History

Collection overview

A comprehensive research-level collection, covering all periods of history.

Collection strengths include:

British History
European History
Extensive collection of periodicals – including English and Welsh local history society and record society publications
Some printed primary source materials - including Calendars of State Papers, the Rolls Series and Documents on British and German Foreign Policy
The Rapid Reference section can be found in the Goldsmiths Library – this includes dictionaries, handbooks and guides to place names

See our latest acquisitions

Collection location

Most books are located on the 3rd floor – please note that histories of the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean are kept in their relevant area collections
All items available on open access will display the location HISTORY, with the classmark prefix 63 eg HISTORY (63) PS3B Duf
Most periodicals are shelved in a separate alphabetical sequence of History and Archaeology periodicals on the 3rd floor, in a room behind the Institute of Classical Studies Library desk. See the: A-Z list of SHL History journals and A-Z list of SHL History eJournals
Recent issues of periodicals are on display bays in the Goldsmiths Library – 4th floor. For more information on finding journals, see our journals resources page
Some items are held in the closed access stacks. These will display the location Stack Service. Please request at the Stack Service desk on the 4th floor
To locate individual titles use the online catalogue

Related collections

Area collections of Latin American Studies and United States Studies
British Government Publications – including all parliamentary debates and parliamentary papers from c.1800 to date
History of Science, Technology and Medicine collection
Palaeography collection
Social Sciences collections – including Politics, Economics, Sociology and Anthropology
Special Collections and Archives– including the Goldsmiths’ Library of Economic Literature
Dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference works in the Information Centre, 4th floor
The Library Archives include: Historians' papers, and also documents on Coins and counterfeiting, Friendly societies, Slavery, Temperance and Trotskyism. The archives catalogue includes a subject search facility.

Classmarks for History

All classmarks in this collection have a numerical prefix of 63, eg HISTORY (63) PS3B Duf

African history	OS-OX	Greek and Roman history, ancient	LO-LV
Ancient history, general	LI	Historiography	L4
British history	MU-MW	Indian history	OM-ON
British Imperial and Commonwealth history	MZ	Irish history	MY
Byzantine history	LW	Italian history	MF
Chinese history	OI	Japanese history	OJ
Church history	PO-PZ	Jewish history	LH
European history, medieval	MB	Middle Eastern history, ancient	LJ-LN
European history, modern (1500-1900)	MC	Middle Eastern history, modern	OQ-OR
European history, 20th century	MD	Modern Israel	ORI
French history	MR-MT	Russian and Soviet history	MN
German history	MG-MI	Spanish and Portuguese History	MQ

For a more detailed explanation of classmarks see the Library's leaflet 'A guide to the classification scheme'.

Other libraries

For more information about History collections in other libraries, please see the Guide to History Libraries and Collections in London, available in printed and electronic form www.shl.lon.ac.uk/his/introhis.html

You can also consult the M25 Consortium of Higher Education Libraries website: www.m25lib.ac.uk. For elsewhere in the UK, consult the Consortium of University and Research Libraries catalogue: www.copac.ac.uk