What’s new in BBIH?
The October 2023 update to the Bibliography of British and Irish History adds 4,091 new publications. The new update includes books, journal articles, book chapters, and edited collections covering all areas of British and Irish history, from 55 BCE to the present day.
These updates bring the total number of BBIH records to 650,171. The October 2023 update includes:
- 3,792 titles that were published in 2018-2023
- 306 publications relating to Scottish history
- 1,439 publication about the histories of England and Wales, including 90 publications about the history of Wales and 1,362 publications focusing on England
- 377 publications focusing on Irish history, including 36 publications focusing on Northern Ireland
- 864 new records for ‘Imperial and Commonwealth’, of which 205 records discuss the histories of colonial African nations and 225 records refer to histories of the colonial Americas and the Caribbean
In memory: Professor Arthur Burns
In October 2023, BBIH received the sad news of the death of Professor Arthur Burns. Since 2017, Arthur has been an active member of BBIH’s project board and will be much missed. The RHS published an appreciation.
Welcome to new BBIH section editor
The Institute of Historical Research (IHR), Royal Historical Society (RHS) and Brepols would like to welcome Dr Joan Redmond as the new section editor for Ireland before 1640. Joan succeeds Dr Caitlin Ellis.
The IHR, RHS and Brepols would like to thank Caitlin for their work on BBIH, and welcome Joan in their new role.
BBIH and the history of emotions
In September 2023, the Bibliography’s editors and Brepols published a new online reading list focusing on the history of emotions. This reading list contains 521 publications and can be found, along with all of BBIH’s online reading lists, on our brand new web page Online reading lists from BBIH. You can also learn more about the new reading list in Dr Sarah Collins’ piece for On History.
The Bibliography contains over 2,400 resources on the history of emotions, including 194 new publications added in the October 2023 update.
BBIH and Black British history
October was Black History Month in the UK. The Bibliography lists over 8,100 resources for ethnicity, including Black history in Britain and in the British empire, with the October 2023 update containing 184 new publications.
You can learn more by:
- Using BBIH’s online reading list on Black British history. The reading list contains 460 books, articles, and chapters published between 2015 and present.
- Reading Gaverne Bennett’s piece for On History about researching Black British History, Race, and Ethnicity in BBIH.
Get the most out of using BBIH
With the new academic year in full swing, you can learn more about using BBIH in your research or teaching by visiting our page of online tutorials. Our short video tutorials include:
- The basics of searching, including how to use the subject tree
- How to use your results
- How to keep up-to-date with the latest published research in your field or manage your reference lists or bibliographies
- Behind-the-scenes guide to how BBIH is compiled
There are also short video guides designed for:
- New undergraduates and those planning and researching a final year dissertation
- MA and PhD students for whom BBIH is essential for writing a literature review and studying secondary fields of interest
Lecturers, teachers, and librarians will find it helpful that the Bibliography’s online tutorials can all be embedded in a virtual learning environment (VLE). Presentations are also available here to promote the Bibliography to your students and staff.
About the Bibliography of British and Irish History
The Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) is the largest and most comprehensive guide available to what’s been written about British and Irish history, from the early 1900s to the present day.
It’s an essential resource for research and teaching, providing up-to-date information (and links) on over 650,000 history books, articles, chapters, edited collections, and theses. New records are added in three annual updates. These records are searchable by a wide range of facets including: title, author, chronology, date and form of publication, historical topic, and geographical region.
The Bibliography is a research project of the IHR and the Royal Historical Society, and is published by Brepols. BBIH is a subscription service and is available remotely via university and research libraries worldwide.