Many online collections of primary source documents exist from all over the world. The largest obstacle to using most of the collections is the user’s language skills; primary documents are generally left in their original language, though for some highly popular or important documents translations may be available. Below I list a small sampling of some sites of particular interest to students of politics, along with a couple links to sites with broader listings of online archives. I’ve listed as many open access resources as possible, but some are databases that you would need to access via your school’s library subscriptions. Also consider the resources at https://www.erwbook.com/qualitative-data-repositories/.
- US Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/collections/ The LOC has an extensive set of curated thematic collections. Use the links a bit further down the left column to narrow the set of results presented to you. The collections include everything from Lincoln’s papers to political cartoons to records of the Confederate States of America.
- US National Archives: https://www.archives.gov/research/catalog The National Archives’ holdings are extensive and cover all areas of US policy. There’s something for just about everyone here. Read the guide (linked on the left menu) to searching before trying to use the database, and also see their instructions for how to cite documents from their collections.
- Foreign Relations of the United States: https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments FRUS is the official documentary history of US foreign relations, in the form of declassified and edited government documents organized by theme and administration/era. Materials from the Truman era through the early Reagan administration are searchable online; hard copy versions extending back much further are available in many quality research libraries.
- The equivalent series for the UK, Documents on British Policy Overseas, is available through the ProQuest database; your school may have a subscription that includes this source. It covers postwar policy only; pre-WW2 documents are in hard copy collections that unfortunately tend to be held only by large research libraries. See http://diplomatic-documents.org/editions/united-kingdom for more information.
- The National Security Archive: http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/ Provides curated collections of declassified government documents obtained using the Freedom of Information Act. Limited “Electronic Briefing Books” are freely available online; many libraries have either purchased microfilm/microform versions of their full thematic collections or subscribe to their access.
- The British National Archives: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/?letter=&search=&research-category=online Limited collections are digitized, but coverage of the World Wars is excellent, and domestic politics is also quite good.
- Resources from the British Library:
– British Newspaper Archive http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ full page images of Irish and British newspapers dating to the 1700s
– Endangered Archives http://eap.bl.uk/database/collections.a4d Sorted by region, these often highly specific collections provide intriguing glimpses into the kinds of special collections that students rarely get to use. - The Shapell Collection: http://www.shapell.org/collection/ Eclectic, nonsystematic holdings but still useful for some research. Digital images in original source languages.
- ProQuest Historical Newspaper Archive: part of the ProQuest family of databases. Inquire to see if your library subscribes to this service.
- Smithsonian Institution: http://www.smithsoniansource.org/display/primarysource/search.aspx Limited but important collections related to civil rights, westward expansion, and Colonial America.
- The Avalon Project: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/default.asp multiple collections:
- Important documents of domestic and international law organized by periodic and thematic collections
- Project DIANA – a collection of documents on international human rights law
- The German Military Tribunals project – related to the end of WW2
- The Internet History Sourcebook Project – http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/Halsall/index.asp Online primary documents organized by time period and topic. Try this link as well for a more navigable list: http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbookfull.asp
- The John Adams Library: http://www.johnadamslibrary.org/ Full text of the collections of John Adams’ personal and public documents at the Adams Library in Boston.
- The New York Public Library: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/ A wide range of digital collections with useful resources, though not as many are relevant to politics research other than the Early Americans document collections.
- Presidential Libraries: https://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries/search.html Postwar American presidents have established their own personal Presidential libraries to hold their personal and professional papers. Many of these have digitized at least part of their collections.
- 100 Great Sites for Primary Sources: http://www.bachelorsdegreeonline.com/blog/2009/100-terrific-sites-to-find-primary-source-history-documents/