Bodleian Libraries users have trial access until 4 March 2026 to three collections of primary source material in British Online Archives:

Bristol Shipping Records: imports and exports, 1770-1917: Containing over 28,000 images, the resource charts nearly 150 years of merchant shipping to and from the city of Bristol. It contains Bristol Presentments, Bills of Entry derived from the reports and manifests of ships that docked in the city. These documents offer unique insights into British maritime history and the goods traded in Bristol from 1770 to 1917. Significantly, the sources in this collection reveal how the city’s economy responded to the gradual abolition of slavery throughout the British empire during the early 1800s.

The collection provides an overview of how Bristol, and the wider economy of the United Kingdom, interacted with and influenced global trade networks throughout much of the modern period.

British Mercantile Trade Statistics 1662-1809: Containing over 47,000 images drawn from files at The National Archives (UK), the resource charts nearly 150 years of British trade and shipping. This collection includes trade ledgers, registers, and indexes that supply detailed statistical data on trade throughout the “long eighteenth century”. The collection also includes the official registers of “Mediterranean passes”: the registers detail which vessels were issued passes, their port of embarkation and destinations, as well as additional information on their size, crew, and defences.

The resource will appeal to those investigating the colonial, economic, and maritime dimensions of British history throughout this period. It should also interest those exploring broader themes, such as the escalation of global trade and the development of the fiscal-military state.

Liverpool Shipping Records: imports and exports 1820-1900: Containing over 85,000 document images, the resource charts 80 years of merchant shipping to and from the city of Liverpool. This collection comprises Bills of Entry derived from the reports and manifests of ships that docked in the city. These detailed documents offer unique insights into Liverpool’s maritime history and the goods traded in the city throughout most of the nineteenth century.

This collection provides a survey of how Liverpool, and the wider economy of the United Kingdom, interacted with and influenced global trade networks.

Please send any feedback on these trials to Isabel Holowaty.