Broadside Ballads

English Broadside Ballad Archive

The English Broadside Ballad Archive (EBBA) is a project of the Early Modern Department of the University of California Santa Barbara's English department. The project was started in 2003 when EBBA Director Patricia Fumerton noted the lack of access to broadside ballad resources as she researched street literature. The archive contains 9359 early modern broadside ballads and is free to access.

Features

Search

The archive has an advanced search feature that allows users to search for ballads by many features.

by Feature

• Title
• Text
• Date
• Author
• Imprint
• Publishing Information
• ETSC Number
• Collection

by Keyword

The advanced search section has a list of keywords describing a variety of topics, styles, and themes. Users can select one or more of these search criteria when conducting a search, limiting their search to ballads that focus contain these elements.

by Woodcut Images

Users can also search by the woodcut images that accompany the ballads. On the homepage, there is an option to upload images that the archive's recognition software can match with woodcut images used in ballads.

There is also an option in the advanced search tab that allows users to select from a list of impression keywords. This option allows users to find images that match a certain topic. However, this feature is limited to impressions in the Pepys Collection.

Citation

This section contains general information about the ballad being observed. It includes the ballad's:

• Title
• Date of Publishing
• Author
• Standard Tune
• Imprint
• License
• Collection
• Page
• Location and Shelfmark
• ETSC ID
• Keyword and Pepys Categories
• Tune Imprint
• First Lines
• Refrain
• Album Page
• Physical Condition
• Ornament

Ballad Sheet Facsimile

This section contains an image of the original ballad. It allows users to zoom in or out on the image.

Facsimile Transcription

This section contains an image that shows the original arrangement of the images and text for a ballad, but with the text retyped to allow for easier reading.

Text Transcription

The text of the ballad is typed out in plain text.

Music

This section contains information about the musical aspect of the ballads. It gives the standard tune title and tune imprint. This information can be used in the search section to find ballads to the same tune. If available, this page also has a recording of the ballad being performed to its tune. This file is available for download.

Text Mining

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Ballad Sources

• Pepys Collection: a collection of ballads left to Magdalene College of Cambridge University by Samuel Pepys