African America, Communists, and the National Negro Congress, 1933-1947 - The National Negro Congress was established in 1936 to "secure the right of the Negro people to be free from Jim Crowism, segregation, discrimination, lynching, and mob violence" and "to promote the spirit of unity and cooperation between Negro and white people." It was conceived as a national coalition of church, labor, and civil rights organizations that would coordinate protest action in the face of deteriorating economic conditions for blacks. The National Negro Congress (NNC) was the culmination of the Communist Party's Depression-era effort to unite black and white workers and intellectuals in the fight for racial justice and marked the apex of Communist Party prestige in African American communities. This collection comprises of the voluminous working files of John P. Davis and successive executive secretaries of the National Negro Congress. Beginning with papers from 1933 that predate the formation of the National Negro Congress, the wide-ranging collection documents Davis’s involvement in the Negro Industrial League and includes the "Report Files" of Davis’s interest and work on the "Negro problem." 

America in Protest: Records of Anti-Vietnam War Organizations, The Vietnam Veterans Against the War - The Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) started in 1967 with six Vietnam veterans marching for peace in New York City.  The purpose of the organization was to give voice to the returning servicemen who opposed the ongoing war in Southeast Asia.  From six soldiers in 1967, the ranks of the membership eventually grew to over 30,000. This publication consists of FBI reports dealing with every aspect of antiwar work carried out by the VVAW.  The collection also includes surveillance of a variety of other antiwar groups and individuals, with an emphasis on student groups and Communist organizations.

Federal Response to Radicalism in the 1960s - Organized alphabetically by organization, this collection covers a wide range of viewpoints on political, social, cultural, and economic issues. It sheds light on internal organizations, personnel, and activities of some of the most prominent American radical groups and their movements to change American government and society.

Grassroots Civil Rights & Social Activism: FBI Files on Benjamin J. Davis, Jr. - The FBI files on Benjamin J. Davis, Jr. that make up this collection were assembled by Dr. Gerald Horne, author of Black Liberation/Red Scare: Ben Davis and the Communist Party, and the breadth of issues addressed by these records is astounding. Davis served as a leader in the local, district, and national leadership bodies of the Communist Party USA and thus concerned himself with a broad range of organizational, political, and theoretical questions. There is news of grassroots organizing successes and failures, minutes from meetings held on all the levels on which Davis engaged, and reports from member-informers on all the major political and theoretical debates.

Greensboro Massacre, 1979 - On November 3, 1979, a rally and march of black industrial workers and Communists was planned in Greensboro, North Carolina against the Ku Klux Klan. The “Death to the Klan March” was to begin in a predominantly black housing project called Morningside Homes. Communist organizers publicly challenged the Klan to present themselves and "face the wrath of the people". During the rally, a caravan of cars containing Klansmen and members of the American Nazi Party drove by the housing projects where the Communists and other anti-Klan activists were congregating. What then occurred is in dispute, from rock-throwing and taunts on both sides to the sound of gunfire and deaths of five protest marchers.  This collection of FBI, local and state police, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, shed new light on the motivations of the Communist organizers, the shootings, subsequent investigations, and efforts to heal the Greensboro community. 

Liberation Movement in Africa and African America - The archive is based on the film title, Administrative Histories of the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidency, Science and Technology.

Papers of Amiri Baraka, Poet Laureate of the Black Power Movement - Amiri Baraka is the author of over 40 books of essays, poems, drama, and music history and criticism, a poet icon and revolutionary political activist. As a young man in the 1960s, Baraka (then known as LeRoi Jones) galvanized a second Black Renaissance, the Black Arts movement. The ideological and political transformations of Amiri Baraka from a Beat poet in Greenwich Village into a militant political activist in Harlem and Newark were paradigmatic for the Black Revolt of the 1960s. 

Republic of New Afrika - The FBI believed the Republic of New Afrika to be a seditious group and conducted raids on its meetings, which led to violent confrontations, and the arrest and repeated imprisonment of RNA leaders. The group was a target of the COINTELPRO operation by the federal authorities but was also subject to diverse Red Squad activities of Michigan State Police and the Detroit Police Department, among other cities. This collection provides documentation collected by the FBI through intelligence activities, informants, surveillance, and cooperation with local police departments. These documents chronicle the activities of the Republic of New Afrika national and local leaders, power struggles within the organization, its growing militancy, and its affiliations with other Black militant organizations.

The Hindu Conspiracy Cases: Activities of the Indian Independence Movement in the U.S., 1908-1933 - During World War I, Indian nationalists took advantage of Great Britain’s preoccupation with the European war by attempting to foment revolution in India to overthrow British rule. Their activities were aided politically and financially by the German Government. Indian nationalists in the United States were active in the independence movement effort through fundraising, arms buying, and propaganda through the Hindustan Ghadar newspaper published in San Francisco. The Justice Department and U.S. Attorney records reproduced herein primarily concern the U.S. government’s prosecution of these nationalists in the “Hindu Conspiracy Case” for violations of the Espionage Act (40 Stat. 217-231) arising from two major incidents. The Immigration and Naturalization Service records reproduced herein relate to efforts to revoke the citizenship of certain Indians naturalized as U.S. citizens, as well as to general efforts to exclude Indians from admission to the United States and Canada.

