a wide range of related topics such as occupation, training, hours of work and personal characteristics of household members aged 16 years and over. From March 1992, quarterly data were made available and the survey became known as the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS). As well as the main survey, several sub-sample and derived datasets are also produced, including longitudinal series and a Eurostat version of the dataset."

Royal Navy documents of the 20th century

"This is an archive of all the printed Fitzrovia community newspapers since 1973. It is a work-in-progress and is complete from 1973 to 1995. From 1996 to the present is currently in progress.
Fitzrovia is a neighbourhood in central London. Tower was first published in March 1973 by a small group of activists as a free community newspaper. It contained information about Fitzrovia and campaigned on many community issues."

Mutliple digital collections covering the history of Leicestershire, from the University of Leicester

digitized primary documents relating to the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 from the National Archives of Ireland

eBook containing Michael Collins' and Eamon de Valera's secret correspondence concerning the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 negotiations; published by The Royal Irish Academy's Documents on Irish Foreign Policy (DIFP).

Covers years 1919-1951.

All digitized publications concerning Irish Foreign Policy, available from the Royal Irish Academy's Documents on Irish Foreign Policy

Blair was first British Prime Minister to address Irish Parliament.

from 1998

The House of Windsor, Royal Family; official site of the British Monarchy, includes primary sources

King Edward VIII of Great Britain abdicated the throne in 1936; this is an English transcription of his abdication speech.

Sound clip of Edward VIII's abdication speech (from British Pathe)

historical film clips of King George VI, monarch during World War II

From British Pathe - historical film footage, 1938

from British Pathe Youtube channel

English transcript taken from at least two different sources

60th Anniversary service in celebration of Queen Elizabeth's Coronation in 1953 - program of order of service

Parliament: Living Heritage: the Queen

historical film clips of Queen Elizabeth II, monarch from 1952 - present

Digitized Hansard texts, the official reports of debates in Parliament, from 1803-2005.

"The cabinet papers are a unique collection of conclusions and reference materials that detail the role of Cabinet and its history.

This section presents a selection of cabinet papers using thematic and chronological historical overviews, covering three main themes of British Governance in the 20th century."

British National Archive - creating a web archive of the UK Government's websites, tweets, YouTube videos, etc.

transcript of Baldwin's speech to Parliament

Documents concerning the accession to the European Communities of the Kingdom of Denmark, Ireland, the Kingdom of Norway and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 19 January 1972

18 minute video of Geoffrey Howe resigning. Howe resigned as Deputy Prime Minister to Thatcher's Prime Minister, thus signalling the beginning of the end of Thatcher's time in office.

Transcript of Geoffrey Howe's resignation speech. Howe resigned as Deputy Prime Minister to Thatcher's Prime Minister.

Houses digital records of Margaret Thatcher's papers, speeches, and multimedia.

Gov.UK - official documents of British government, filters applied.

"Legislation.gov.uk carries most types of UK Legislation. The list below is a complete breakdown of the types of legislation held on this site. From this page you can select any legislation type and continue browsing or you can hover over the map to see which legislation types are applicable to the geographical area you are interested in."

Parliament's living heritage - digitized collections of Parliament's history

Live-stream of Parliament--"carries live and archive coverage of all UK Parliament proceedings taking place in public, including debates and committee meetings of both Houses. The material is then available as on-demand archive going back to 4 December 2007. On some occasions this site will also include video coverage of special events that have taken place in Parliament."

"The Annual Population Survey (APS), which began in 2004, aims to provide data that can produce reliable estimates at local authority level. Key topics covered in the survey include education, employment, health and ethnicity. The APS comprises key variables from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), all its associated LFS boosts and the APS boost sample."

"An Act to provide for the establishment of a Scottish Parliament and Administration and other changes in the government of Scotland; to provide for changes in the constitution and functions of certain public authorities; to provide for the variation of the basic rate of income tax in relation to income of Scottish taxpayers in accordance with a resolution of the Scottish Parliament; to amend the law about parliamentary constituencies in Scotland; and for connected purposes."

"The BDOHP interviews former diplomats or other officials who have played a significant role in events bearing on international relations." Transcripts of interviews are available.

From the International Churchill Society; includes speeches by and about Churchill.

