What are Primary Sources?
Primary Sources are original sources: they were created by someone who participated in or observed an event. They include diaries, letters, newspapers, government documents, photographs, and other manuscripts.
General Collections
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Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports, 1941-1996 This link opens in a new windowFBIS is comprised of the collections from the Archives of the Central Intelligence Agency including government publications, magazines, newspapers and transcribed television and radio broadcasts. Collected between 1941-1996 and translated into English by the Central Intelligence Agency, these intelligence reports are an indispensable source for insight into decades of turbulent world history.
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ProQuest History Vault This link opens in a new windowHistory Vault is a collection of primary source material pertaining to the civil rights movement and to U.S. foreign policy during the Vietnam War era.
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Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives This link opens in a new windowThis collection of primary resources documents the history, culture, and politics of the 1960s and early 1970's. Included are diaries, letters, autobiographies and other memoirs, written and oral histories, manifestos, government documents, memorabilia, and scholarly commentary.
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American Memory This link opens in a new window
Gateway to primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States.
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The Vietnam ArchiveThe Vietnam archive at Texas Tech University. The largest archive on the war in the world.
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Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000 This link opens in a new windowFull-text of published histories and records of women’s reform organizations throughout the United States during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Does have some coverage of the 1960s.
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Women and Social Movements, International - 1840 to Present This link opens in a new windowThis collection of primary resources documents international women’s social movements from the mid-nineteenth century to the present.
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Europeana"Multi-lingual online collection of millions of digitized items from European museums, libraries, archives and multi-media collections."
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GallicaA digital library created by the National Library of France, includes French books, periodicals, manuscripts, media clips.
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EuroDocsKey works of European history, organized by country.
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British Library: Online Galleryover 30000 images, documents, books, maps, and other items related to British history.
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The May Events Archive / événements de mai 1968A digital archive of documents from Simon Fraser University. Covers the May 1968 events in Paris.
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Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975A wide range of material, from government documents to fanzines, video content to posters and scrapbooks, tells the story of a time of music, political unrest, fashion and new technology.
American Newspapers
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ProQuest Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new windowThis database offers full-text and full-image articles for newspapers dating back to the 19th century. Included are: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, etc.
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Newspapers.com – World Collection This link opens in a new window
Newspapers.com Library Edition offers full page newspaper images with searchable full-text of newspapers. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to both full runs and portions of runs of newspapers.
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Associated Press Collections Online (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new windowAssociated Press Collections Online makes the varied resources of the Associated Press Corporate Archives, AP Images, and AP Archive available in an online platform.
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African American Newspapers, Series 1 This link opens in a new window
This collection includes the full text of historically significant African American newspapers, published in 36 states, 1827-1998.
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Nation Archive, The This link opens in a new windowThe Nation offers a 135-year archive of reporting opinion and criticism. It includes primary source material covering the history of politics, culture, books and the arts - in America and around the world.
International Newspapers & Magazines
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Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
Gale Primary Sources offers a comprehensive platform for research, enabling users to search multiple collections simultaneously. It goes beyond basic retrieval, providing tools for analysis and discovery of new material.
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Keesing's World News ArchiveSince 1931 Keesing’s has collected news reports on a daily basis from all over the world in a wide range of languages. The Keesing’s editorial team, based in Cambridge, UK, takes this mass of raw data and refines and processes it into a series articles which are published each month.
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Pravda Digital Archive This link opens in a new windowThis archive of the premier Soviet/Russian newspaper of the 20th century includes all images and text in a fully searchable format.
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Krokodil Digital Archive This link opens in a new windowKrokodil,a satirical magazine published in the Soviet Union/Russia from 1922 until 2008, ridiculed bureaucracy, religion, alcoholism, foreign political figures and events, and more. This complete archive features full-image, text-searchable files.
Government Documents
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HeinOnline Foreign Relations of the United States This link opens in a new windowHeinOnline Foreign Relations of the United States presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity.
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The American National Archive and Records Administration (The US National Archive)This is the website for the American National Archive that is located in Washington, D.C.
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ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new windowBrings together a vast amount of information published by and about the United States Congress.
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The National Security ArchiveDeclassified reports based on U.S. surveillance.
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CIA Declassified Documents DatabaseRead declassified CIA materials, including files on clandestine operations!
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Documents Relating to American Foreign Policy (The Vietnam War)Another extensive list from Mount Holyoke College focusing on the Vietnam War.
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Confidential Print: Africa, 1834-1966 This link opens in a new window
The resource offers access to confidential correspondence from the UK's Colonial, Dominion, and Foreign Offices regarding Africa from 1834 to 1966, including official documents and maps.
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Confidential Print: Latin America, 1833-1969 This link opens in a new window
The Confidential Print series, issued by the British Government between 1820 and 1970, is a crucial source for political, social, and economic research in Central and South America and the Caribbean, covering topics like slavery, immigration, wars, and populist rulers.
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Confidential Print: Middle East, 1839-1969 This link opens in a new window
The Confidential Print series, issued by the British Government between 1820 and 1970, is a crucial source for political, social, and economic research. It covers countries like Levant, Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, and Sudan, covering events like the Middle East Conference.
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Foreign Office Files for China, 1919-1980 This link opens in a new window
The collection includes British Foreign Office files on China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan from 1919 to 1980, containing diplomatic dispatches, letters, newspaper cuttings, reports, and more. These previously restricted documents offer detailed insights into a significant period in Chinese history.
International Government Documents
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The Cold War International History Project"Cold War letters, treaties, dispatches and other primary sources, including documents relating to international crises, the roles of specific countries or areas, communist activities, notebooks of famous Russian leaders, as well as intelligence and military operations"
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Parallel History Project on Cooperative SecurityDeclassified documents from the Warsaw Pact and NATO about war plans from both sides, crises, foreign affairs of China and India, roles of specific countries like Poland or Hungary within these alliances, intelligence, and more.
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Cold War Studies at Harvard University--Online Archivesa fascinating set of Soviet documents, including the top-secret History of KGB (1977).
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The British National ArchiveUnless you are planning a trip to the archives in London, make sure to select that you only want to see documents that have been digitized.
Images
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Digital Public Library of America"The Digital Public Library of America brings together the riches of America's libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world."
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The Vietnam Center & ArchiveThis vast digital archive was created by Texas Tech University.
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The Cold War Museumphotos of artifacts of the Cold War such as civil defense supplies, communist flags, military aircraft, people.
Streaming Video
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Vanderbilt Television News Archive This link opens in a new windowhuge archives of American video clips from 1968--present. Features news shows from CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC.
