Other Useful Research Guides
This subject guide was created as a starting point for anyone researching British Studies at Boston University. This guide connects users to databases, books, newspapers, and articles that can be used to learn about the culture, history, and geography of Britain.
Selected Reference Works
Databases
- British History Online This link opens in a new windowIncludes primary and secondary sources on the history of Britain and Ireland, with a primary focus on the period between 1300 and 1800.
- Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources This link opens in a new windowThe Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources is the most comprehensive dictionary of Medieval Latin to have been produced and the first ever to focus on British Medieval Latin.
- Lexicons of Early Modern English This link opens in a new window
Lexicons of Early Modern English (LEME) is a historical database of monolingual, bilingual, and polyglot dictionaries, lexical encyclopedias, hard-word glossaries, spelling lists, and lexically-valuable treatises surviving in print or manuscript from the Tudor, Stuart, Caroline, Commonwealth, and Restoration periods.
Encyclopedias
Modern Britain by Location: NX543 .C36 1992Publication Date: 1992-06-18This generously illustrated book is a comprehensive survey of the arts in Britain from 1945. Uniquely, it also reveals the cultural and social setting in which the writers, musicians, architects and artists of the age have worked.
Modern British History, 1714-1995 by Location: Reference DA470 .C65 1996Publication Date: 1996-10-01Providing all the essential facts and figures about modern British history from the death of Queen Anne to the end of 1995.
The Origins of Empire by Location: DA16 .O95 1998Publication Date: 1998Volume I of the Oxford History of the British Empire explores the origins of empire. It shows how and why England, and later Britain, became involved with transoceanic navigation, trade, and settlement during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The chapters, by leading historians, both illustrate the interconnections between developments in Europe and overseas and offer specialist studies on every part of the world that was substantially affected by British colonial activity.- The Oxford companion to Black British history byLocation: DA125.N4 O94 2007Publication Date: 2007"Explores the history of black people in the British Isles from Roman times to the present day. From African auxiliaries stationed on Hadrian's Wall in the 2nd century AD, through John Edmonstone, who taught taxidermy to Charles Darwin, Mary Seacole, the 'Black Florence Nightingale', and Walter Tull, footballer and First World War officer, to our own day, the OCBBH provides detailed timeline charts and key dates for people and events.
The Oxford Companion to British History by Publication Date: 2015Here is the essential reference book for anyone with an interest in British history. Drawing on the latest scholarship, over 100 contributors describe and analyse people and events that have shaped and defined life in Britain over 2000 years.
The Romantic Age in Britain by Location: NX543 .C36 1992Publication Date: 1992-06-18This generously illustrated book is a comprehensive survey of the arts in Britain during the period 1785 to 1851. This is a unique bringing-together in a single volume of all the main strands of creative life of the Romantic age in Britain.
Dictionaries
A Dictionary of British History by Publication Date: 2015
A Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases by Location: Reference DA129 .C67 2004Publication Date: 2005-03-06The dictionary contains some 3,400 terms as headwords, ranging from the legal and ecclesiastic to the more prosaic words of daily life. In addition to definition, etymologies of many words are given, in the belief that knowing the origin and evolution of a word gives a better understanding. There are also examples of medieval terms and phrases still in use today, a further aid to clarifying meaning.
Online Maps
- Historical Maps of EuropePerry-Castañeda Library Map Collection from the University of Texas, Austin.
