Primary Sources - E-Books, Databases & Websites - HSS 300 - Cold War in the US

Selected Primary Source e-Books

Below, you will find a selection of e-Books that are, or that contain, primary sources. You may also conduct your own search for primary source e-books in the catalog. Keep in mind that primary sources may be found in reference or secondary source books, so be sure to include the source where you find primary sources in your citations.

Conversations with Gorbachev by Mikhail Gorbachev; Zdenek Mlynar; George Shriver (Translator); Archie Brown (Foreword by)
Call Number: E-Book
Freedom Betrayed by Herbert Hoover; George H. Nash (Introduction by, Editor); George H. Nash (Editor)
Call Number: E-Book
Defending the West : the Truman-Churchill correspondence, 1945-1960 by Harry S. Truman (author), Winston Churchill (author); G.W. Sand (editor)
Call Number: E-Book

Primary Sources on the web

Baptism By Fire: CIA Analysis of the Korean War
This collection includes more than 1,300 documents consisting of national estimates, intelligence memo, daily updates, and summaries of foreign media concerning developments on the Korean Peninsula during 1947 - 1954. Largest collection of CIA documents released on this issue. (Central Intelligence Agency, CIA)
Korean War, 1950-1953
250+ primary source documents on the Korean War, obtained largely from Russian archives. TIP: In addition to this collection, look at the broader Wilson Center Digital Archive for other specific collections on captured North Korean documents, China's involvement in the Korean War, conversations with 1948-1994 North Korean leader Kim Il Sung, inter-Korean relations, Korean War origins and armistice, and much more. (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars)
Korean War Project
The site design is a little sketchy, but this site is full of quality information (primary and secondary). Includes KIA-MIA-POW-WIA databases; maps; hundreds of US Marine Corps Command and Unit files; and more. Soon it will also include tens of thousands of digitized documents from the U.S. Army.
Korean War Propaganda Leaflets
(North Dakota State Univ.)
The Nuclear Vault: Resources from the Nuclear Documentation Project
De-classified documents, photos, info, related reading lists, and links related to nuclear weapons, nuclear weapon policies, nuclear crises, and nuclear proliferation (in the U.S. and around the world) from the 1940s through the present. (George Washington Univ.)
Statistical Abstract of the United States from the GPO (1878-2012)
Statistical Abstract data present here ranges from our most recent edition to the historical abstracts compiled throughout the decades. Some of the data were scanned as an effort to make historical abstract information available to the public. The display of data will continue as historical records become available.
CIA World Factbook
Information on the history, people, government, economy, energy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities.
Veterans History Project
The Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war. (Library of Congress)
Documentation on Early Cold War U.S. Propaganda Activities in the Middle East
"The documents collected here describe an earlier program to expand and revitalize American propaganda directed at the Middle East, and the methods that were utilized, including graphic displays, manipulation of the news, books, movies, cartoons, activities directed at schools and universities, and exchange programs. U.S. propaganda efforts were assisted by collaborating governments, the news media, academics, publishers, and private associations." (George Washington Univ.)
Revelations from the Russian Archives
June 15–July 16, 1992: This exhibition is important for what it represents, what it contains, and what it suggests. It represents a new Russia, willing and anxious under its first democratically elected president, Boris Yeltsin, to affirm the core democratic value of open access to information. Shortly after defeating the attempted coup of August 1991, a group from the victorious democratic resistance led by the chief archivist of Russia, Rudolph Pikhoia, took over the previously top secret archives of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and began the process of both consolidating democratic control over all archives in Russia and attempting to make them available for the first time for public study. (Library of Congress)
American Archive of Public Broadcasting
Audio Visual Resources on the Cold War.
Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume XIV, Berlin Crisis, 1961–1962
Documents from the Berlin Crisis. (U.S. Department of State)
Cold War Studies
The Cold War Studies program at Harvard University's Davis Center promotes archival research in former East-bloc countries and seeks to expand and enrich what is known about Cold War events and themes. More important, it encourages scholars and students to use their research on Cold War topics to illuminate current theoretical debates about international and domestic politics. (Harvard University)
Cold War Origins
"This collection of primary source documents discusses international relations during World War II and the years shortly after. It begins with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact signed in 1939 and ends with documents from the 1950’s. The collection contains a wide variety of documents including agreements, memorandums, meeting minutes, cables, letters, diary entries, and military reports from WWII. The documents mainly come from Russian and Bulgarian archives." (Wilson Center Digital Archives)
Cold War Museum
The Cold War Museum is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization dedicated to education, preservation, and research on the global, ideological, and political confrontations between East and West from the end of World War II to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Cold War International History Project

Primary Sources in Databases

ALWAYS use the date range feature when searching for primary source newspaper articles. An article is only a primary source if it was published at the time in which an event took place.

Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
Search across 19th Century US Newspapers, Liberty Magazine Historical Archives (1924-50), Smithsonian Collections, The Illustrated London News Historical Archive (1842-2003) and The Times Digital Archive (1785-2009).
Cold War: Global Perspectives on East-West Tensions, 1945-1991 This link opens in a new window
Translated sources and analysis from around the world providing comprehensive coverage of the conflict that drove global politics from the end of World War II to the early 1990s.
Twentieth-Century Global Perspectives: Pravda Archive, 1959-1996 This link opens in a new window
Articles published by Pravda during the Cold War and the years immediately following, from 1959 to 1996, collected and translated into English by the CIA.
Twentieth-Century Global Perspectives: Propaganda and the Chinese Press This link opens in a new window
An archive of articles published by Xinhua or New China News, the major communist Chinese newspapers, from 1946 to 1996, collected and translated into English by the CIA.

Newspapers:

ProQuest Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Search and read full text articles from 28 historical newspapers listed below [click "more..." to view list"]:

• The Atlanta Constitution (1868-1984)
• Atlanta Daily World (1931-2003)
• The Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988)
• The Baltimore Sun (1837-1987)
• The Boston Globe (1872-1984)
• Chicago Defender (1909-1975)
• Chicago Tribune (1849-1992)
• The Christian Science Monitor (1908-2003)
• Cleveland Call and Post (1934-1991)
• Detroit Free Press (1831-1922)
• The Guardian and The Observer (1791-2003)
• Hartford Courant (1764-1990)
• Indianapolis Star (1903-1922)
• The Irish Times and The Weekly Irish Times (1859-2015)
• Los Angeles Sentinel (1934-2005)
• Los Angeles Times (1881-1989)
• New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993)
• New York Times (1851-2014)
• New York Tribune (1841-1922)
• Norfolk Journal and Guide (1916-2003)
• Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001)
• Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002)
• San Francisco Chronicle (1865-1922)
• The Scotsman (1817-1950)
• The St. Louis Post Dispatch (1874-1922)
• The Times of India (1838-2007)
• The Wall Street Journal (1889-1999)
• The Washington Post (1877-1999)
Gale Primary Sources: Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers (Gale) This link opens in a new window
This database provides full text access to hundreds of 19th century U.S. newspapers.

Magazines:

Gale Primary Sources Liberty Magazine Historical Archive, 1924-1950 This link opens in a new window
The digital archive for Liberty Magazine, a popular press magazine that covered American popular culture and important topics of the day.
EBSCOhost The Nation Archive This link opens in a new window
Established July 6, 1865, The Nation offers a 135-year archive of reporting opinion and criticism. It is an immensely important clearinghouse of primary source material covering the history of politics, culture, books and the arts – in America and around the world.
ProQuest Vogue Archive This link opens in a new window
The complete searchable archive of American Vogue, from the first issue in 1892 to the current month, reproduced in high-resolution color page images.

Documents:

Accessible Archives This link opens in a new window
This is a primary source-centric database that covers American history from the 19th century through the early 20th century. Search for newspapers, eyewitness accounts, and more for events such as the Civil War, women's suffrage, and the abolitionist movement. It also contains a collection of African American newspapers from 1827-1909.
Britannica Original Sources This link opens in a new window
This database provides access to more than 2,000 primary sources plus 700 multimedia elements from all aspects of American history from 1493-2009.
It includes speeches, memoirs, poems, historical accounts, and more.
ABC_CLIO Daily Life Through History (Academic Edition) This link opens in a new window
This comprehensive collection of primary and reference sources provides direct insight into the social history of societies ranging from the Australian Aborigines all the way to 21st-century China.

Images & Objects:

ARTSTOR This link opens in a new window
A digital library of over two million images from some of the world's leading museums, archives, scholars, and artists.

From the P.A. Archives

Andover and The Soviet Union
Secondary Source Material from the Andover Bulletin, 1985. See Primary Source Conference Notes below: Dartmouth Conference.
Third Unofficial Soviet-American Conference of Public Figures, Andover, MA Oct. 1962

Russian American Conference, Dartmouth Group, October 1962
Photo: Phillps Academy Archives.

HSS 300 - Cold War in the US: Primary Sources - E-Books, Databases & Websites

Finding and Identifying Primary Sources

Selected Primary Source e-Books

Primary Sources on the web

Primary Sources in Databases

From the P.A. Archives