The Minutemen, 1963-1969: Evolution of the Militia Movement in America, Part I - The Minutemen was a militant anti-Communist organization formed in the early 1960s. The founder and head of the right-wing group was Robert Bolivar DePugh, a veterinary medicine entrepreneur from Norborne, Missouri. The Minutemen believed that Communism would soon take over all of America. The group armed themselves, and was preparing to take back the country from the “subversives.” The Minutemen organized themselves into small cells and stockpiled weapons for an anticipated counter-revolution.

War, Peace, and Democracy in America: Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies, 1940-1942 - The Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies (CDAAA) was an advocacy organization formed in May 1940 to persuade the American public that the United States should supply the Allies with as much material and financial aid as possible to keep the U.S. out of the war. The wealth of CDAAA's publications shed light on the political attitudes of the time. Publications include flyers, pamphlets, cartoons, newsletters, newspaper advertisements and clippings, postcards, press releases, a syndicated column called "It Makes Sense", radio transcripts, speeches, petitions, and policy statements. The Subject Files document the many organizations to which the Committee was sympathetic, as well as the many isolationist organizations to which the Committee was opposed. With the bombing of Pearl Harbor, CDAAA acknowledged that its work had come to an end, and in January 1942, it merged with the Council for Democracy to form Citizens for Victory To Win the War, To Win the Peace.

War, Peace, and Democracy in America: Fight for Freedom, Inc. Records, c. 1940-1942 - Fight for Freedom, Inc. (FFF), a national citizen's organization established in April 1941, was a leading proponent of full American participation in World War II. An offshoot of the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies, FFF was supported by average citizens, as well as prominent educators, labor leaders, authors and playwrights, clergy, stage and screen actors, newspapermen, and politicians. Pearl Harbor effectively ended the isolationist-interventionist debate, and by early 1942 FFF disbanded. Items in this collection consist of correspondence, subject files, memoranda, financial records, state and local organization materials, membership and contributor rosters, press releases and speeches, and printed ephemera such as posters, advertisements, and display items.

Civil War in Words and Deeds - Nothing in the history of America compares with the Civil War. The very nature of the Civil War lends itself to perpetual fascination. There is an ongoing interest in the Civil War as evidenced by the multitude of publications, exhibits, reenactments, research organizations, internet and multimedia resources, historic parks, and preservation associations focused on the Civil War. Individually and collectively, the publication of these regimental histories and personal narratives constitute a source of great historical value. These first-person accounts, compiled in the postwar period and early 20th Century period, chronicle the highs and lows of army life and battles from 1861 through 1865.

Civil War Service Reports of Union Army Generals - These generals' reports of service represent an attempt by the Adjutant General’s Office (AGO) to obtain more complete records of the service of the various Union generals serving in the Civil War. In 1864, the Adjutant General requested that each such general submit ". . . a succinct account of your military history . . . since March 4th, 1861." In 1872, and in later years, similar requests were made for statements of service for the remaining period of the war.  

Confederate Newspapers: A Collection from Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and Alabama - In "Four Years in Rebel Capitals: An Inside View of Life in the Southern Confederacy from Birth to Death", one of the finest memoirs of the era, journalist T. C. DeLeon wrote that the South's best wartime newspapers boasted the thinking of some of the sharpest minds in the region. Their pages “recorded the real and true history of public opinion during the war. In their columns is to be found the only really correct and indicative 'map of busy life, its fluctuations and its vast concerns' in the South, during her days of darkness and of trial.” DeLeon's words underscore the basic truth that Civil War America was a newspaper culture. When the war broke out in 1861, the South produced hundreds of newspapers. Every town of any size boasted at least a weekly paper. Two years into the war, attrition had substantially decreased this number. By mid-1864, the number of pro-Confederate newspapers decreased dramatically; found only in the major Southern cities. The causes of decline were numerous. Like men in other occupations, editors, printers, and their employees joined the army, creating a severe labor shortage. Then, as the conflict lengthened, the cost of newsprint, lead typeface, glue, and other supplies spiraled out of control, making it harder to stay in business. Union occupation of swaths of the South closed still more papers or converted them into Union organs. Following the end of the war, the remaining pro-Confederate newspapers ceased publication or returned to reporting on state and local issues. 

Introduction to U.S. History: The American Revolution - Consisting of 450 titles totaling 94,000 pages of text, Introduction to U.S. History: The American Revolution was selected and edited by Professor Katherine Hermes of Central Connecticut State University. This collection documents the revolution and war that created the United States of America, from the earliest protests in 1765 through the peace treaty of 1783. 

Introduction to U.S. History: The Civil War - Consisting of nearly 500 titles totaling about 90,000 pages of text, Introduction to U.S. History: The Civil War was selected and edited by Professor Paul Finkelman of the Albany Law School. This collection documents the war that transformed America, ending slavery and unifying the nation around the principles of freedom. 

Records of the Persian Gulf War - This collection contains materials related to the diplomatic and military response by the United States (as part of a multi-national force) to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990.

