Senate House Library offers access to British Online Archives collection

British Online Archives (BOA) offers access to a broad range of digitised materials, selected and curated specifically through a British lens. 

Senate House Library is one of only a handful of libraries worldwide that provides access to the full BOA collections. These materials are sourced from prominent public archives, including the National Archives, British Library, and National Library of Scotland, as well as private archives of various organisations and individuals. BOA also features collections from the University of London, such as annotated monographs from Senate House Library's Lady Welby Library and South African political party publications from the Institute of Commonwealth Studies.

The digitised material is presented across 120 collections, grouped into themes, allowing students and researchers access to primary sources covering 500 years of British history, both at home and on the global stage. 

Some resource highlights include:

Political and social movements presents the archives of the Communist Party of Great Britain, papers of the British Labour Party, the Liberal Party, and Oswald Moseley's British Union of Fascists. International relations, war, security and intelligence explores Britain’s diplomatic ties through the WWI, WWII, and the Cold War.

Colonialism and Empire charts the growth of European Empires, specifically the British Empire, through collections of government documents and reports. The cultural impact on regions is seen through missionary papers, and as the impact of global trade, with papers relating to the East India Company, and shipping records for ports in Liverpool and Bristol. Slavery and abolition charts the development of the slave trade and abolition movements that followed.

Philosophy, culture, and society tracks developments in the British way of life, including BBC Handbooks and annual reports, BBC Listener Research Department, and magazines published by Illustrated London News. Medicine provides records from the Bethlem Royal Hospital, essays from the Scottish Royal Medical Society, and a timely collection explores pandemics and public health from 1517–1925. British Online archives can be accessed directly, and the separate collections are listed individually on the e-resource A-Z list.

Off-site access is available to all central University of London staff and students, and staff and students of the wider University of London Federation for research purposes.

All other users can access British Online Archives when onsite at Senate House Library. Senate House Library acquires resources in line with our recently updated Collections Development Policy.

Visit the Senate House Library website for details on how to become a member.