LibGuides: Government Information: Historical

Empire/Commonwealth

Acts of the Privy Council, Colonial Series 1613-1783
via MEMSO
Annual Reports on the Colonies
Killam Library main stacks 5GB CO and basement storage JV 33 G7 A3 1974
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These were produced by the Colonial Office at various times during the last part of the British colonial period. The Killam Library has many of these reports dating from the late 1880s up until the 1960s. Reports for colonies in the Asia and Pacific Basin and Caribbean from the 1940s-1960s can be found in the main stacks under the call number 5GB CO. There is also a collection of older reports dating from 1889-1939 on microfiche held in the basement storage of the Killam Library under the call number JV 33 G7 A3 1974. These can be retrieved upon request.

Though usually brief, the reports offer a convenient annual overview of the affairs of each colony as perceived by the administration of that colony. Sections on agriculture, education, finances, justice, labor, legislation, religion and general matters are usually to be found.

Colonial State Papers This link opens in a new window
provides access to thousands of papers concerning English activities in the American, Canadian, and West Indian colonies between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries.
Empire Online This link opens in a new window
new collection of original documents relating to Empire Studies, from libraries and archives around the world.

Great Britain. Colonial Office. Confidential Print MICROFORM
List of Colonial Office Confidential Print to 1916 - Killam Documents Reference Collection CD 1052 A55
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Africa C.O.879, [1848-] volumes 1-126 (112 reels) - JV 1006 G69 MICROFILM

North America C.O.880, [1839-1914] volumes 1-32 (20 reels) - JV 1006 G723 MICROFILM

Eastern C.O.882, [1843-1913] volumes 1-9 (7 reels) - JV 1006 G7 MICROFILM. Contains papers relating to Ceylon, Hong Kong, Labuan, Mauritus, the Straits and Federated Malay States, and Wei-hei-wei. Two papers relating to the Falkland Islands are included.
West Indies C.O.884, [1823-1916] volumes 1-12 (10 reels) - JV 1006 G73. Includes British Honduras and British Guiana

Miscellaneous C.O.885, [1839-1916] volume 1-24 (18 reels) � JV 1006 G72. Contains papers on military and defence matters (including reports of the Colonial Defence Committee), colonial policy, navigation laws, emigration, transportation, church government, law officer's opinions, public health, communications, the Imperial Institute, Colonial and Imperial Conferences, and Colonial Office re-organisation. A few papers relating to Heligoland and St. Helena are included in this class.

Modern Digital Collections

British History Online digital records of the Centre for Metropolitan History, the History of Parliament Trust, and the Victoria County History. Dalhousie does NOT have a premium subscription, and thus no access to the Parliament Rolls of Medieval England (Edward I to Henry VII), all the volumes of the Calendar of State Papers, Domestic 1537-1714, the Calendars of State Papers for Scotland and Ireland, plus the Calendar of Close Rolls.
The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913
A fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court.
Records of the Security Service - National Archives (UK)
The files contain information about communists, Soviet intelligence agents and officers, right-wing extremists, Italian espionage activities and suspected agents, Czech refugees, suspected spies, pacifists, German agents and intelligence officers. The majority of these files are from 1939-45, but there are a considerable number from the inter- and post-war periods.

Finding Aids to British Official Papers

J 301 M32 1696-1899 Hansard's Catalogue and breviate of parliamentary papers, 1696-1834

J 301 M33 1801-1899 Checklist of British parliamentary papers in the Irish University Press 1000-volume series, 1801-1899

J 301 M33 1833-1899 Select list of British parliamentary papers, 1833-1899

J 301 M33 1900-1916 A breviate of parliamentary papers, 1900-1916

J 301 M33 1917-1939 A breviate of parliamentary papers, 1917-1939

J 301 M33 1940-1954 A breviate of parliamentary papers, 1940-1954

J 301 M33 1955-64 Select list of British parliamentary papers, 1955-1964

Parliamentary Papers

British Sessional Papers, 1731-1995
Killam:
J 301 K6 MFICHE (Killam Basement Storage) ISS: 1979/1980-1985/1986
J 301 K6 MICROFILM (Killam Basement Storage) 1940-1974 must use HMSO Catalogue (Z 2009 G822 - Killam Documents Reference) to find page/item numbers for microfilm

Law Library: KB 23 G782 MICROFICHE 1979/80-1994/95
Cobbett's Parliamentary History of England
The Parliamentary history of England from the earliest period to the year 1803, from which last-mentioned epoch it is continued downwards in the work entitled "Hansard's parliamentary debates." -- Killam Library J 301 H5
London : Printed by T.C. Hansard, 1806-1820.
36 v.

