Resources for exploring London history
London is a huge topic for historical research. As a mature student, I've had the great benefit of being able to access a fantastic range of academic sources for developing this project. It was only when I began my studies that I also realised just how many sources of historical information are freely available.
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I'm sharing here a selection of resources which I've found particularly helpful in the development of this website, with an emphasis on those available to anyone who wants to explore London history. I've also highlighted below some of the ways academic databases and publications can be accessed when you're outside of academia - I'll be reliant on these myself once my MA studies come to an end.
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London in Archives
​​​​​​​If you're in London, you can visit an incredible range of archives - from every local Borough to the London Metropolitan Archives, from specialist organisations like the Catholic Westminster Diocesan Archives to national institutions like the National Archives in Kew and the British Library on Euston Road.
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The Archives for London association has produced a helpful summary of London archives in all their variety which you can download here.
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If you've never visited an archive before, the key thing to know is that archival materials are not kept on open shelves like a library:
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so you'll usually need to look at the archive's catalogue online to identity materials of interest and submit your request in advance to schedule a visit
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when you visit the archive, you'll need to bring whatever proof of ID is stipulated by the archive to register as a user
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you can normally bring in a laptop along with your notebook - but never pens, only pencils!
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subject to permissions (and sometimes a fee), you can take photographs of archival materials for reference. ​
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​​You can find a great beginner's guide to using Archives here.
While archives staff can't do research for you, they're always happy to give advice and guidance - see their top tips here.
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And my top tip? Embrace the unexpected - that's one of the great joys of archival research!

London in Libraries
Reference Libraries are not dissimilar to Archives in that much of their holdings are not on open shelves, so you need to identify material of interest in the library catalogue and submit a request to view this in the library.
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British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1: Anyone can register for a Reader Pass to access the Reading Rooms and submit requests. As well as access to printed materials, you can access a variety of online databases while onsite.
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City of London Guildhall Library, Aldermanbury, London EC2: Anyone can visit the Guildhall Library to browse its extensive collection of books about London on the open shelves. You can also search the online catalogue to find items of interest in the holdings and register to view these in the library. History databases available to use in the library include British Newspapers Archive, Ancestry, and FindMyPast.
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Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, London NW1: Anyone can register to visit the Library of the Wellcome Collection which is focused on health. Library membership gives you access to a large collection of general history databases, some of which members can access remotely.
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Public lending libraries like your local Council library often provide on-site access to a small selection of useful history and research online databases. The City of London has its own public lending libraries which are also well worth a visit.​​​
City of London Barbican Library, Silk Street, London EC2:
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Anyone can visit this public lending library located inside the Barbican complex. You just need a UK address to become a member​
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The Library has a special collection of old books about London, all of which can be taken out on loan by members.
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Members can also access an extensive collection of history databases on site, including music resources, historical newspapers, and a collection of academic databases.
London in Maps
​Old maps are a fantastic way of situating yourself in Irish London of the past. Even if there's no physical trace remaining of a particular particular building any more (like the example of Whitechapel's Virginia Chapel featured in this blog post), you can still get a sense of where people lived, worked, played, and worshipped within the city.
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This recent post on the blog A London Inheritance provides a useful overview of how London maps have evolved over time.
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At the time of writing, the British Library's online map resources remain largely unavailable as a result of a 2023 cyberattack.
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The National Library of Scotland has an excellent map collection which is free to browse and many maps can be used for non-commercial purposes via a Creative Commons License. The Town Plans of London, 1740s-1960s collection is a great place to start exploring London history.​
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The London Archives has an extensive collection of London maps, many of which have been digitised and can be viewed online in very high-resolution on the London Picture Archive.
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Layers of London is a map-based history website where you access many historical maps, read crowdsourced stories, and become a contributor yourself.
Public access to academic sources
When you're part of a university, it's easy to access academic papers through the university library - but what are your options when you're outside academia? The good news is that increasing numbers of papers are being published as 'open access' (i.e. no database subscription required) or are made publicly available in universities' online research repositories.
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Google Scholar is a great starting point for locating summaries of scholarly literature. Check out the tips here for finding if the full-text is freely available.
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Access to Research is a service which provides free access in UK public libraries to a database of academic articles. The database covers a wider variety of topics. You can browse the list of history journals here.
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There are many different online repositories of academic papers available - see here for an overview,.
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For example, this is the London Metropolitan University repository where you can download papers by Professor Don MacRaild on the history of the Irish in Britain - like this on 'Irish Fever' in Britain during the Famine years
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Many history journals, e-books, images and historic sources are included in the academic database JSTOR. This includes thousands of open-access sources. If you're not affiliated with a university, you can register for a personal account and get access to up to 100 articles every month for free.
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Many academics list their publications on academic social networking sites like ResearchGate and Academia.edu, sometimes including the option to download the full-text of an article. These systems allow you to send a request to an author, explaining your interest in the paper in question.
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For example, you can download other papers on Black Irish history by Professor W.A. Hart on ResearchGate.
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