The Observer: News for the American Soldier in Vietnam, 1962-1973 - The Observer was a weekly newspaper published by the Command Information Division of the U.S. Military Assistance Command’s Office of Information. It was the official organ of the Military Assistance Command, and it carried official news about and for American troops in Vietnam. As such, it goes without saying that it was carefully edited to make certain it did not print news articles favorable to the communist enemy. The Military Assistance Command spread more than 80,000 weekly Observers among all points in Vietnam in which American troops were domiciled.

U.S. Military Advisory Effort in Vietnam: Military Assistance Advisory Group, Vietnam, 1950-1964 - The involvement of the United States in the affairs of Vietnam began with grants of money and military equipment, grew with the dispatch of military advisers and maintenance personnel, and mushroomed with the commitment of ships, planes, tanks, and 550,000 troops.  The United States created the Military Assistance and Advisory Group, Indochina, in 1950 to process, monitor, and evaluate American military aid to the French forces fighting in Southeast Asia. The French forces resented MAAG’s presence and hindered its operations. At first MAAG’s mission was not to train or advise the Vietnamese National Army, but by the time of the battle of Dien Bien Phu, those activities were under consideration by U.S. and French leaders. In 1955, MAAG Indochina, became MAAG Vietnam, and a separate MAAG was established in Cambodia. In 1955–1956, MAAG Vietnam, took over from the French the training and organizing of the Vietnamese National Army. The task facing MAAG Vietnam was enormous.

War of 1812: Diplomacy on the High Seas - In time of war the duties of the State Department have always been expanded. During the War of 1812 Congress authorized the Secretary of State to issue commissions of letters of marque and reprisal to private armed vessels permitting them to “cruise against the enemies of the United States.” Owners of merchant vessels filed applications for the commissions with the State Department or with collectors of customs. Many collectors were allowed to issue to privateers, commissions received in blank from the Department of State. The collectors often sent on to the Department the original applications and forwarded periodically abstracts of the commissions they had granted. During the war the Department also issued permits for aliens to leave the U.S., and it received reports from U.S. marshals on aliens and prisoners of war in their districts, from collectors of customs and State Department agents on the impressment of seamen, and from the Department's “Secret Agents” on the movements of the British in the Chesapeake Bay area. The Department also had responsibility for negotiating the treaty at the end of the war. 

Bush Presidency and Development and Debate Over Civil Rights Policy and Legislation - This collection contains materials on civil rights, the development of civil rights policy, and the debate over civil rights legislation during the administration of President George H.W. Bush and his tenure as vice president.

Civil Rights and Social Activism in Alabama: The Papers of John LeFlore, 1926-1976 and Records of the Non-Partisan Voters League, 1956-1987 - John L. LeFlore (1903–1976) was the most significant figure in the struggle for black equality in Mobile, Alabama, throughout southern Alabama and Mississippi, and along the Florida Gulf Coast. Materials in the collection document LeFlore's prolific work in both public and private life. LeFlore was the first African American appointed to the Housing Board and, with J. Gary Cooper was the first African American elected to the state legislature from Mobile since Reconstruction. The Non-Partisan Voters League was organized in Mobile, Alabama. The exact date of its origin is unknown but it is believed to be before 1956, the year the attorney general of the state of Alabama and the state court system forced the NAACP to cease all operations in the state. The bulk of the materials date between 1961 and 1975.

Fight for Racial Justice and the Civil Rights Congress - The Civil Rights Congress (CRC) was a civil rights organization formed in 1946 by a merger of the International Labor Defense and the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties. It became known for its involvement in civil rights cases such as the Trenton Six and justice for Isaiah Nixon. The CRC also held multiple high-profile protests in Washington DC and at the UN. Due to its Communist Party affiliations, the CRC was cited as subversive and communist by U.S. President Harry S. Truman's Attorney General Thomas Clark. This collection comprises the Legal Case and Communist Party files of the Civil Rights Congress, documenting the many issues and litigation in which the CRC was involved during its 10-year existence. These papers provide valuable insight into the activities of the Civil Rights Congress, most notably in cases involving civil rights and civil liberties issues, such as those of Willie McGee (Mississippi), Rosa Lee Ingram (Georgia), Paul Washington (Louisiana), Robert Wesley Wells (California), the Trenton Six (New Jersey), the Martinsville Seven (Virginia), and many others. 

Integration of Alabama Schools and the U.S. Military, 1963 - The dramatic confrontation between the governor of Alabama and the president of the United States in June 1963 resulted in the federalization of the entire Alabama National Guard. The imposition of federal law allowed two black students admission into the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. This archive details Operation Oak Tree, the codename for the Army’s plans to intervene in Alabama in the event of civil disturbances related to school integration in May 1963. Operation Palm Tree extended the operation over a wider area. The documents in this collection are sourced from the Records of the Department of the Army, in the custody of the National Archives of the United States.

Public Housing, Racial Policies, and Civil Rights: The Intergroup Relations Branch of the Federal Public Housing Administration, 1936-1963 - Public housing at the federal level was introduced in 1937 and was intended to provide public financing of low-cost housing in the form of publicly-managed and owned multifamily developments. This collection includes directives and memoranda related to the Public Housing Administration's policies and procedures. Among the documents are civil rights correspondence, statements and policy about race, labor-based state activity records, local housing authorities' policies on hiring minorities, court cases involving housing decisions, racially-restrictive covenants, and news clippings. The intra-agency correspondence consists of reports on sub-Cabinet groups on civil rights, racial policy, employment, and Commissioner's staff meetings.

