Research and Course Guides: HIST 466 Global Cold War: Find Primary Sources

Find Primary Sources : Books and Ebooks

Search the library catalogs like LibrarySearch to find primary sources in books and other works. When searching the catalog, you will want to use specific subject headings in your searches to single out the primary source materials. These subject headings are specialized "tag" added to the records to books by catalog librarians to provide accurate descriptions of books. Using the following words in your search will help you find the source material you seek:

correspondence	personal narratives
literary collections	documentary history
diary or diaries	songs and music
sources	documents

Find Primary Sources: Collections on the Web

The following sites serve provide access to a variety of digitized primary sources:

Digital Public Library of America
This resource brings digital collections from America’s libraries, archives, and museums together, and makes them freely available to the world.
Cold War Studies at Harvard University
Wilson Center Digital Archive
The Digital Archive contains once-secret documents from governments all across the globe, uncovering new sources and providing fresh insights into the history of international relations and diplomacy
Digital National Security Archives
The Digital National Security Archive is an invaluable online collection of more than 100,000 declassified records documenting historic U.S. policy decisions.
CIA Freedom of Information Act Reading Room
Declassified government documents from the Central Intelligence Agency.
NSA Historical Releases
Declassified documents and FIOA releases from the National Security Agency.
National Archives of the United States
National Archives of the United Kingdom
The the official archive and publisher for the UK Government, and for England and Wales.
Office of the Historian - United States Department of State
The Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity.
Public Papers of the President
The Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States contains material that was compiled and published by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration. It includes volumes covering the administrations of Presidents Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton.
Public Papers of the President (National Archives)
The official publication of United States Presidents' public writings, addresses, and remarks is published by the Federal Register. Online coverage from Presidents Reagan through Obama.

Find Primary Sources : Newspaper and Periodical Articles

The following full-text newspapers and periodicals may provide you with source documents:

New York Times (historical)
Complete searchable content of The New York Times from 1851 to 2020 including articles, editorials, advertisements, and photographs.
Washington Post (historical)
Complete searchable content of Washington Post from 1877 to 2008 including all articles, editorials, advertisements, and photographs.
The Times (London) Digital Archive
Complete searchable content of The Times, the world’s oldest continuously published newspaper, from 1785 to 2014 including all articles, editorials, advertisements, and photographs.
Sunday Times (London) Historical Archive
Complete searchable content of The Sunday Times from 1822 to 2021 including all articles, editorials, advertisements, and photographs.
Guardian and The Observer (Historical)
Complete content of the British newspapers, The Guardian (1821 - 2003) and The Observer (1791- 2003) including all articles, editorials, advertisements and photographs.
Irish Times (Historical)
This database provides you access to the complete content of the Irish Times newspaper (1859-2012) including all articles, editorials, advertisements and photographs.
Chicago Defender (Historical)
This database provides you with access to the complete content the African-American newspaper, The Chicago Defender (1910-1975) including all articles, editorials, advertisements and photographs.
Pittsburgh Courier (Historical)
This database provides you with access to the complete content of the African-American newspaper, the Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002) including all articles, editorials, advertisements and photographs.
Readers' Guide Retrospective

Use the Readers' Guide Retrospective index to locate articles published in popular press magazines and journals dating from 1890 to 1982.

CQ Researcher
The CQ Researcher provides over 100 years of in-depth and balanced explorations of the most pressing issues in the news.

Find Primary Sources : Digitized Books & Government Documents

Google Books
Google Books is a collection of digitized books and periodicals. If the book is out of copyright, or the publisher has given its permission, the entire text. If it's in the public domain, you're free to download a PDF copy.
Hathi Trust Digital Library
HathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world.