UVM Libraries: History Reference Shelf: British History

Biographical Works

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Call Number: DA 28 .O95 2004 (Reference)

Covers British history to 2000. Revised and expanded version of the Dictionary of National Biography. Includes lengthy entries include list of sources to consult for further research and a list of archives where original documents are located. Available in print and online.
Dictionary of National Biography
Call Number: DA 28 .D4 (Reference)

The first 63 volumes of this history of important British historical figures was published between 1885 and 1906 and was followed by a number of supplements. An important work from a historiographical perspective. Available online from HathiTrust.

Oxford Companion to British History
Call Number: ONLINE

Short entries on significant, people, events, places, and ideas.

Medieval England: an Encyclopedia
Call Number: DA 129 .M43 1998 (Reference)
Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century British Politics
Call Number: DA 566.7 .O88 2002 (Reference)
Victorian Britain: an Encyclopedia
Call Number: DA 550 .V53 1988 (Reference)
Longman Handbook of Modern British History: 1714-1995
Call Number: DA 470 .C65 1996 (Reference)

Includes chronologies, descriptions of significant people and events, and bibliographies on a variety of topics.

Works whose primary purpose is to describe and recommend other texts to researchers. The list here is short and devoted to broad bibliographies.

Reader's Guide to British History
Call Number: DA 34 .R43 2003 (Reference)

For a full list of entries, contributors, and more, visit the Reader'sGuide to British Historywebsite. The Reader'sGuide to British History is the essential source to secondary material on British history. This resource contains over 1,000 A-Z entries on the history of Britain, from ancient and Roman Britain to the present day. Each entry lists 6-12 of the best-known books on the subject, then discusses those works in an essay of 800 to 1,000 words prepared by an expert in the field. The essays provide advice on the range and depth of coverage as well as the emphasis and point of view espoused in each publication.