Major Research Tools

Historical Abstracts

Index
Time period covered: 1450 to present; Publication coverage: 1955 to present

Indexes journal articles, book reviews, and dissertations on the history of the world, except the United States and Canada. Subjects include diplomatic history, economics, international relations, and political science.


Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History

Full-Text

In depth articles on major topics and trends relating to the study of Asian history. Written (and periodically updated) by scholars and peer-reviewed.


Other Suggested Research Tools

AHA Guide to Historical Literature

Print
Location: Call #: D20 A46 1995x

Highly selective, annotated bibliography of books and articles in every field of historical scholarship. Bibliographies are organized geographically and further subdivided by time period and topic.


China Academic Journals Database

Full-Text

Full-text database of Chinese academic journals from a wide range of disciplines, including master's theses and dissertations in literature, history, and philosophy. Most of the articles are in Chinese, not English.


China: Culture and Society

Full-Text
Coverage: 1750-1929

Collection of pamphlets, mostly in English, on China and the Chinese in the Western world. From Cornell University Library’s Charles W. Wason Collection on East Asia.


Digital South Asia Library

Full-Text, Gateway

A digital collection of seminal South Asian reference and research materials, including historical dictionaries, photographs, maps, data, books, and newspapers. From the University of Chicago.


Empire Online

Full-Text

Primary sources charting the rise and fall of empires, from the explorations of Columbus, Captain Cook, and others to decolonization in the second half of the twentieth century. Includes perspectives from colonizers as well as indigenous peoples from Africa, India and North America.


International Medieval Bibliography

Index

Multidisciplinary bibliography indexing journal articles and "miscellany volumes" (conference proceedings, essay collections or Festschriften) covering medieval studies in disciplines ranging from history to languages to art and music.


Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages

Full-Text, Reference

Reference work that covers "all key aspects of European history, society, and culture from 500 to 1500 A.D., as well as the Byzantine Empire, Islamic dynasties, and Asiatic peoples of the era."


Oxford Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages

Full-Text, Reference

Reference work that covers all aspects of the period from the fifth to the fifteenth century. With a focus on focus on Europe and Christendom, it also covers the rise of Islam and people of other cultures with whom Europeans came into contact.


South Asia Open Archives

Full-Text

Collection of historical and contemporary documents, books, and periodicals for the study of South Asia. In English and a variety of South Asian languages.


South China Morning Post historical backfile

Full-Text

Coverage: 1903-2001

Electronic backfile of the South China Morning Post, an English-language newspaper published in Hong Kong, from the first issue through 2001.


Southeast Asian Newspapers

Full-Text
Coverage: 1839-1958

Digital collection of over 60 newspapers primarily from Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam. Languages include Vietnamese, English, French, Dutch, and a handful of titles in Filipino, Indonesian, Cebuano, Javanese, and more.


Yomidas Rekishikan

Full-Text
1874-present

Digital archive of The Yomiuri Shimbun, the leading Japanese daily newspaper. Covers the years 1874-present, and includes The Japan News, the English-language version of The Yomiuri Shimbun, from 1989-present.


Specialized Collections

Age of Exploration

Full-Text

Primary sources, including audio-visual materials, relating to key events in the history of European maritime exploration from c.1420-1920.


Archives Unbound

Full-Text

Collection of specialized document archives. Most cover American history, but there are also collections covering Cuba (Feminism in Cuba), Mexico (Revolution in Mexico), India (Indian Army and Colonial Warfare on the Frontiers of India; The Hindu Conspiracy Cases), and Africa (Evangelism in Africa).


Asahi Shimbun Cross-Search (formerly Kikuzo II)

Full-Text, Reference, Visual Resource

Database of Japanese sources, including Asahi Shimbun, a major Japanese newspaper, from 1879-present (Full-text searching is available only from 1985 on). Also includes two weekly magazines, AERA and Shukan Asahi; a historical photo archive of 10,000 photos mostly taken in Asia during World War II; the pictorial magazine Asahi Graph (1923-45); two reference sources: Who's Who database and Dictionary Chiezo; and an English language news database.


China, America and the Pacific

Full-Text

Primary sources connected to the trading and cultural relationships that emerged between China, America and the Pacific region between the 18th and early 20th centuries.


China: Trade, Politics and Culture 1793-1980

Full-Text

English-language primary sources relating to China and the West, 1793-1980


Chinese Classics and Ancient Books Database 爱如生 基本古籍库

Full-Text

Digitized classical texts from the pre-Qin period to the Republican era, split across 4 subject areas: Philosophy and Science; History and Geography; Art and Literature; and General Works (including encyclopedias). Note: limited to 1 user at a time.


Chinese Pamphlets: Political Communication & Mass Education

Full-Text, Visual Resource

Pamphlets, picture books, and other propaganda issued during the early years of the People’s Republic between 1947 and 1954.


Church Missionary Society Periodicals

Full-Text
Coverage: 1804-2009

Publications from the Church Missionary Society (CMS), the South American Missionary Society and the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society (CEZMS). CMS was founded in 1799 with aims including social reform in England and world evangelization. CMS was one of the most influential Protestant mission agencies and its work spread from Africa to the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Asia, Oceania and the Americas.


