A beginner’s guide to historical investigation
General sources
24 Hour Museum
www.24hourmuseum.org.uk
The database of the UK's ‘national virtual museum’ includes more than 3,800 museums, galleries and heritage attractions. You can search the site for what's on in the UK by place, by date or by any subject you choose. News and exhibition stories are regularly featured, along with internet trails, produced in partnership with museums and galleries, and heritage guides to 10 English cities.
British History Online
www.british-history.ac.uk/
Created by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust, this digital library contains some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles, including the Victoria County History series.
British Library Integrated Catalogue
http://catalogue.bl.uk/F/?func=file&file_name=login-bl-list
The British Library's collections, developed over 250 years, represent every age of written civilisation, every written language and every aspect of human thought. This catalogue unites a number of previously separate sources to list over 12 million items in the collections.
Historical Association
www.history.org.uk/
The HA supports the study and enjoyment of history at all levels. It has more than 6,000 members representing teachers, academics, local historians and history enthusiasts. Membership gives you access to (among other things) events, publications, e-mail updates, discounts at historical attractions, and tours. There are more than 50 branches throughout the UK.
History.uk.com
www.history.uk.com/
This is an online directory of history-related places, organisations and experts in the UK. Resources such as heritage sites, county record offices and museums can be found by browsing the 'Local history' category (select 'Places' from the 'Topics' menu on the home page). You can find out about archives and other places for research by clicking on 'Topics' on the homepage and then going to 'Research tools'. Particularly valuable is the listing of all the county record offices in England and Wales.
History On-Line
www.history.ac.uk/search/welcome.html
Provides information resources for the teaching and learning of history. There are currently more than 40,000 records providing details of books and articles, UK university lecturers/teachers, UK current and past research (theses), and evaluated links to history-related websites.
How to conduct a historical investigation
http://home.earthlink.net/~cassidyny/historical.htm
Tips and hints from an American investigative journalist on how to dig deeper into records to score stories. A different look at historical research.
Internet for Historians
www.vts.rdn.ac.uk/tutorial/history
A free, 'teach yourself' tutorial – from Oxford University and the Institute of Historical Research – that lets you practise your internet informational skills. It covers: key internet sites for historians; how to search the internet; what to trust on it; and how to get the most from it.
Intute: Arts and humanities
www.intute.ac.uk/artsandhumanities/
A free online service providing access to the best web resources for education and research, selected and evaluated by a network of subject specialists. There are more than 18,000 resources listed that can be found by keyword searching and browsing. The website is not particularly user friendly but it’s worth persevering for the wealth of information you can uncover.
Moving Here
www.movinghere.org.uk/
A database of digitised photographs, maps, objects, documents and audio items recording experiences of immigration to England over the past two centuries.
Old Maps
www.old-maps.co.uk/
Find out where your ancestors used to live or check out what your neighbourhood looked like more than 100 years ago. This website gives you access to the Ordnance Survey's online historical map archive, which can be searched by place-name, address or OS map reference.