"Government Response to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee Report HC 87 of Session 2013-14, published September 3, 2013"

Act of Parliament - full text of Referendum Act

"This timeline shows the key events in the negotiation process behind the new settlement for the UK within the EU. The new settlement was subject to a referendum in Britain on 23 June 2016.

The outcome of the referendum was discussed by the European Council on 28-29 June 2016."

"Presented to Parliament pursuant to section 7 of the European Union Referendum Act 2015.
This paper is the first part of the report that the Government will publish to meet the requirement of section 7(1) of the European Union Referendum Act 2015. The second part of this report, which will provide information about the rights and obligations that arise
as a result of the UK’s membership of the EU, will be published at a later date. March 2016"

"Presented to Parliament by the Chancellor of the Exchequer
by Command of Her Majesty, April 2016"

"The right of a Member State to withdraw from the European Union was introduced for the first time with the Lisbon Treaty; the possibility of withdrawal was highly
controversial before that. Article 50 TEU does not set down any substantive conditions for a Member State to be able to exercise its right to withdraw, rather it includes only procedural requirements."

"Presented to Parliament by the Chancellor of the Exchequer by Command of Her Majesty, May 2016."

from the House of Lords, European Union Committee, 11th Report of Session 2015-2016,

"Joint Statement by Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament, Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, Mark Rutte, Holder of the Presidency of the Council of the EU, Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, Brussels, 24 June 2016"

Archived via the Wayback Machine. Archived webcapture of the campaign website used prior to the Brexit vote.

A collection of old webpages gathered from Google re: Brexit campaigning

"Elsevier is providing free access to data, metrics and other resources to help monitor any effects of Brexit on the global research community. We hope researchers, institutions, funders and government in the UK and beyond will find these resources helpful. The site will be updated as new data becomes available."

"The UK European Union Membership Referendum Web Archive collected the most important Remain and Leave campaign websites, from environmental and academic grassroots organizations to trade unions and business groups. Also included were the main official websites about the referendum by the United Kingdom government."

Archive of primary documents from WWI, with an international focus.

Marking the Centenary of the First World War with historical records and digitized collections from the British National Archives.

Video clip of Neville Chamberlain leaving for Munich to attend Four Power Conference in 1938 (from British Pathe)

1938 border agreement among Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy.

Transcription of Neville Chamberlain's "Peace for our Time" speech

Chamberlain addressed the House of Commons after Germany invaded Poland.

Transcriptions of Neville Chamberlain's speeches to the House of Commons, etc., concerning Germany's invasion of Poland, including Great Britain's declaration of war against Germany.

Website documenting RAF's part in the Battle of Britain, 1940

Transcription of alliance agreement between USA and Great Britain, 1941

BBC's archived page documenting uneasy wartime relationship between USSR and the Allied nations.

Overview of the Normandy Invasion from Britannica. Not primary but links out to primary source sites.

D-Day, Invasion of Normandy digitized documents, Eisenhower Library

Primary photos collected and organized by PhotosNormandie on Flickr.

Digital exhibit covering Empire home front during 1939-1945 (from British National Archives).

World War II documents organized by war theater/region

Documents of WWII in chronological order

Digitized primary documents from World War II

Transcriptions and English translations of negotiations between Great Britain and Germany, with attempts at intervention from other nations, during the 1930s.

"THE present Yellow Book is a collection of the most important among the documents which bring out clearly the course of French diplomatic action from September 29, 1938, the date of the Munich Agreement, to September 3, 1939, the date when France and Great Britain, in execution of their pledges of assistance, declared themselves to be in a state of war with Germany."

Latest news, history, video and pictures from Telegraph.co.uk on the Second World War

From the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library's digitized archival collections: documents and photographs illuminating Roosevelt's relationship with Churchill during the war years.

aka Nuremberg Trials. Documents from the trials at Nuremberg.

From Fordham University (not all links are active)

Bevan made the speech in the House of Commons during the Cold War.

Video and transcript of Queen Elizabeth's 1957 speech to the U.N. General Assembly

transcript of Ronald Reagan's "Evil Empire" speech to the House of Commons, 8 June 1982

Primary source collection focused on the events of 1989 (predominantly the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the unification of East and West Germany) and the involvement of Great Britain in those events. From Roy Rozenzweig Center for History and New Media and George Mason University.

Wilson Center Digital Archive's Cold War History Project