Chancery Records

Patent Rolls, recording miscellaneous grants, appointments, licences, pardons and, after 1516, charters as above, 1216-1232, as transcripts in latin, (2 vols, HMSO, 1903, 1906) and thereafter as calendars 1232-1509, 1547-1582 (HMSO, 1906-1986). Entries of 1509-1547 are included in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII. Draft calendars for 1584-1588 have been published by the List and Index Society (1990-1992) and the Arts and Humanities Research Board have awarded grant funding to complete the Calendars of Patent Rolls for the reign of Elizabeth I which will be published as List and Index Society volumes. Digitised images of the calendars for 1348-1452 have been mounted on the University of Iowa website as searchable text. also see MEMSO or 5GB PU 1.69 through 1.82(Government Documents) in the Killam Library.

Close Rolls, recording official orders and writs and some private deeds, transcripts in latin, 1227-1272 (HMSO, 1902-1938, 1975) and thereafter as calendars, 1272-1509 (HMSO, 1900-1963). see 5GB PU 1.90 through 1.98(Government Documents) in the Killam Library.

Fine Rolls, recording payments for writs, grants, pardons etc., calendars, 1272-1509 (HMSO, 1911-1963). see v.12-13 (1399-1413) 5GB PU 1.120 (Government Documents) in the Killam Library.

Treaty Rolls, recording treaties, 1234-1325, 1337-1339 (HMSO, 1956, 1972) 5GB PU 1.30 v.2

Diplomatic Documents, recording treaties and diplomatic correspondence, 1101-1272 (HMSO, 1964). see 5GB PU 1.53 (Government Documents) in the Killam Library.

English medieval diplomatic practice. Part I; documents and interpretation by Chaplais, Pierre (HMSO, 1982); English medieval diplomatic practice. Part II; plates (HMSO, 1975). see 5GB PU 1.49 (Government Documents) in the Killam Library.

Inquisitions Post Mortem, inquiries into the land holdings of deceased tenants of the king in chief, 1216-1418 (1904-1995), 1485-1509 (HMSO, 1898-1956); 1418-1422 (Boydell and Brewer, 2002); 1418-1427 (Boydell and Brewer, 2003). Calendarium Inquisitionum Post Mortem (Record Commission, 1806-1828) just lists the name of the deceased and manors, in latin, for 1216-1485. see 5GB PU 1.132 (Government Documents) in the Killam Library.

Calendar of Signet Letters of Henry IV and Henry V (1979). see 5GB PU 1.57 (Government Documents) in the Killam Library.

State Papers, Privy Council

Calendar of State Papers Colonial, 1574-1738 (1860-1970) mainly relates to America and the West Indies but includes material relating to the East Indies, China and Japan for the period 1513-1624. see MEMSO or 5GB PU 1.10 on the second floor of the Killam Library.

Calendar of state papers. Domestic Series, 1649-1660 5GB PU 1.103 on the second floor of the Killam Library. See MEMSO for more years

Acts of the Privy Council, 1542-1631 (1890-1964) calendars entries in the registers of the Privy Council. Earlier records, many now held by the British Library, for 1386-1461 and 1540-1542, are calendared in Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council (Record Commission, 1834-1837). see MEMSO or DA 25 C7 1890 in the Killam Library

Exchequer, Courts, Statutes

Records of the Wardrobe and Household, transcript in latin of miscellaneous Exchequer accounts, 1285-1289
5GB PU 1.55
Memoranda Rolls 16-17 Henry III
5GB PU 1.127
Curia Regis Rolls of the Reign of Henry III
v. 15-16, 1233-1242 (Reign of Henry III)
5GB PU 1.31 on the second floor of the Killam Library
Statutes of the Realm
this 12-volume set covers the periods 1235 to 1713
shelved in the DAL Law Library Statutes: 4th floor. Aisle 21
Calendar of Assize Records
5GB PU 1.50 second floor of the Killam Library
Elizabeth Ser.1
James I Ser.2