British Era

For statistical and other information on the colonies a key resource is the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers which contains numerous reports submitted by the Colonial Office and other agencies to Parliament.  These can be searched in the online version.  Also, the annual Colonial Office List contains an index of these reports (usually called Command Papers) arranged by colony.

It is often best to search House of Commons Parliamentary Papers on the Advanced page, putting your colony in the Subject box and your keyword in the Keyword box.

East India Company (1599 to 1947) offers India Office Records from the British Library. Contains royal charters, correspondence, trading diaries, minutes of council meetings, expedition reports, etc.

The India Office List. A valuable source. Each volume includes lists of officials arranged by province and department, chronological lists of major officials, lists of honors and awards, information on appointments and salaries, lists of government publications and parliamentary papers for the year, a substantial who's who (called Record of Services), and much additional information.  Initial table of contents and Index of Subjects and Appointments; terminal index of names.

Search India Office List as a phrase (in "") in HathiTrust Digital Library Catalog Search. You can also search the whole series full text in HathiTrust Full Text Advanced Search.

The India Office List has gone through several name changes
Location : Widener Ind 355.3 (1819-1947)

General

Area studies: India

  • Colonial discourses: series 3: colonial fiction, 1712-1933
  • Curzon, India and empire: the papers of Lord Curzon (1859-1925) from the British Library, London
  • The empire writes back: part one: Indian views on Britain and empire, 1810-1915, from the British Library, London
  • India during the Raj: eyewitness accounts: diaries and related records describing life in India, 1712-1925
  • India in the age of empire: the journals of Michael Pakenham Edgeworth (1812-1881) from the Bodleian Library, Oxford
  • Indian newspaper reports, c. 1868-1942.

Digital Colonial Documents (India) offers census (1871-1901), East India Company documents, and personal reports.

Empire On-Line offers images of original documents and printed materials relating to the British Empire.

Gazettes of India 1808, 1838- (incomplete)

India, Raj & Empire (1710-1947) includes diaries and journals, official and private papers, letters, sketches, paintings and original Indian documents containing histories and literary works. Scots played a central role as traders, generals, missionaries, viceroys, governor-generals and East India Company officials and the material is drown from manuscript collections of the National Library of Scotland.

Selections from the letters, despatches, and other state papers preserved in the Bombay secretariat, edited by George W. Forrest. Bombay : Government Central Press, 1885. 1 v. in 3 pts.
"The object of these volumes is to trace ... the history of the Maráthás from their founder Shiváji ... to their defeat by ... Wellington"--Pref., v.1, --pt.1.  HOLLIS Record

Selections from the letters, despatches and other state papers preserved in the Military department of the government of India, 1857-58, ed. by George W. Forrest. Calcutta : Military department press, 1893-
Subjects: India -- History -- Sepoy Rebellion, 1857-1858 -- Sources
Vol. 1. Delhi -- v. 2-3. Lucknow and Cawnpore -- v. 4. Central India (not available). 
HathiTrust Version

Selections from the state papers of the governors-general of India, edited by G. W. Forrest. Oxford, B. H. Blackwell ; London, Constable & co., ltd., 1910-26. 4 v.
HOLLIS Record
--Contents: I. Warren Hastings. Introduction; II. Warren Hastings. Documents; III. Lord Cornwallis. Introduction; IV. Lord Cornwallis. Documents. 

British documents on the end of empire.
Online Access

Series A: HOLLIS Record
•Vol. 1: Imperial policy and colonial practice, 1925-1945
•Vol. 2: Labour government and the end of empire, 1945-1951
•Vol 3: Conservative government and the end of empire 1951-1957
•Vol. 4: Conservative government and the end of empire 1957-1964

Series B: HOLLIS Record    Vol. 2: Sri Lanka

Afghanistan in 1919: The Third Anglo-Afghan War. From the India Office records.

The Indian Army and Colonial Warfare on the Frontiers of India, 1914-1920 concerns the area between India and Afghanistan. Includes over 5,000 images and a wide variety of military records and regimental histories. From the British Library

More sources in Library Research Guide for British Colonial and Foreign Relations Sources