Cambridge University Libraries provide access to an extensive range of databases and digital resources —both subscription-based and Open Access— to support a broad range of research using French and Francophone material. The best starting point is the Cambridge A-Z databases and the dedicated A-Z Francophone Area Studies. These lists ensure reliable and easy access to resources available by subscription only. In the A-Z, you will also find thematic groupings for related fields such as African Studies, Linguistics, Film, History, Arts and Humanities, Modern and Medieval Languages, Amplifying voices…
We have produced a guide on French and Francophone electronic resources at Cambridge following a presentation focusing on Francophone databases at the French Studies Library Group (FSLG) conference in Oxford on 21 November. You can download it HERE in pdf format. This document covers Primary sources and corpora (including Press, Literature, History and Iconography), Critical Works and Dictionaries. It was written for a training session we organised for staff and students of the Faculty of Modern & Medieval Languages and Linguistics on 25 November 2025. We are planning to repeat this session next term, so let us know if you would like to attend! Whether you are working on medieval literature, exploring Caribbean archives, analysing 18th-century philosopher’s correspondence, or just want to read current French newspapers, this guide highlights key resources and how to access them.
As a starting point, here is our Top 10 Essential French and Francophone Databases
Primary sources:
Europresse – Access 15.000+ French and international newspapers and magazines (see blogpost).
Gallica – The Digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France with manuscripts, books, and images, as well as thematic and geographic selections.
Retronews – Historical French press archives (1631–1952) from the BnF, with advanced research tools as well as chronological and thematic sections (see blogpost).
ARTFL Project – Includes a wide range of Francophone textual corpora from the 16th to the 19th century, including The Montaigne Project, The Bibliothèque bleue de Troyes, TOUT VOLTAIRE, Rousseau Online, or the Encyclopédie of Diderot et d’Alembert.
Classiques Garnier Numérique – A Gateway to French literature and humanities databases including historical dictionaries and the Corpus de la littérature médiévale des origines au 15e siècle
FRANTEXT – Textual database of French literary and scientific works from the 9th to 20th centuries which allows advanced textual searches and comparisons.
Manioc – Francophone Digital library specializing in the Caribbean, the Amazon, the Guyana Plateau and the regions or centres of interest linked to these territories.
Critical works:
OpenEdition – Open Access books and journals in Humanities and Social Sciences.
PERSEE – Open Access French Portal and Archive for scientific publications in social sciences and humanities.
CAIRN French Studies Collection – French and Belgian journals in humanities and social sciences (see blogpost).
Bonus:
Two resources of interest relating to the 18th century:
- Electronic Enlightenment : full-text database of 18th-century primary sources from key figures of the Enlightenment, with nearly 6,000 correspondents, 53,000 letters and documents.
- Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment Online (newly acquired): 700+ volumes from a series devoted to Enlightenment studies including history, cultural studies, literature, biography, religious studies, philosophy, and gender studies.
And Black Lives Matter and decolonisation in the Francophone world : a thematic bibliography of e-resources available through Cambridge University Library!
Irène Fabry-Tehranchi & Hélène Fernandes
Languages across Borders 