Early English Books Online (EEBO) Provides access to almost every work "printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473-1700." EEBO covers of works listed in these bibliographies: The Short-Title Catalogue I (Pollard & Redgrave, 1475 - 1640); The Short-Title Catalogue II (Wing, 1641 - 1700); The Thomason Tracts, a compendium of broadsides on the English Civil War printed between 1640 and 1661; The Early English Books Tract Supplements. Holy Cross' trial to EEBO will be available until December 31, 2012.
British History Online Contains primary sources, such as journals of the House of Lords and House of Commons
The Worcester Law Library has the HeinOnline database which includes the English Reports, Full Reprint, covering the years 1220-1865. This collection includes the decisions of the English Courts prior to the commencement of the Law Reports in 1865. To gain online access, you just need to sign up for a library card at Trial Court Law Library.
Also, try searching the Holy Cross Library Catalog and WorldCat for primary source material.
How did the definition of word differ in Shakespeare's Time? The Oxford English Dictionary goes beyond providing the current definitions and meanings of words to show "the evolution of the English language over the last millennium."
London Times Digital Archive (1785-1985)
Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) Aims to include every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in the United Kingdom, along with thousands of important works from the Americas, from 1701-1800. Consists of books, pamphlets, broadsides, ephemera.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online Includes a variety of material types--monographs, newspapers, pamphlets, manuscripts, ephemera, maps, statistics, and more
Historical Newspapers from the Boston Public Library With a BPL eCard, you can search:
ARTstor Online digital image database
The Nineteenth Century Index (Includes Poole's) Indexes nineteenth-century books, periodicals, official documents, newspapers and archives. Includes the following indexes: Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue, The Nineteenth Century microfiche project, American Periodicals Series, British Periodicals, Niles' Register Index, Periodicals Index Online, Poole's Index to Periodical Literature, Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals 1824-1900, House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, Proceedings of the Old Bailey, U.S. Congressional Serial Set, Archive Finder, and Palmer's Index to The Times.
New York Times Historical (1851-2003)
American Periodical Series The American Periodicals Series chronicles the development of America between 1740 and 1940, including special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines and many other historically-significant periodicals. Titles range from Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine and America's first scientific journal, Medical Repository; popular magazines such as Vanity Fair and Ladies' Home Journal; regional and niche publications; and groundbreaking journals like The Dial, Puck, and McClure's.
*For more historical newspapers, sign up for a BPL eCard and you can search the America's Historical Newspapers database.