Digital National Security Archive

Full-Text

Collections of declassified documents covering US policy decisions around nuclear escalation and non-proliferation, the space race and military uses of space, and the Cuban missile crisis. Also includes collections of documents covering US foreign policy in relation to: Argentina; China; Colombia; Cuba; Mexico; South Africa; and North and South Korea.


East Asia Image Collection

Visual Resource

The East Asia Image Collection is an open-access archive of digitized photographs, negatives, postcards, and slides of imperial Japan (1868-1945), its Asian empire (1895-1945) and occupied Japan (1947-52). Images of Taiwan, Japan, China, Korea, Manchuria, and Indonesia are included.


East India Company

Full-Text
Coverage: 1599-1947

Collection of India Office Records from the British Library charting the history of British trade and rule in the Indian subcontinent and beyond.


Empire Online

Full-Text

Primary sources charting the rise and fall of empires, from the explorations of Columbus, Captain Cook, and others to decolonization in the second half of the twentieth century. Includes perspectives from colonizers as well as indigenous peoples from Africa, India and North America.


Encyclopedia of Taiwan Studies Online

Full-Text

In-progress encyclopedia covering Taiwanese history, society, culture, economy, politics, and international relations. Note: all 600 entries expected to be completed by end of 2024.


First World War

Full-Text

Primary sources on World War I. Includes four thematic collections: Personal Experiences, Propaganda and Recruitment, Visual Perspectives and Narratives, and A Global Conflict.


Foreign Office Files for China, 1919-1980

Full-Text

Collection of all British Foreign Office files dealing with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan between 1919 and 1980.


Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, 1947-1980

Full-Text

Collection of files from the British Foreign Office and Dominions Office focusing on the political and social history of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan from a British perspective.


Foreign Office Files for Japan

Full-Text

Collection of British Foreign Office files dealing with Japan between 1919 and 1952.


Frontier Life: Borderlands, Settlements and Colonial Encounters

Full-Text

Primary sources relating to various frontiers that arose from the movements of Europeans to Africa, Australasia and North America. The majority of the material originates from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.


Historical Photographs of China

Visual Resource

Digitized photographs of modern China mostly from collections in private hands outside that country.


Imperial Encyclopedia - 標點古今圖書集成

Full-Text

Also known as the Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China, a collection of thousands of years of knowledge covering science, history, the arts, politics, economics, and more, published during the Qing dynasty. Fully searchable, or can be browsed by chapter and section corresponding to the structure of the original texts.


India, Raj & Empire

Full-Text
Coverage: 1615-1947

Collection of primary documents detailing South Asian history as it relates to the British empire, from the establishment of the East India Company to the granting of independence to India and Pakistan.


Japan: Political And Economic Reports, 1906-1970

Print

Reproductions of British diplomatic reports from Japan. Provides descriptions and assessments of Japanese international relations, internal political and economic affairs, and post-war civil and economic reconstruction following 1945.


Korea: Political And Economic Reports 1882–1970

Print

Reproductions of British diplomatic reports on Korea. The 14-volume set covers the Korean monarchy, Japanese rule, the split into North and South Korea, and the Korean War.


Late Qing and Republican-Era Chinese Newspapers

Full-Text
Coverage: 1911-1949

Digital newspaper collection of 13 newspapers covering the years of transition from imperial rule to the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. Searchable in Chinese only.


Medieval Travel Writing

Full-Text
Coverage: 13th - 16th Centuries

Digitized manuscripts in a variety of European languages detailing journeys primarily to the Holy Land and Silk Road destinations in India and China.


Meiji Japan

Full-Text
Coverage: 1858-1925

Digitized papers of Edward Morse, an American scientist who documented the daily life, natural history, and ethnology of Japan during his time living and working in Tokyo in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.


Migration to New Worlds

Full-Text
Coverage: c. 1800-c. 1980

Major collection of oral histories, personal accounts, correspondence, shipping records, and many other primary sources covering the experience of migration from Europe and Asia to the United States, Canada, Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand.


National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Books

Full-Text

Collection of declassified United States government documents on foreign affairs and national security since World War II. Documents are grouped by topic or region of the world and cover nuclear history, U.S. intelligence and government secrecy, humanitarian interventions, the 9/11 attacks, and more.


South Asian Newspapers

Full-Text
Coverage: 1850-2010

Open Access collection of 10 newspapers covering the British Raj, independence movements, early statehood and into the present day, across Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Most titles are in English, with one title each in Bengali, Dari, and Nepali.


Southeast Asia Visions

Full-Text

Collection of written and photographed experiences of Europeans and Americans who traveled to Southeast Asia during the period of imperialism. From the Cornell University Library.


Taiwan: Political And Economic Reports 1861–1960

Print

Reproductions of British diplomatic reports from Taiwan covering 100 years of Taiwanese history.


Taking India, How the Military Established Company Rule, 1752-1774

Full-Text

Digital archive of papers from two key East India Company employees. The papers cover the transfer of power from the Mughal Empire to the British Empire, including battles, hiring of Indians, and how these employees and their compatriots viewed the events taking place.


Travel Writing, Spectacle and World History

Full-Text
Coverage: 1835 - 1976

Diaries and correspondence, plus some illustrations, describing the motivations for and experiences of travel by 19th & 20th century American women to destinations across the globe.


Wilson Center Digital Archive

Full-Text

Declassified historical materials from archives around the world covering the history of the late twentieth century, including topics such as the Cold War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Chernobyl nuclear accident.