LibGuides: History Primary Resources: Europe

Europe

1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War
Since 2011 the international joint research project "1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War” has been developing an English-language virtual reference work on the First World War. Released in October 2014, the online encyclopedia is the result of an international collaborative project to make available a multi-perspective, public-access knowledge base on the First World War.
Avalon Project Yale University
Primary source materials in the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government
Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England
This website, hosted by Yale University libraries, contains the Blackstone Commentaries on the Laws of England written from 1765 to 1769. It will be useful to students researching legal and English history.
Calvin College German Propaganda Archive
This website includes visual and textual forms of propaganda from both the National Socialist and the Communist East German dictatorships. It will be useful for students researching Nazi German, the German Democratic Republic, communism, or the Cold War.
Cornell University Library’s Witchcraft Collection
Cornell University has digitized an immense number of documents related to the witchcraft trials in medieval and early modern Europe.
EuroDocs: primary historical documents from Western Europe
Portal for accessing European primary historical documents that are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile, or translated. "They shed light on key historical happenings within the respective countries and within the broadest sense of political, economic, social and cultural history. The order of documents is chronological wherever possible. These open access sources are readily available to all -- without fees or subscriptions."
Europeana 1914-1918
Europeana 1914-1918 – untold stories & official histories of WW1. Explore stories, films and historical material about the First World War and contribute your own family history. Europeana 1914-1918 mixes resources from libraries and archives across the globe with memories and memorabilia from families throughout Europe.
First World War
Within this site one can view a timeline of events, primary documents including diaries and memoirs, and propaganda posters. This site also includes other useful information about individual battles and descriptions of the western front as it is today.
Gallica
Gallica is the digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France and its partners. Online since 1997 and is updated each week to thousands of new and now offers access to more than 2 million documents.
German Federal Archive Digital Image Collection
The Bundesarchiv, or Federal Archive, has digitized many historical images and posters. Students can search by topic or time period for images. While the initial page has been translated into English, some German language skills will be useful here as you explore the database. Not all links on this website are available in both English and German. Images from the Holocaust, World War Two, and other periods of German history can be found here.
German History in Documents and Images
German History in Documents and Images (GHDI) is a comprehensive collection of primary source materials documenting Germany's political, social, and cultural history from 1500 to the present.
Germany Under Reconstruction
This website, created by the University of Wisconsin libraries, provides a variety of digitized documents from the period of reconstruction after World War Two. Documents from all four zones of occupation are included. In addition, documents revealing how Germans looked back on the Nazi period are also included.
Hanover Historical Texts Collection
The Hanover Historical Texts Collection makes available digital versions of historical texts for use in history and humanities courses: Ancient Greece and Rome; Medieval Europe; Early Modern Europe; Modern Europe.
LacusCurtius (University of Chicago)
A large site on Roman antiquity, including a photo sampler of Roman and Etruscan cities and monuments (with a very large site on the city of Rome ); a site for teaching yourself to read Latin inscriptions; the complete Latin texts etc. Digitized, translated primary resources.
National Archives of England Historic Manuscript Commissions
The National Archives: Records of the UK government from Domesday to the present
Perseus Digital Library
Covers the history, literature and culture of the Greco-Roman world.
Spanish Civil War Collection
Images digitized from originals in the UC San Diego collections include propaganda posters, newspaper photographs, postcards, drawings made by Spanish children in colonias, and more. From UC San Diego.
The Internet Classics (MIT)
441 digitized works of classical literature by 59 different authors, including user-driven commentary and "reader's choice" Web sites. Mainly Greco-Roman works (some Chinese and Persian), all in English translation.
United Kingdom House of Commons Hansard Archives
Debates from the Commons Chamber and Westminster Hall, Public Bill and General Committees, from November 1995 to March 2016. You can also view House of Commons Historic Hansard for debates from 1803-2005.
United Kingdom House of Lords Hansard Archives
Debates on bills, delegated legislation, statements, questions, introductions, general debates and grand committees, from November 1995 to March 2016. You can also view House of Lords Historic Hansard for debates from 1803-2005.
World War I Documents Archives
This archive of primary documents from World War One has been assembled by volunteers of the World War I Military History List (WWI-L). International in focus, the archive intends to present in one location primary documents concerning the Great War.

Digital Imaging Project
Includes more than 25,000 images.
The European Library
The Picture Archives and Graphics Collection of the Austrian National Library is the largest pictorial documentation centre in Austria. The holdings of the Archives combine the graphics collection and three important historical collections: the Portraits Collection, the Picture Archives, and the former private library of the Habsburg family. More than 1.6 million objects can be searched in the catalogues of the Picture Archives and 200,000 images can be ordered online.
MET Museum
The Printed Image in the West: History and Techniques.

Holocaust and World War II Maps
Jewish Virtual Library.
Maps (National Archives)
World War II Maps.
National Geographic
Explores changes in European political borders over the past 100 years.
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection: Europe Maps
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection: Russia & Former Soviet Republics
West Point Academy
World War II Maps and campaigns.