The Legal Battle for Civil Rights in Alabama: Vernon Z. Crawford Records, 1958-1978 Civil Rights Cases and Selections from the Blacksher, Menefee & Stein Records - This collection consists of selected portions of the records of attorney Vernon Z. Crawford (1919–1986) and the Blacksher, Menefee and Stein law firm whose work represents a significant contribution to the shape of the civil rights movement in 20th century Alabama. Documents include legal documentation, complaints, petitions, requests, depositions, handwritten notes, correspondence, exhibits (maps, plans of school buildings, population diagrams), and surveys relating to cases on the following: discriminatory juror selection, civil rights violations (police harassment and brutality), discrimination in employment, school desegregation, and minority vote dilution.

The War on Poverty and the Office of Economic Opportunity: Administration of Antipoverty Programs and Civil Rights, 1964-1967 - This collection brings together a series of Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) collections that highlight efforts to meld the issue of civil rights and antipoverty initiatives. 1) Alphabetical File of Samuel Yette, 1964-1966: Yette was the Special Assistant to the Director of Civil Rights. Among his records are correspondence, reports, antipoverty program analyses, minutes of meetings, transcripts of testimonies, and other material. 2) Program Files, 1964-1967: These records consist of correspondence, weekly reports on civil rights matters, reports by civil rights coordinators, equal employment opportunity guidelines, and more. 3) Records Relating to the Administration of the Civil Rights Program in the Regions, 1965-1966: These records arranged by region, state, local areas, and cities consist of correspondence between regional coordinators, various civil rights groups, labor organizations, members of Congress, and community groups regarding the activities of the OEO.

U.S. Military Activities and Civil Rights: Integration of the University of Mississippi and the Use of Military Force, 1961-1963 - This collection is from the Records of the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Military Operations (ODCSOPS) relating to the use of Federal marshals, U.S. Troops, and the federalized National Guard in Oxford, Mississippi, 1962-1963, on the occasion of James Meredith’s enrollment at the University of Mississippi. The records cover events such as the riots of September 30 and Governor Barnett’s efforts to obstruct Federal marshals, as well as daily events on campus and Meredith’s progress under integration. The files detail the extensive Federal involvement, including preparations for the military operation, Executive Orders, after action reports on the costs and lessons of Federal involvement, congressional correspondence on the military’s involvement, and effects on the media, public, and in particular, students and staff at Ole Miss.

FBI File: Alger Hiss/Whittaker Chambers - No single episode did more to set off alarms of a diabolic “Red” conspiracy within the national government than the case of Alger Hiss. During the 1948 presidential campaign, the House Un-American Activities Committee conducted a hearing in which Whittaker Chambers, a senior editor at Time magazine and former Soviet agent who had broken with the communists in 1938, identified Hiss, who had worked as an aide to the assistant secretary of state, as an underground party member in the 1930s. This file traces that machinations of the many figures involved in one of the era’s most famous witch hunts. Trails of evidence are followed through correspondence between alleged Communist Party members and sympathizers, as well as interviews with associates of the accused. The archive is an invaluable resource on the Second Red Scare and the internal politics of the United States during the early years of the Cold War.

FBI File: American POWs/MIAs in Southeast Asia - This FBI file, which covers the period 1970 to 1993, began as an investigation into the Committee of Liaison with Families of Servicemen Detained in North Vietnam (COLIFAM). Included here are interviews with hundreds of Vietnamese refugees as well as information on how the North Vietnamese hoarded personal items of American servicemen to exchange for money. Information on the Women's Liberation Movement, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), and the Women's Peace Party is also contained here. Documents include teletypes, interviews, letters, memos, newsletters, and reports. The file is organized chronologically within two divisions: Domestic Security and Foreign Counterintelligence. Scholars interested in Vietnam-related government policy and domestic unrest will find this a useful collection.

FBI File: Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. - The assassination on April 4, 1968, of Martin Luther King, Jr., president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, triggered a massive manhunt culminating in the arrest of James Earl Ray. The 44,000-page case file of the Federal Bureau of Investigation documents the bureau’s role in finding Ray and obtaining his conviction. The file also includes background information amassed by the FBI on Dr. King’s social activism. This archive is of particular interest to students of the civil rights movement and of the continuing controversy surrounding Dr. King’s murder.

FBI File: House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) - The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the House Committee on Un-American Activities (later called the House Un-American Activities Committee, or HUAC) developed a working relationship in the period 1938 through 1975 that increased the authority of the committee and gave the bureau power to investigate suspected communists. The archive is divided into three parts. The first section, 1938-1945, documents clashes between HUAC chairman Martin Dies and the administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman. The second section, 1946-1949, records the process by which the FBI and HUAC chose their targets. The final section follows HUAC, renamed the Internal Security Committee, in its attempt to protect the FBI from other congressional investigative committees.

