LibGuides: English and American Literature Subject Guide: Historical Text Databases: English Literature

Historical (Primary Text) Databases

English Literature: Old English and Medieval
English Literature: 15th to 18th Century
English Literature: 19th Century to Present

These databases contain the transcriptions of primary texts written in England from about the 8th Century to the latter part of the 15th Century. For medieval illustrative material, please consult the list of Additional Resources given in the Medieval Studies Research Guide.

Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus
Complete record of surviving Old English except for some variant manuscripts of individual texts. Comprises over 3,000 different texts. 428-1100 (approx.).
Loeb Classical Library
The fully searchable Greek and Latin texts, along with their English translations, of this library of classical writings. Subjects include drama, poetry, literature, history, biography, travel, and philosophy. From Harvard University Press.
Middle English Compendium
Electronic Middle English Dictionary and HyperBibliography of Middle English prose and verse. Lexicon and usage for the period 1100-1500.

These databases present the searchable texts and images of the materials published in books, broadsides, pamphlets, proclamations, and newspapers printed in England from 1473 until 1800. The spellings of words, names, and phrases can vary -- a simple word such as our dog can be spelled dog, dogg, dogge, etc. -- so be certain to try alternative spellings in order to get the best results.

British Library Newspapers Parts I-V (1732-1950)
Contains over 5.5 million pages from 160 regional and local newspapers in Great Britain from 1732 to 1900, digitized from the holdings of the British Library. Includes London national newspapers, English regional papers, home country newspapers from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, and titles in specialist areas such as Victorian radicalism and Chartism. UConn owns the entire five-part collection.
Burney Collection
The nearly one million pages of the more than 1,270 17th and 18th century newspapers, pamphlets, and proclamations gathered by the Reverend Charles Burney (1757-1817).
Early English Books Online (EEBO)
Virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere. 1473-1700.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)
Full-text of over 150,000 books published during the 18th Century. Covers history, literature, religion, law, fine arts, science and more. 1701-1800.
Nichols Collection of 17th and 18th Century Newspapers
The contents of more than three hundred 17th and 18th century English newspapers gathered by printer/collector John Nichols (1745-1826).

These databases present the searchable texts and images of the materials published in books, broadsides, magazines, pamphlets, proclamations, and newspapers printed in England from 1801 to the present. The spellings of words, names, and phrases can vary, so be certain to try alternative spellings in order to get the best results.

British Library Newspapers Parts I-V (1732-1950)
Contains over 5.5 million pages from 160 regional and local newspapers in Great Britain from 1732 to 1900, digitized from the holdings of the British Library. Includes London national newspapers, English regional papers, home country newspapers from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, and titles in specialist areas such as Victorian radicalism and Chartism. UConn owns the entire five-part collection.
Early British Periodicals
The searchable full text of hundreds of periodicals from the late seventeenth century to the early twentieth.
HathiTrust
Search the full text of over 10 million volumes digitized primarily from research libraries covering all academic disciplines. View scanned pages of public domain and open access titles, or snippets from copyrighted material.
Illustrated London News
The full text and images from the worlds first illustrated news-magazine, from 1842-2003.
Times of London Digital Archive
Full facsimile images of specific articles and complete pages of the Times of London. Includes all articles, advertisements and illustrations/photos. 1785 - 2012+. (Annual update.)
Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive
The complete run of the Times Literary Supplement from 1902 to 2012. Five-year rolling wall (so 2013 issues will be added in 2018, 2014 issues in 2019, etc.).
Times of India (1838-2010)
Full text of the Times of India newspaper.

English and American Literature Subject Guide — Historical Text Databases: English Literature

Historical (Primary Text) Databases