David Thackeray, Marc Palen and Richard Toye
University of Exeter
As 3rd-year students scramble to finish their dissertations and as 2nd-year students begin formulating topics for their own, it’s worth noting the dramatic expansion in the availability of sources for the study of modern British and British imperial history in recent years.
Many of these sources are free to use. However, it is often hard to keep track of what materials are now available. What follows is a short guide (which is by no means comprehensive) but gives an introduction to some of the most important sources and may be of particular use to students planning dissertations, as well as other researchers. Please feel free to add your own suggestions in the ‘comments’ section.
- Mass Observation was a social investigation organisation set up in the 1930s that produced a range of social surveys about British life until its disbandment in the late 1940s. This website provides online access to a range of data held in the Mass Observation archive at the University of Sussex and is invaluable for social historians. Dr. Lucy Robinson has also produced the excellent Observing the 80s website, which holds material compiled following the modern revival of Mass Observation, as well as oral history recordings from the British Library.
Continue reading “12 Digital Research Suggestions for Dissertations on the History of Modern Britain & the British Empire” →
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![Image from Journal of a Residence in the Burmhan Empire, and more particularly at the Court of Amarapoorah [Edited by H. C. M. Cox.], p. 328. Courtesy of the British Library.](https://imperialglobalexeter.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/image-from-journal-of-a-residence-in-the-burmhan-empire-and-more-particularly-at-the-court-of-amarapoorah-edited-by-h-c-m-cox-p-328-courtesy-of-the-british-library.jpg)
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