History and social sciences reference and research help
BFI Replay
It is the result of one of the UK’s largest mass digitisation programmes and includes stories from across the UK, its history and its people. The platform provides access to thousands of digitised videos and TV programmes from the collection of the BFI (British Film Institute) and regional archives, covering 60 years of film.
Free access to BFI Replay is restricted to library computers. Contact Ask a Kent Librarian for more information.
Cambridge Histories Online
Containing over 300 volumes published since 1960, this covers over 15 different academic subjects including literature and performing arts, providing a diverse, up to date and authoritative collection that is a must for anyone researching or studying a subject that has an historical element.
Remote access requires a login and password. Contact Ask a Kent Librarian and give your library card number.
Visit the Cambridge Histories Online website.
Dictionary of National Biography
Tells the stories of more than 60,000 people who shaped the history of the British Isles and beyond. It also includes more than 11,000 portrait illustrations, essays, reference lists and groups. The DNB online contains the complete text of the original 33-volumes of the first edition of the Dictionary of National Biography, updated and expanded with new and revised entries.
Visit the Dictionary of National Biography website.
Gale News Vault
Use the News Vault to search the following resources individually, or all in one go:
- British Library Newspapers
- Illustrated London News Historical Archive 1842-2003
- Times Digital Archive 1975-2019
Sign into our collection of Gale Databases to access the Gale News Vault.
The John Johnson Collection
Access thousands of items selected from the John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera at the Bodleian Library, offering unique insights into the changing nature of everyday life in Britain in the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Categories include Nineteenth-Century Entertainment, the Booktrade, Popular Prints, Crimes, Murders and Executions, and Advertising.
Visit the John Johnson Collection website.
Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts
Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA) indexes more than 560 core journals, nearly 50 priority journals, and nearly 125 selective journals; plus books, research reports and proceedings. Subject coverage includes librarianship, classification, cataloguing, bibliometrics, online information retrieval, information management and more. Coverage in the database extends back as far as the mid-1960s.
LISTA is accessed through the EBSCO Host. Visit the EBSCO website and select "Choose Database" to select LISTA.
Sign into EBSCO to visit the LISTA website.
Free websites
British History Online
A digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the mediaeval and modern history of the British Isles – including Hasted's 'Historical and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent'. Please note that premium content cannot be accessed.
Visit the British History Online website.
Historical currency converter
Find out how much an amount of today's money would have been worth in a particular decade or how much yesterday's money is worth today.
Visit the National Archives website.
Manuscripts Online
Manuscripts Online offers online primary resources relating to written and early printed culture in Britain during the period 1000 to 1500. The resources include literary manuscripts, historical documents and early printed books which are located on websites owned by libraries, archives, universities and publishers.
Visit the Manuscripts Online website.
Measuring Worth
If you want to know what a monetary value in the past is worth today, the Measuring Worth calculators can provide several alternative answers with a guide to the best choice.
Visit the Measuring Worth website.
National Archives Education
Award winning suite of online resources for students and teachers on various periods of history from medieval times to today via the Victorians and the world wars. Includes podcasts, lesson plans linked to downloadable documents and video-assisted tours of various resources.