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Boasting more than six million records covering over 500 years of history, BOA's extensive digital archive offers unique insights into global events, trends, and themes.

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Illustration shows a restaurant scene with men and women dancing in the background. Shows upper class people in fashionable 1920s fashion.
Culture and Society
1907 photgraph showing women from the Women's Freedom League holding posters that state Women Demand The Vote and Votes For Women.
Politics and Social Movements
Black and white photograph of a statue of a freed slave in Barbados
Slavery and Abolition
Prince of Wales' welcome reception in India in 1906. Illustration shows elephant and people marching next to it.
Colonialism and Empire
Two pamphlet covers on Britain's Economy. The left side has The National Budget 1950/51 pamphlet cover. The right side has The Pound and Our Future pamphlet cover with a large illustration of the £ sign.
Economics
An engraving of a medieval missionary discovering the point where the Earth and sky meet. The Sun, Moon and Stars are shown.
Philosophy and Religion
World Map Showing UN Nations
International Relations
Illustration published in The Illustrated War News on 24 March 1915 depicting the trenches during the Battle of Neuve Chapelle
War, Security, and Intelligence
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Latest Collections

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Licensed to access Illustrated London News, 1842–2003

1842   2003
Coloured illustration of a British town being bombed. On the left a black and white soldier points to the sky.

Licensed to access Britain Under Threat: Civil Defence in the Era of Total War, 1914–1989

1914   1989
Illustration of The View of Cape Town, Table Bay

Licensed to access British Colonial Rule in the Cape of Good Hope and Basutoland, 1854–1910

1854   1910
Painting by artist Thomas Luny in 1788 of East India Company's Ships

Licensed to access British Mercantile Trade Statistics, 1662–1809

1662   1808
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Latest Posts

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A poster from the First World War. It has a title of Public Warning, and underneath, two columns of drawings. The drawings are of German and British aircraft, which are separated under two headings written in red.

Britain Under Threat: The Use of Propaganda in the First World War

Dr Charlie Hall
Published 13th March, 2025 1 min read
An aged piece of paper with Air Raid Shelter written across it in capital letters.

Britain Under Threat: Civil Defence in the First World War

British Online Archives
Published 12th March, 2025 1 min read
An illustration of a warden, who wears a uniform and hat, and points to the right, overlayed over an illustration of a street that is being bombed.

Britain Under Threat: Civil Defence in the Era of Total War, 1914–1989

British Online Archives
Published 11th March, 2025 2 min read
A black and white photograph of Agatha Christie, a woman with short curly hair, on the telephone. There is a second photograph of her sat at a writing desk, with her body twisted so that she faces the camera, overlayed in a circular frame.

Document of the Week: Agatha Christie’s “The Affair at the Victory Ball” (1923)

Laura Wales
Published 10th March, 2025 3 min read

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About us

British Online Archives (BOA) is one of the UK’s leading academic publishers and online repositories. 

Hosting over six million records, carefully sourced from private and public archives, such as The National Archives (UK) and British Library, BOA’s specially curated primary source collections cover over 500 years of world history. They boast extensive documentation from across the globe, providing invaluable source material for students and researchers working within a wide range of scholarly disciplines, including history, politics, sociology, and international relations. Our unique digital holdings offer insights into global historical events and trends, typically through a British lens. They serve to broaden our understanding of history, and help us to make sense of contemporary social, cultural, economic, and political landscapes.

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