Connected histories : a new web search tool for British historians

Abstract

Launched at a workshop held at the Institute of Historical Research on 31 March, Connected Histories (<http://www.connectedhistories.org>) provides integrated search access to eleven electronic resources encompassing an estimated 5.6 billion words and 140,000 images relating to British History from 1500 to 1900. British History Online, the Parliamentary Papers, British Newspapers 1600–1900 (from the British Library), British Museum Prints and Drawings, the Clergy of the Church of England Database, and the Old Bailey Online, can now be interrogated as a single archive. Also included are London Lives, 1690–1800, the genealogical website Origins.net, the Charles Booth Online Archive, the John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera from the Bodleian Library, and Strype's Survey of London (1720). The range of topics covered by these resources is almost infinite, extending beyond Britain to include imperial and colonial history. The site also uniquely incorporates the ability to search both images and text as part of the same process.