Oxford LibGuides: History: Home

Finding books

Oxford has a wide range of books for History, which are held in different libraries. To help you get started, please click on the Guides to History collections tab.

Historians benefit hugely from having access to the Bodleian Library's Legal Deposit collections, as they have access to material not widely available. Read more about Legal Deposit and electronic Legal Deposit.

The History Faculty Library, based in the Radcliffe Camera is one of the main lending libraries for Oxford historians. Access and borrowing privileges are subject to conditions; please check website for further information.

More information about teaching and research History collections in these libraries can be found here Guide to open shelf History collections in the Bodleian, Radcliffe Camera and Weston Library

SOLO
Search SOLO, the University's resource discovery tool, for print and ebooks at Oxford. You can search by author, title or subject and limit to a specific library or online resources.
SOLO user guide
If you need help with SOLO, take a look at this guide for tips on searching, managing results and using your SOLO account.
Ebooks LibGuide
This guide gives infomation about how to search for ebooks, use them etc.

Key journals

The majority of History journals held by the Bodleian Libraries in both physical and electronic formats can be searched for via SOLO or eJournals A-Z.

A small number of key History journals are listed below.

Historical Research
The Historical Journal
Past & Present
e-Journals A-Z
A full, browsable list of ejournals available at Oxford.
SOLO
Search SOLO, the University's resource discovery tool, for print and ebooks at Oxford. You can search by author, title or subject and limit to a specific library or online resources.
Online and Remote Access
Information on accessing Bodleian Libraries content remotely.

Key databases

Oxford subscribes to many bibliographic databases. They can be used to locate journal articles, conference proceedings, books, patents, images, data and more. You can find some of the key bibliographical databases for History below.

If you can't find a History database in our collections, then it may be on the History eresources wishlist for purchasing / subscribing if and when funding becomes available. Trials of new eresources can be arranged. For more information see History eresources wishlist and trials.

Arts & Humanities Citation Index (ISI)

Alternative name: Web of Science. Arts & Humanities Citation Index is a multidisciplinary index covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities. It fully covers 1,144 of the world's leading arts and humanities journals, and it indexes individually selected, relevant items from over 6,800 major science and social science journals.
Bibliography of British and Irish History

Alternative name: BBIH

Being the successor to the Royal Historical Society Bibliography online, BBIH is a comprehensive guide to historical writing about the history of Britain, Ireland, and relations with the empire and Commonwealth from 55BC to the present. The database consists of more than 470,000 records giving as comprehensive a guide as possible to books, articles in journals, and articles in books published since 1901, and to a considered selection of those published before 1901. The database consolidates a number of existing bibliographies (primarily series published by the Royal Historical Society and the Institute of Historical Research) together with some additional material. It is not intended to be a guide to the raw material of history - the manuscripts, printed books, buildings, artefacts and so on which constitute the historical record. However, published guides to these sources are included, as are modern editions of primary material and a selection of printed primary material published up to 1900.
BBIH also includes the ability to find out more about people covered using the integrated links with the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, the National Register of Archives, and Who Was Who; and includes links to British History Online, Reviews in History, H-Albion Reviews, BLArticles Direct and Google books.
Historical Abstracts

Historical Abstracts is your complete reference guide to the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada, which are covered in America: History and Life). This database is packed with annotated references to information on topics from the Renaissance to Tiananmen Square - over half a million entries in all.
Published since 1954, Historical Abstracts has long been recognized as the leading bibliography for historical study in the world. Currently over 2,000 journals published throughout the world are covered in the database, making this a historical periodical database unmatched in breadth. In addition to including the key historical journals from virtually every major country, Historical Abstracts includes a targeted selection of hundreds of journals in the social sciences and humanities that are of special interest to researchers and students of history.

Databases A-Z
A full, browsable list of Oxford's online databases.
SOLO
Search SOLO, the University's resource discovery tool, for print and ebooks at Oxford. You can search by author, title or subject and limit to a specific library or online resources.

Brushing up your information searching and research skills

A wide range of training is offered locally and outside Oxford. These range from classes to intensive bespoke 1-1 sessions with a specialist.

Librarian

Rachel D'Arcy-Brown

Email Me

Contact:

Upper Reading Room,
Room 2.03 (North / History end)
Bodleian Library,
Broad Street
Oxford,
OX1 3BG

01865 2-77294

Related guides

Quick links to a selection of other related Subject and Research Guides.

Key libraries

Key Bodleian Libraries for History

Reading lists for History (optional box)

Reading lists on Canvas
Readings lists for Oxford History students are available in Canvas (SSO required)

History: Home

Purpose of this guide