FBI File: Howard Hughes - This archive contains FBI records on the enigmatic billionaire Howard Hughes (1905-1976). It documents Hughes’s activities in various enterprises including aircraft manufacture and aviation; the motion picture business; Las Vegas real estate; and the Nevada gaming industry. Hughes’s relationship with film stars, reports on his sex life, details on his disappearance in 1970, and Hughes’s contested will are also covered. Of particular interest are letters written by Hughes in his own handwriting. Documents include: “Congress Probes Ownership of Airlines Which Won Routes” (July 1945); “Background into an unnamed racketeer who was employed by Howard Hughes” (June 1946);  “Report of the allegation that Howard Hughes had invited Bugsy Siegel as a guest for the inaugural flight of the ‘Constellation’ from Los Angeles to New York” (c. 1947); “Investigation in a forged handwritten will” (1981); among other fascinating records.

FBI File: Huey Long - This valuable resource for students of American political history details the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigation of Huey Long (1893-1935), governor and senator of Louisiana, mainly during the 1920s. Documents include reports on voting fraud; correspondences regarding “Share Our Wealth Society” (1934-1935); “Our Blundering Government,” a March 1935 speech; the investigation of Louisiana officials and crime conditions in the state (July – August 1939); as well as the investigation into Long’s assassination (May- September 1939); among other records.

FBI File: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg - Julia and Ethel Rosenberg were a nondescript couple accused in 1950 by the U.S. government of operating a Soviet spy network and giving the Soviet Union plans for the atomic bomb. The trial of the Rosenbergs, which began in March 6, 1951, became a political event of greater importance than any damage they may have done to the United States. It was one of the most controversial trials of the twentieth century. After months in prison the Rosenbergs maintained their innocence and began to write poignant letters, which were widely published, protesting their treatment. A movement began to protest the “injustice” of the Rosenberg trial. In the months between the sentencing and execution, criticism of the trial grew more strident, and major demonstrations were held. Jean-Paul Sartre, the French philosopher, called the case “a legal lynching which smears with blood a whole nation.” In spite of attempts at appeal and a temporary state of execution by U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed on June 19, 1953. Both refused to confess. Their guilt and the harshness of their sentences continue to be vigorously debated. Recent studies of the couple’s activities show that the evidence against them was overwhelming. It is difficult, however, to imagine the execution of a married couple with young children without understanding the paranoia the Cold War produced. Since the early 1950s the Rosenbergs have been viewed by many as martyrs, conveniently sacrificed by an iniquitous United States in the name of anticommunism.

FBI File: Roy Cohn - This archive covers the career of Roy Marcus Cohn (1927-1986) from the time he was the confidential assistant to the U.S. District Attorney in New York in 1952 to his indictment for participating in a possible payoff scandal involving the United Dye and Chemical Company. Materials include correspondence relating to the 1953 U.S. Army investigation by Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, newspaper clippings, memos, teletypes, reports, and affidavits. News articles include: “Roy Cohn vs. Bob Kennedy: The Great Rematch” (September 1963); “Cohn Dares Morgenthau to Prosecute Personally” (September 1963); “Roy Cohn Charges Grand Jury With Operating in a Fish Bowl” (November 1963); “Post Office Denies It Tampered with Cohn’s Mail” (February 1964); “Fugazy Testifies Cohn Induced Him to Lie to U.S. Jury” (April 1964); and “Roy Cohn Acquitted” (July 1964). The documents are drawn from the FBI’s Washington, D.C., files.

FBI File: Waco/Branch Davidian Compound - The Waco/Branch Davidian Compound Negotiation Transcripts are of interest to historians, political scientists, legal scholars, and students of criminal justice. The archive serves as a case study of twentieth-century alternative religious movements and their relationships to the U.S. federal government. 

FBI File: Watergate - The Watergate scandal grew out of the scheme to conceal the connection between the White House and the accused Watergate burglars, who had succeeded in a plan to wiretap telephones at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate apartment complex in Washington, D.C. Early in the morning of June 17, 1972, a security guard foiled the break-in to install the bugs. After the election a federal judge refused to accept the claim of those on trial for the break-in that they had acted on their own. In February 1973, the U.S. Senate established the Special Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities to investigate alleged election misdeeds. This archive is a valuable resource for students studying the Watergate scandal and modern American political history. Included here are all of the reports and evidence acquired by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as data that was gathered in the campaign activities of the 1972 presidential candidates.

FBI File on America First Committee - The America First Committee (AFC), an anti-interventionist group formed in the early 1940s, advocated isolation from the war in Europe, and quickly gained a large following, with more than 800,000 members at its peak. However by 1941 it was increasingly seen as pro-German and anti-Semitic, particularly after a controversial speech by celebrated aviator and AFC supporter Charles Lindbergh. It dissolved shortly after the Pearl Harbor attacks and Hitler's declaration of war on America. This file, which covers the group's activity from 1937 to 1941, contains newspaper accounts, America First literature, speeches, letters, reports, and press releases. The group was investigated for possible communist infiltration.

FBI File on Eleanor Roosevelt - As an outspoken woman and humanitarian, Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) was a prime target for an investigation by J. Edgar Hoover. Her work with youth movements and the civil rights of minorities made many Americans of the time uneasy, and Hoover, of course, felt obligated to investigate her alleged radical, subversive, and un-American activities. This file includes the usual correspondence, memos, and newspaper clippings. The letters between Hoover and Eleanor provide fascinating insight into their relationship. Also included are many letters from "ordinary" citizens protesting Roosevelt's activities and syndicated column, "My Day," pleading with Hoover that "she must be stopped."

