John Stoner's WWW Sources for Welsh History

Introduction

This is a sampler of World Wide Web resources for the study of Welsh history. It is a "sampler" because no claim to comprehensiveness is being made here. This page is part of the larger Web site devoted to Web resources for the study of the history of the Celtic fringe--Ireland, Scotland, and Wales--as an integral part of British history. This page contains annotated links to relevant Web resources organized into six major categories (see the Table of Contents).

A good brief overview of Wales is provided by City.net's Wales Page. City.Net, a service of Excite, provides information on travel, entertainment, local business, government and community services for cities and countries world-wide. The service's Wales page provides a good brief overview of current information sources on the Web related to Wales. As the Wales page is considered a "sub-Page" of City.net's United Kingdom page, see especially the United Kingdom entry from the CIA's 1995 World Factbook for more information on Wales.

Table of Contents

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General Sites (Meta-Sites)

Cymru / Wales
This Web site is maintained by Robert Evans at the Department of Computer Science, University of Wales, Cardiff. Although brief, this Web site provides useful information and/or links to information resources regarding Welsh geography, demography, and history. See especially the guided tour and universities links.

The Cymru--Wales Page
This site is part of The Gaelic Homepage, which is maintained at SunSITE at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The larger site is devoted to the language and culture of the Gaels, those people that speak or did speak any of the three Gaelic languages. The Cymru-Wales component of the site is, as the site authors and maintainers admit, quite thin in terms of resources and links. Compare it to the Alba--Scotland and Eire--Ireland components of the same site.

Data Wales
This site's aim is to provide a useful resource for those members of the Web community with an interest in Wales, and a platform to enable Welsh companies and organizations to offer their services and expertise. While its primary focus is on tourism and business, it has several useful resources for the study of Welsh history. See especially Data Wales Maps Page, Some facts and figures about Wales, Mentro Cymru Origin Quest, Notes on 19th Century Emigration from Wales, and Castles of Wales (a link from the Visiting Wales page).

Friends of Wales Information Categories
This Web page is part of the larger Friends of Wales Web site. The Information Categories contains annotated links to several pages maintained at this site that are of interest to students of Welsh history:
History of Wales
See Important Dates (note some of the other links on the History of Wales page did not lead to the "advertised" resource.
Genealogical
See Places to Get Help in Your Search.
Political
Links to Other Welsh Web Sites

North Wales Internet Home Page
North Wales Internet attempts to provide a well-balanced, bilingual WWW resource that represents North Wales businesses and community organizations locally, nationally and worldwide. This site's main emphasis is contemporary, but some of its resources are of interest to those studying Welsh history: Genealogy, Colleges & Universities, and News Page.

Other Sites of Interest
This Web page is one of several linked to the Cymdeithas Madog Web site. Cymdeithas Madog, the Welsh Studies Institute of North America, Inc., is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated to helping North Americans learn and use the Welsh language. While the majority of the links on its Other Sites of Interest Web page point to Welsh language resources, there are some useful links regarding Welsh history, universities, and online library catalogs.

Welsh Language and Culture
This Web site is part of Michael O'Callaghan's Texas Celtic Page. It is a brief list of links to Web resources regarding, as the name indicates, welsh language and culture. However, some of the links also include resources on Welsh history.

Yahoo's Wales
By following Yahoo's subject hierarchy along the following path: Regional:Countries:United Kingdom:Wales, the searcher comes up with links to web sites relating to Wales. While certainly not comprehensive, this Yahoo site provides a quick and easy introduction to Web sites on Wales and Welsh history. A good starting place.

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Historical Case Studies and Specialized Sites

Anglesey, Wales
This Web site, part of the Kovach Computing Services Web site, provides a wide range of Web resources about the Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Mon in Welsh), which is situated off the north-west coast of Wales. The site provides both contemporary and historical information. See Anglesey Through the Ages and Natural History of Anglesey. The site also contains a brief but useful list of other Web sites with information on Welsh culture and history. This site is a good example of how a "small" subject can be well--covered in a brief but informative fashion.

The Castles of Wales
This Web site, created and maintained by Jeff Thomas aims to be an educational resource, providing basic information not only about individual medieval Welsh castles themselves but about the people and the times in which they were built. In this it succeeds admirably, providing visual and textual information set in a detailed historical context. In addition, the site provides access to related information sources (both Web and print). An excellent example of a specific topic being used to illuminate larger historical patterns in Wales (although Thomas indicates that his site is part of the larger Friends of Wales Web site, it has been indexed separately here in order to highlight its quality and utility).

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Genealogical Resources

GENUKI: The UK & Ireland Genealogical Information Service
GENUKI attempts to serve as a "virtual reference library" of genealogical information that is of particular relevance to the UK and Ireland. It is a noncommercial service provided by volunteers in cooperation with the Federation of Family History Societies and a number of its member societies. See especially the The UK and Ireland page and then follow the Wales link. This is probably the best meta-site for Welsh genealogical research.

Library of Congress Entries for Welsh Genealogy
This web document, which is connected to the Library of Congress Holdings section of the Researching From Abroad web page of the GENUKI site is a list of 56 entries from the Library of Congress's online catalog, found in the "PREM" (pre-1968) and "LOCI" (post-1968) files which were retrieved by searching under the Library of Congress subject heading "Wales--genealogy".

Wales Genealogical & Historical Societies
This list of genealogical and historical societies of Wales is part of TFC's Genealogical On-Ramp Web site. The list provides addresses as well as links to lists for genealogical societies in other parts of the world. Only one of the genealogical societies listed here has a WWW site. See also the Wales section of the Foreign Publications & Periodicals page at this site.

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Primary Sources (Archives and Online Documents)

University of Wales Swansea Archives
This Web site provides a brief overview of the Archives of the University of Wales Swansea, which is part of the university library. The records include the Local Collections (some dating back to 1234), the South Wales Coalfield Archive documenting the mining community of South Wales, and the University Records from 1920 onward.

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Bibliographic Information

History Catalog
This Web site provides links to history publications of the University of Wales Press in eleven different categories. The site also provides information on how to order the titles and bookstores which carry the press's publications. The pages for each of the history publications generally provides a brief summary of the scope and thesis of the work, its contents, and an excerpted review. An excellent resource for information on printed works on Welsh history.

Rough Guides' Further Reading--Wales
"Rough Guides" are travel and music publishers. This web site contains an annotated bibliography. The section on "History and politics" is well balanced between popular and academic works and provides a good introduction to print sources on Welsh history.

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Online Catalogs and Databases

Social Science Information Gateway
The Social Science Information Gateway (SOSIG) at the University of Bristol provides access to information sources in the social sciences over the Web. All of the resources that appear on the Gateway have been described, classified and entered into a keyword searchable database. See UK Resources on SOSIG.

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LIS 190: The Web as a Research Tool Celtic Fringe Home Page WWW Sources for British History WWW Sources for Irish History WWW Sources for Scottish History WWW Sources for Welsh History

author: John W. Stoner - stonerjw@ocf.berkeley.edu
Last updated: September 6, 1997.