This list of websites, providing access to sources that I have found useful in my researches, has no claims to be comprehensive. I have excluded Family History sites from this list.

Books and Monographs

The Cambridgeshire Collection is the major resource of printed material relating to the City and County of Cambridge. It holds books, pamphlets, directories and monographs, newspapers, maps, illustrations, ephemera, recordings and other material. The Cambridgeshire Collection online catalogue is the most comprehensive record of published information, but the digitisation is patchy: https://ibistro.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/uhtbin/webcat

Other catalogues include:

• Cambridge University Library catalogue: www.lib.cam.ac.uk/newton/

• Melbourne University Library Catalogue of the collection of Cambridge material acquired by Pierre Gorman: www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/bibhome/cam5c.pdf. There are two sequences, one by author, the other chronological.

• Robert Bowes - A catalogue of books printed at or relating to the University, town & county of Cambridge, from 1521 to 1893 : with bibliographical and biographical notes (1894) – digitised as part of the Internet Archive (see below) - www.archive.org/details/catcambridge00boweuoft

Books Available Online

• Google Book Search is a project to digitise thousands of out-of-print books. You can search by any topic and it will take you to that specific location giving a preview of the book, and in some cases the entire text. If it's in the public domain, you're free to download a PDF copy. I recommend this heartily. Items include many of the standard works on Fenland drainage such as those by Wells and Elstobb. books.google.com

• Internet Archive is another project which has digitised thousands of books, page by page. Cambridge items include C.H. Cooper’s ‘Annals of Cambridge’ and ‘Memorials of Cambridge’, J.H. Mullinger ‘University of Cambridge’ volumes, T.D. Atkinson ‘Cambridge described and illustrated’ and the Bowes Catalogue of Cambridge books. www.archive.org/index.php

• The Victoria County History volumes are the most authoritative source; some of their volumes are available at British History Online, www.british-history.ac.uk, which contains other core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles.

• County Directories give a survey of each village together with a list of trades people. A number are available at: www.historicaldirectories.org

Athens

Other websites are available via registered users of ‘Athens’, an Access Management System developed by Eduserv with organisations such as Universities.  It includes :

• EEBO - Early English Books Online which contains digital facsimile page images of virtually every work printed in England from 1473-1700. It includes Dugdale Imbanking and Draining - eebo.chadwyck.com/home

• JSTOR which allows you to search and retrieve scanned journal articles issues - www.jstor.org/search/

Parliamentary Papers

• Cambridge University Library’s online resources gives access to a detailed index and searchable text of thousands of parliamentary papers published between 1801 and 2000 including Charity and Agricultural Labour Gang reports – parlipapers.chadwyck.co.uk/marketing/index.jsp

Newspapers

• The Times digital archive 1785-1985 enables you to search and see stories they have carried over the years. Their website - times_digital_archive.htm is available via the Electronic Resources section of the Cambridgeshire Libraries website - www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/leisure/libraries/online/

• There were about 40 newspapers published in Cambridgeshire from 1764 to date. For a list of these, and their locations consult Newsplan – newsplan.liem.org.uk. There are microfilms of most in the Cambridgeshire Collection and Cambridge University Library.

• The Cambridgeshire Collection has card indexes of Cambridgeshire news stories 1770-1900 together with files of newspaper cuttings from 1958. These are not available online.

• I have compiled ‘A Century of Cambridge Daily News’ – Cambridge stories 1888 to date on topics such as transport, water supply, university, war, planning etc. together with an index to my ‘Looking Back’ columns in the Cambridge Evening News. Please email me if these can be of use.

See my notes on ‘Cambridgeshire Newspapers and the Local Researcher’ on my website.

Maps

• A selection of early single-sheet maps of Cambridgeshire is available at Genmaps, freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~genmaps/genfiles/COU_Pages/ENG_pages/cam.htm

• Ordnance Survey Maps. There are a number of sites offering access to early Ordnance Survey maps. Modern maps are available at www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/getamap/

• Old Maps - www.old-maps.co.uk

• Digimap, for Athens holders, allows you to compare the same area at different periods. edina.ac.uk/digimap/description/overview.shtml

• Google Maps, maps.google.co.uk

Aerial Photos

• A selection of Aerial surveys are available at www.flashearth.com

Illustrations

The Cambridgeshire Collection has the largest selection of prints and photographs of Cambridgeshire with over 400,000 images. There are various indexes, part of one of which is available on the Collection’s website.

Cambridgeshire Explorer CD-ROMs of Cambridge and Cambridgeshire each contain over 1,000 images of the county. I strongly recommend you buy these from Hugo Brown at www.cambridge-explorer.org.uk

Other sites that include old images of Cambridgeshire include:

• Google – search for topics or places, then click the ‘Images’ choice, images.google.co.uk

• The British Library ‘Collect Britain’ website gives access to scanned images of prints and engravings - www.collectbritain.co.uk

• Cambridgeshire Community Archives Network for various local villages - www.ccan.co.uk

• Footsteps- www.locallifedesign.co.uk/clients/footsteps/Cambridgeshire/cambridgeshire_index.htm

• The Francis Frith Collection archive - www.francisfrith.com/search/england/cambridgeshire/cambridge/cambridge.htm

Buildings

• The Historic Environment Record at www.heritagegateway.org.uk includes Cambridgeshire

• East Cambs District Council includes an older list - www.eastcambs.gov.uk/html/searchlbs.asp

Archives

• Cambridgeshire County Record Office is the major resource for non-published material - www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/leisure/archives/

• Janus is a website which provides access to catalogues of archives held throughout Cambridge. The work is in progress, with new catalogues being added regularly - janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/

• The National Archives index record a vast amount of Cambridgeshire information - www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/

Other Sources

- The Cambridgeshire Association for Local History has a link to many other local websites - www.calh.org.uk/links.htm

- Martin Edwards has produced a link to sources of Cambridgeshire history – www.cambridgeshirehistory.com/

Mike Petty, October 2007, (+ thanks to Chris Holley)