FBI File on Harry Dexter White - Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Harry Dexter White (1892–1948) was one of the highest-ranking New Deal officials accused of espionage. Instrumental in shaping post-war international monetary policy, White co-authored the plans which created the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and served as the American executive director of the International Monetary Fund. This FBI file contains reports, correspondence, news clippings, and four pages of White's documents that were found in a hollow pumpkin on Chambers's Maryland farm in 1948. This file is an excellent resource for the study of the anticommunism fervor in the formative years of the Cold War.

FBI File on John L. Lewis - One of the most influential figures in the American Federation of Labor (AFL), John L. Lewis (1880–1969) rose through the union ranks to become president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW). This FBI file details John L. Lewis's career as a labor leader from the 1920s to the 1950s, with some material dating back to 1909. Much of the file relates to Lewis's tenure as president of the United Mine Workers. The bulk of the file is chronological under one subject heading "civil rights." Also included is an Official and Confidential File report written by Louis Nichols. This file will be of great interest to those researching American labor history.

FBI File on Nelson Rockefeller - In 1940, Nelson Rockefeller (1908–1979) began a long career in government when President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him as coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. He served in various federal posts until he was elected governor of New York in 1958. In 1973, after three unsuccessful runs for the Republican presidential nomination, Rockefeller resigned as New York's governor. In 1974, President Gerald Ford appointed him vice-president. This file on Nelson Rockefeller contains papers relating to the background checks conducted by the FBI in advance of his appointment to various positions in the federal government.

FBI File on Owen Lattimore - An American sinologist and college professor, Owen Lattimore (1900–1989) traveled extensively and did research throughout China, Manchuria, Mongolia, and Chinese Turkistan. From 1938-1950, he served as director of the Page School of International Relations at Johns Hopkins. In 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy accused him of being a Soviet espionage agent. A senate committee exonerated him later that year. In 1952, he was indicted on seven counts of perjury on the charge that he lied when he told a Senate internal security subcommittee earlier in 1952 that he had not promoted Communism and Communist interests. In 1955, the Justice Department dropped all charges against him. Most of the material in this file relates to Lattimore's leftist sympathies and catalogs how he became a victim of McCarthyism.

FBI Surveillance of James Forman and SNCC - This collection of FBI reports comprises the Bureau’s investigative and surveillance efforts primarily during the 1961-1976 period, when James Forman was perceived as a threat to the internal security of the United States. The collected materials also include Forman’s involvement with the "Black Manifesto" and the Bureau’s "COINTELPRO" investigations into "Black Nationalist - Hate Groups / Internal Security," which include information on the activities of SNCC.

National Security and FBI Surveillance Enemy Aliens - The Custodial Detention Index (CDI), or Custodial Detention List was formed in 1939-1941, in the frame of a program called variously the "Custodial Detention Program" or "Alien Enemy Control." J. Edgar Hoover described it as having come from his resurrected General Intelligence Division—"This division has now compiled extensive indices of individuals, groups, and organizations engaged in subversive activities, in espionage activities, or any activities that are possibly detrimental to the internal security of the United States. The indexes have been arranged not only alphabetically but also geographically, so that at any rate, should we enter into the conflict abroad, we would be able to go into any of these communities and identify individuals or groups who might be a source of grave danger to the security of this country. These indexes will be extremely important and valuable in a grave emergency."

The Mafia in Florida and Cuba: FBI Surveillance of Meyer Lansky and Santo Trafficante, Jr. - This collection comprises materials on Santo Trafficante, Jr., Meyer Lansky, and Lucky Luciano, including FBI surveillance and informant reports and correspondence from a variety of offices including, Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville, New York City, New Orleans, Atlanta, New Haven, New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago; Justice Department memoranda, correspondence, and analyses; Newsclippings and articles; Domestic Intelligence Section reports; Transcriptions of wiretaps, typewriter tapes, and coded messages; Memoranda of conversations.

Carter Administration and Foreign Affairs - The documents include: 1946: Problem of half caste children of British women and U.S. colored soldiers; problems relating to G.I. brides; Mr. Churchill’s speech at Fulton, Missouri; relations between British and U.S. troops in Germany; Republican opposition to U.S. policy at United Nations meetings; opinion in U.S. on loan to Britain; U.S. elections; Communist infiltration into U.S.; establishment of single department of Defense; socialization of German industry; enquiry into Pearl Harbor disaster; labor industrial relations and manpower in U.S.; U.S. request for airfield facilities in India and Burma; letter to Mr. Attlee regarding British policy in Siam; Mr. Attlee’s recent statements on Palestine; reported impending fusion of Communist and Social Democratic parties in Berlin; publication of Manchester Guardian Weekly in U.S. 1947: Anglo-American military cooperation: views expressed by New York Times on questions of British policy concerning (a) Palestine, and (b) Greece; U.S. copyright law: ending publications in America supporting Soviet views; G.I. bridge legal aid scheme; plans for U.S. economic aid to Western Europe; views of Mr. Harriman; speech by Mr. Marshall on U.S. aid to World Recovery; U.S. legislation extending rent controls and abolishing certain controls on building; appointment of special sub-committee of Un-American Activities Committee; dismissal of U.S. civil servants suspected of “disloyalty”; foreign policy report for August 15th: reorganization of State Dept.; report on U.S. Presidential Committee on Civil Rights; elimination of trade barriers between U.S. and U.K.; proposal of joint celebration of Magna Carta Day by U.S. and U.K.; strategic importance of Middle East to U.S.; speech by Truman on Greece and Turkey. 1948: Strategy and tactics of World Communism; copy of article entitled “Prospects for Stability in our Foreign Policy” by James Reston in Foreign Affairs; Presidential elections: Truman’s prospects; proposed flight of U.S. aircraft over U.K. to Germany; Senate Committee hearings on European Recovery Program; British reactions to Marshall aid; U.S. hemisphere defense; presence of Soviet submarines in American waters; survey of American opinion on Soviet and Communist threats; among many other records.

