Someone has compiled a website called the Regency Encyclopedia, which is essentially a collection of bits of information from various books on the Regency period, sorted into topic and searchable. It has its limitations, chief of which is that historians don't agree on everything so there's a fair amount of contradiction within it. Lack of context is another problem, but overall it's a decent resource and usually a good starting place.
There are some good blogs out there as well. I particularly appreciate it when they share period resources like scans of fashion plates or advertisements. I like having those kinds of details for color, but as with the RE, it all needs to be taken with a grain of salt, as one source may contradict another.
When I'm starting more or less from scratch, I go to some combination of Google Books, Project Gutenberg, and the Internet Archive's digital books collection. These three are very useful for any kind of historical fiction. I was once writing something set in England during WWII and wanted the name of the Spanish ambassador to England during the war. It took me hours upon hours to track that down, and I finally found it in an excerpt of a book on Google Books. Photo archives are also very useful if you're writing something in a setting like Cold War Berlin, where the city looks quite a bit different now post-unification.
For maps, I like the Perry Casteñeda Library's map archive. Their historical map collection isn't extensive for the Georgian period, but I write about other periods as well, so it's useful to me.
There are also some good communities in other parts of the internet where you can ask questions like "what's the likely damage if a character gets shot while wearing bulletproof armor?" or "what's it like to have an MRI?" and someone there will probably know the answer. This is often very useful for scifi/fantasy scenarios, perhaps more than one would imagine. Aside from getting advice on physics, the human element is how you relate to stories in unknown settings like fantasy or future worlds.
This is going to sound odd, but I've sort of collected friends who have useful expertise. It's not deliberate, just how it's worked out. At least three of my fandom friends are historians, in different areas. One is an archaeologist. One is a planetary scientist and has talked me down from crazy ideas that just weren't workable. One of the historians has a sister who's a doctor/hospital safety expert who doesn't mind fielding strange questions from me. Other writers are also very useful. Odds are high that you're not the first person to ask a particular question, and other writers can often either provide the answer or point you in the right direction.
There are some good blogs out there as well. I particularly appreciate it when they share period resources like scans of fashion plates or advertisements. I like having those kinds of details for color, but as with the RE, it all needs to be taken with a grain of salt, as one source may contradict another.
When I'm starting more or less from scratch, I go to some combination of Google Books, Project Gutenberg, and the Internet Archive's digital books collection. These three are very useful for any kind of historical fiction. I was once writing something set in England during WWII and wanted the name of the Spanish ambassador to England during the war. It took me hours upon hours to track that down, and I finally found it in an excerpt of a book on Google Books. Photo archives are also very useful if you're writing something in a setting like Cold War Berlin, where the city looks quite a bit different now post-unification.
For maps, I like the Perry Casteñeda Library's map archive. Their historical map collection isn't extensive for the Georgian period, but I write about other periods as well, so it's useful to me.
There are also some good communities in other parts of the internet where you can ask questions like "what's the likely damage if a character gets shot while wearing bulletproof armor?" or "what's it like to have an MRI?" and someone there will probably know the answer. This is often very useful for scifi/fantasy scenarios, perhaps more than one would imagine. Aside from getting advice on physics, the human element is how you relate to stories in unknown settings like fantasy or future worlds.
This is going to sound odd, but I've sort of collected friends who have useful expertise. It's not deliberate, just how it's worked out. At least three of my fandom friends are historians, in different areas. One is an archaeologist. One is a planetary scientist and has talked me down from crazy ideas that just weren't workable. One of the historians has a sister who's a doctor/hospital safety expert who doesn't mind fielding strange questions from me. Other writers are also very useful. Odds are high that you're not the first person to ask a particular question, and other writers can often either provide the answer or point you in the right direction.