English & American Literature : 19th Century

This British Library's series brings to life the social, political and cultural context in which key works of literature were written. View digitized treasures from the British Library collection, articles, and short documentary films.

A part of the website RoN: Romanticism on the Net, compiled and edited by Nicholas Mason (Brigham Young University). Provides links to both open-access and subscription resources for the study of all aspects -- in 16 categories -- of British romanticism.

[Stanford] Explore literary references to London locations in texts by 47 authors, written over 6 centuries.

[Open University] Contains over 30,000 searchable records documenting the history of reading in Britain from 1450 to 1945. Evidence of reading presented is drawn from published and unpublished sources as diverse as diaries, commonplace books, memoirs, sociological surveys, and criminal court and prison records.

A project from the Centre for Editorial & Intertextual Research, this database allows users to examine bibliographical records of 2,272 works of fiction written by approximately 900 authors, along with a large number of materials contemporary to the time.

Provides links to information about that support the scholarly study of all aspects of 19th century Britain.

Links to information about literature (texts and periodicals), history, and culture in Great Britain in the age of Victoria (1837-1901).

Unique collection items and expert commentary related to History, Literature, and Citizenship.

View many documents through the Archives' online exhibitions. The displays cover various periods using photographs, documents and film. Browse by Topic and by Historical Period.

Search across descriptions of archives, including links to digital content, held at over 300 institutions across the UK.

A resource for learning about the collections in the UK's many museums.

Brings together a range of digital resources related to early modern and nineteenth century Britain with a single federated search that allows searching of names, places and dates. Some resources are free, others are not.

Digital scholarly project, using geographic information systems (GIS) technology, which provides data from sources such as historical maps, census records, descriptive gazetteers, and election results. Also includes a digital collection of historical British travel writing by writers such as James Boswell (1773), Celia Fiennes (1690s), Daniel Defoe (1720s), William Cobbett (1820s). Each author gives a different perspective on the towns and villages they visited.

A fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court.

The Crime and Punishment database comprises data about crimes, criminals and punishments included in the gaol files of the Court of Great Sessions in Wales from 1730 until its abolition in 1830. The Court could try all types of crimes, from petty thefts to high treason.

[Harvard Library] Presents images of the texts of more than 450 trial narratives printed in the United States or the United Kingdom from 1815 until 1914, drawn from the Harvard Law School Library's trial collections. The narratives include trials for murder, rape, divorce, domestic violence, adultery, bigamy, breach of promise to marry and the custody of children.

[Stanford] Kindred Britain is a network of nearly 30,000 individuals — many of them iconic figures in British culture — connected through family relationships of blood, marriage, or affiliation.

Accessible archived guide to British history and culture. No longer updated. Created for the general reader.

Links to primary sources in the UK from antiquity to the present.

This archive will provide the digitized manuscripts of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, William Godwin, and Mary Wollstonecraft, bringing together online the widely dispersed handwritten legacy of this family of writers. The project is the result of a collaboration between several U.S. and British institutions, including the N.Y. Public Library and Oxford’s Bodleian Library.

This humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin has extensive collections which encompass literature, photography, film, art, and the performing arts. There are 80+ digitized collections on a variety of topics in literature, photography, and the performing arts. NOTE: There are digitized collections for several 19th c authors in this collection, e.g., Keats, Tennyson, Joseph Conrad, Oscar Wilde, William Wordsworth, Thackeray, Brontë family, etc.

Rich collection of primary materials. Access online collections: view maps & photographs; read letters, diaries & newspapers; hear personal accounts of events; listen to sound recordings & watch historic films.

View many digitized U.S. historical documents and photographs. The Archives' online exhibitions cover various topics and highlight the Archives' rich collections. Useful for putting American literature into a historical context.

An all-digital library that aggregates information and thumbnails for millions of photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images, and more from libraries, archives, and museums in the United States.

Curated exhibitions designed to tell stories of national significance using source materials from libraries, archives, and museums across the U.S., including letters, photographs, posters, oral histories, video clips, sheet music, and more.

Provides free access to 800,000+ images (some in public domain) digitized from the The NYPL's collections, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, photographs, streaming video, and more. Search by keyword or Browse Collections. Encompasses the Berg Collection of English and American Literature, including: printed volumes; pamphlets; broadsides; literary archives and manuscripts, representing the work of 400+ authors. Printed books in English date from William Caxton to the present day.

Digital publishing initiative that provides access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture. Currently DocSouth includes sixteen thematic collections (including North American Slave Narratives) of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.

[Harvard Library] Presents images of the texts of more than 450 trial narratives printed in the United States or the United Kingdom from 1815 until 1914, drawn from the Harvard Law School Library's trial collections. The narratives include trials for murder, rape, divorce, domestic violence, adultery, bigamy, breach of promise to marry and the custody of children.

Research and reference guide to various literary periods and authors in American Literature. Lists biographies, bibliographies, and study guides for a large number of American writers.

Includes original poems, manuscripts and letters from Dickinson to family and friends, spanning her life from 1830 to 1886.

This humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin has extensive collections which encompass literature, photography, film, art, and the performing arts. There are 80+ digitized collections on a variety of topics in literature, photography, and the performing arts. NOTE: There are digitized collections for several 19th c authors in this collection, e.g., Poe, Thoreau, Longfellow, Henry James, Jack London, etc.

This humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin has extensive collections which encompass literature, photography, film, art, and the performing arts.There are 80+ digitized collections on a variety of topics in literature, photography, and the performing arts. Find texts, interviews, photographs, etc.

Digital collections and databases to support research in the visual arts. Start your research in the Getty Search Gateway portal where you can search for free images for downloading without restriction.

An educational resource designed for teachers and students featuring primary sources from the Newberry Library's (Chicago) holdings, contextual essays, and discussion questions. See also Digital Newberry.

Created by UNESCO and the Library of Congress, provides free online access to world cultural treasures. Includes manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, and architectural drawings from a variety of countries, covering the time period 8000 BCE-2000 CE.

This collection holds and provides access to books, serials, and microforms containing information by and about people of African descent throughout the world, concentrating on the humanities, social sciences, and the arts. Geographically, the collection emphasizes the Americas, the Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa.