Researching Imperial and Commonwealth History
This online research training session will introduce you to the wealth of resources available to research the history of the Commonwealth at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies (ICWS), Senate House Library (SHL) & the Institute of Historical Research (IHR).
The session began with an introduction by Dr Mandy Banton, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and former Principal Records Specialist (Diplomatic and Colonial) at The National Archives of the UK (TNA), who shared her expertise on the records of the British Colonial Office. She is the author of the standard research guide Administering the Empire, 1801-1968; A Guide to the Records of the Colonial Office in The National Archives of the UK.
Professor Philip Murphy, Professor of British and Commonwealth History and Director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, then introduced ICwS online resources, the Commonwealth Oral History Archive and the British Documents on the End of Empire Project.
The discussion then moved to key resources from the Institute of Commonwealth Studies Library and Archive, held at Senate House Library, and the Institute of Historical Research to support your research into the history of the British Empire and the Commonwealth. A series of case studies and ideas on how to conduct your research, including creating and managing your reading lists, finding archival and library sources and finding online sources were presented.
- The records of the British Colonial Office
- The Commonwealth Oral History Archive
- British Documents on the End of Empire Project
- The library and archives of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at Senate House Library
- IHR Library resources for researching Commonwealth History
- The Bibliography of British and Irish History
This session is organised collaboratively between the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, the Institute of Historical Research and Senate House Library.
Author: Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Institute of Historical Research, Senate House Library
Organisations: Institute of Commonwealth Studies
Institute of Historical Research
Event date: Tuesday, 8 March 2022 - 2:00pm