Dean Gooderham Acheson Papers - The Dean Gooderham Acheson (1893–1971) papers are a rich source of information on the policies, thoughts, and accomplishments of the secretary of state who guided American foreign policy from 1948-1953. The papers, which span the period 1898-1978, are especially full for the period after Acheson left public office in 1953 until his death in 1971. Acheson considered these papers to be his private papers, as opposed to the papers he created professionally as a lawyer and publicly as a civil servant. In his private life, Acheson was able to offer a candid view of events during the Cold War without having to temper his words due to political considerations.

Ford Administration and Foreign Affairs - This collection offers online access to the microfilm series, “Gerald R. Ford and Foreign Affairs.” Included here are Presidential Country Files for East Asia and the Pacific and Presidential Correspondence and Conversations with Foreign Leaders. Many significant foreign policy events are covered here. Among these are wars and their aftermath, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos; seizure of the Mayaguez and subsequent investigations into the administration’s handling of the incident; and the normalization process with the People’s Republic of China. Other major topics are U.S. military bases and the presence of American troops, especially in Thailand, Philippines, Diego Garcia, Republic of China (Taiwan) and Korea. General topics covered include trade, arms transfers, mutual defense agreements, and meetings between American and foreign leaders. Materials relating to Southeast Asia concern intelligence reports on the situation in Vietnam and Cambodia, the administration’s request of Congress for supplemental assistance, and contingency planning for the evacuation of Americans and refugees. After the fall of Saigon, the focus is on refugee resettlement, disposition of American military equipment left in Vietnam, and consideration of America’s policy interests and presence in the region under the new circumstances. 

George H. W. Bush and Foreign Affairs: Bosnia and the Situation in the Former Yugoslavia - The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina came about as a result of the breakup of Yugoslavia. In Yugoslavia the national Communist party, officially called Alliance or League of Communists of Yugoslavia, was losing its ideological potency, while nationalist and separatist ideologies were on the rise in the late 1980s. Crisis erupted with the weakening of the Communist system at the end of the Cold War. This was particularly noticeable in Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to a lesser extent in Slovenia and Republic of Macedonia. Throughout 1991 international and national political maneuvering failed to prevent Bosnia from slipping into civil war. This collection consists of comprehensive materials related to the former Yugoslavia, particularly Bosnia, and U.S. presidential decision-making. Documents constitute the complete FOIA request listed as 1998-0102-FL: Records on Bosnia and the Former Yugoslavia.

George H. W. Bush and Foreign Affairs: Fall of the Berlin Wall and the Reunification of Germany - When East Germany opened its borders and Germans tore down the Berlin Wall separating East and West Berlin in early November 1989, it marked a symbolic end to Communist rule in Eastern Europe. In the minds of many, the Cold War was over. This collection provides an in-depth analysis of the events leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall and its implications for U.S.-German relations. Documents include 1999-0393-F: Records of Memcons and Telcons between President Bush and Helmut Kohl concerning the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the Reunification of Germany; and FOIA 2001-1166-F: Records on the Fall of the Berlin Wall and German Unification.

George H. W. Bush and Foreign Affairs: The Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid - This collection comprises materials related to the planning and organization of the October 1991 Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid. It consists of correspondence, memoranda, cables, diplomatic dispatches, reports, studies, maps, and printed material which document all aspects of staging the conference as well as the conference itself. The materials detail the role of the United States in convening the peace conference and the interactions and positions of the various parties involved. Subjects include the Persian Gulf War; Operation Desert Shield; Oil; public opinion; Intifada; U.N. Security Council Resolutions; Land for Peace concept; Palestinians; Palestine Liberation Organization; among other topics.

George H. W. Bush and Foreign Affairs: The Moscow Summit and the Dissolution of the USSR - When George H. W. Bush became president in 1989 the United States had already begun to see a thawing of relations with the Soviet Union. President Bush spoke of softening relations in his inaugural address, claiming that "a new breeze is blowing," and adding that "great nations of the world are moving toward democracy through the door to freedom." This collection provides an in-depth analysis of the events leading up to the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. and its implications for U.S.-Soviet relations. The collection consists of three FOIA files from the Bush Library. The first file contains material related to the Moscow summit and the coup in August 1991 against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. This file contains cables sent to the White House situation room concerning day-by-day developments, and conversations between President Bush and other foreign leaders. The second file, which concerns the dissolution of the Soviet Union, highlights the Bush administration’s response to the dissolution and the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Documents here concern economic and humanitarian support, diplomatic recognition of the republics, aiding the transition to democratic governments and market economies, and defense issues, particularly the fate and control over the former Soviet Union's nuclear arsenal. The last FOIA file contains materials on the meeting between President Bush and President Mikhail Gorbachev in Malta (December 2–3, 1989) and the subsequent meetings between President Bush and NATO leaders in Brussels (December 3– 4, 1989). 

