Unique collection items and expert commentary related to History, English and Citizenship.
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English
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20th century literature
Explore the ways in which key 20th-century authors and playwrights experimented with new forms and themes to capture the fast-changing world around them.
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Medieval literature
Explore unique collection items and expert articles relating to some of the earliest works of English literature and most influential figures in literary history.
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Shakespeare and Renaissance writers
Learn more about the world of Shakespeare and Renaissance writers through the images and ideas that shaped their imaginations. Explore a range of critical views on key plays and poems, in over 100 newly-commissioned articles.
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Romantics and Victorians
Discover some of our greatest literary treasures from the Romantic and Victorian periods, and learn about the historical, social and political contexts in which they were written and set.
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Sounds Familiar?
Do you call a ‘bread roll’ a cob, batch, bread cake, barm cake or scuffler? How do you pronounce the words cup and plant? Sounds Familiar? captures and celebrates the diversity of spoken English in the second half of the 20th century.
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Poetry and Performance
Listen to well-known figures perform readings of poetry by some of Britain and America’s most distinguished poets. Access audio recordings, interpretations of the poems, and explore the connections between the poets’ lives and their work.
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English Timeline
From the 11th century to the present day, follow the evolution of the English language and our literature decade by decade to uncover the richness and diversity of our poetry and prose.
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Texts in Context
Texts in Contexts unites a rich, yet disparate collection of over 400 texts: from the first English dictionary, to cook books, shopping lists and song lyrics, explore how language is changed by context and through time.
History
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Magna Carta
Explore the origins and 800-year legacy of Magna Carta, and discover its relevance to justice, liberty and the law today. This unique collection of historical sources is contextualised through articles and videos from leading experts.
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The Middle Ages
Illustrated manuscripts reveal much about the everyday lives of people from across the social spectrum. Explore images of the rich and poor, men and women, the living and the dead and what they teach us about Medieval Britain.
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World War One
Discover how World War One affected people on different sides of the conflict through the study of this unique collection of 500 historical sources contributed by libraries from across Europe, as part of a programme led by Europeana
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Victorian Britain
The Victorian period in Britain was one of huge industrial and technological change, shocking divisions between rich and poor, sensational crimes, spectacular entertainments for the masses, and grand attempts to combat squalor and disease.
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Georgian Britain
The Georgian period was a time a great change, as cities grew, trade expanded and popular culture blossomed. The Georgians witnessed the birth of industrialisation; radicalism and repression; and extreme luxury alongside extreme
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Timelines: Sources from History
From medieval times to the present day, explore collection items chronologically in this beautiful interactive timeline. Discover a wide range of historical sources that reflect everyday life as well as major political events.
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Asians in Britain
Uncover the rich and diverse history of Asians in Britain, from 1858 to 1950, through this collection of contemporary accounts, posters, pamphlets, diaries, newspapers and reports.
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West India Regiments
Explore changes in racial thought and how British-armed people of African descent served within the wider British army in the 18th and 19th centuries.
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Campaign for Abolition
Learn about the origins and history of the transatlantic slave trade and the subsequent campaign for its abolition. What can we learn from the abolitionists about equality and justice? How might their campaign inspire our own?
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Dreamers and Dissenters
How do people respond to the world they live in when they disagree or dream of change? Do they act within society’s rules or against them? This site introduces some of the visionaries, dissenters and rule breakers of past centuries.
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Voices of the Holocaust
During the 1930s and 40s, the Nazis and their collaborators murdered six million Jews in what is now known as the Holocaust. Listen to clips taken from the oral histories of Jewish men and women who survived the horrors of Hitler’s reign.
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Playtimes
A collection of articles, film and audio recordings documenting 100 years of children’s songs, rhymes and games.
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Votes for Women
In 1918 the Representation of the People Act granted some women the right to vote in parliamentary elections, and the Equal Franchise Act of 1928 gave men and women equal voting rights for the first time. Explore short articles and examine ...
Citizenship
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Sisterhood and After
Listen to the women at the forefront of Britain’s Women’s Liberation Movement in the 1970s and 80s. Learn about what motivated the movement and how women and society reacted to the fight for equality.
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My Digital Rights
Magna Carta: My Digital Rights provides free classroom resources to support students and teachers as they consider their rights and responsibilities online. Vote for your favourite clauses and discover the key issues.
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Spare Rib
Explore digitised images from this ground-breaking 20th-century magazine – from sexuality and health to childcare, the arts and legal rights, Spare Rib offers a wealth of themes to investigate.
Religious Studies
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Sacred Texts
What is sacred? How do we extract meaning from sacred texts? Where do religious stories come from? Explore these rich interactives to uncover the stories and meanings in some of the world's most complex texts.