JFK and Foreign Affairs, 1961-1963 - Originally microfilmed as JFK and Foreign Affairs, 1961-1963, this collection provides insights into President Kennedy’s views on foreign affairs, U.S. leadership of the "West," and various worldwide crises. There are more than just documents on the Bay of Pigs, Berlin, and Cuba. There are documents that highlight American efforts to support Third World countries, balance of payments and foreign trade, Alliance for Progress and relations with Latin America, nuclear weapons and testing, NATO and the Multilateral Force in Europe, Southeast Asia and regional security, foreign aid and military assistance, and the international space race.

Johnson Administration and Foreign Affairs - This collection offers online access to the microfilm series, “Lyndon B. Johnson and Foreign Affairs, 1963-1969.” Included here are White House Central Files which consist of the Foreign Affairs Subject Files and the National Defense Subject File on the Vietnam War. The collection enumerates policies, responses, and recommendations from the president’s advisers and cabinet members on handling the growing conflict in South Vietnam, its effects on domestic policies, and the public’s reaction to the war. The files document the Johnson administration's escalation of the war from a commitment of sixteen thousand advisers in November 1963 to that of over five hundred thousand combat troops at the end of 1968. The archive details controversial issues such as the Gulf of Tonkin incident, the initiation of regular bombing attacks on North Vietnam, the decision to commit large numbers of combat troops to South Vietnam, and efforts to maintain public support for the war. 

Nixon Administration and Foreign Affairs - This collection offers online access to the microfilm series, "The Nixon Administration and Foreign Affairs, 1969-1974." Included here are the White House Central Files consisting of the Foreign Affairs Subject Files and the Foreign Affairs Subject Series. The National Security Council Files include China and Vietnam Negotiations and the President’s Trip Files. The archive details the worldview of foreign policy during President Nixon’s administration and chronicles the realism that both the president and his policy advisers used in mentally ordering the world and in formulating policy. It highlights the diplomacy that the administration employed to achieve “Vietnamization,” détente with the Soviet Union, and other objectives. Realism, triangular diplomacy, and linkage-making provided President Nixon with an understanding of world strategy and a negotiating approach that fueled his pursuit of détente and accommodation. 

U.S. and Iraqi Relations: U.S. Technical Aid, 1950-1958 - The program of technical cooperation in Iraq, prior to the Revolution of 1958, was frequently cited as an example of the ideal Point Four program. The overthrow of the established government led naturally to questions concerning the "failure" of American technical assistance in that country.

U.S. Middle East Peace Policy and America's Role in the Middle East Peace Process, 1991-1992 - This collection contains Bush Presidential Records from a variety of White House offices. These files consist of letters of correspondence, memoranda, coversheets, notes, distribution lists, newspaper articles, informational papers, published articles, and reports from the public, the Congress, Bush administration officials, and other various federal agencies primarily regarding American Middle East peace policy and the United States’ role in the many facets of the Middle East peace process.

U.S. Relations and Policies in Southeast Asia, 1944-1958: Records of the Office of Southeast Asian Affairs - Historically, U.S. policy and diplomacy with Southeast Asia has been defined by U.S. interests in the region, whether it’s maintaining free lanes of communication through the South China Sea, gaining access to the resources and markets of Southeast Asia, or containing the spread of Communism. Since World War II, the U.S. has constantly been involved in conflicts in the region: providing material and financial support for France during the First Indochina War and direct involvement in the Viet Cong insurgency in South Vietnam. This collection identifies the key issues, individuals, and events in the history of U.S.-Southeast Asia relations between 1944 and 1958, and places them in the context of the complex and dynamic regional strategic, political, and economic processes that have fashioned the American role in Southeast Asia. This comprises the records of eight U.S. State Department Offices related to Southeast Asia. 

American Indian Correspondence: Presbyterian Historical Society Collection of Missionaries' Letters, 1833-1893 - The men and women of the Foreign Board of Missions served a variety of tribes. Their letters, intended to be reports from the field, are far more than dry discussions of mission business.  Ranging in length from single fragments to reports of over twenty pages, they describe the Indian peoples and cultures, tribal factionalism, relations with the U.S. government, and the many problems and achievements of the work.  The letters often become personal and even anguished, as the writers disclose their fears, worries, and hopes.

Federal Surveillance of African Americans, 1920-1984 - Between the early 1920s and early 1980s, the Justice Department and its Federal Bureau of Investigation engaged in widespread investigation of those deemed politically suspect. Prominent among the targets of this sometimes coordinated, sometimes independent surveillance were aliens, members of various protest groups, Socialists, Communists, pacifists, militant labor unionists, ethnic or racial nationalists, and outspoken opponents of the policies of the incumbent presidents.

Final Accountability Rosters of Japanese-American Relocation Centers, 1944-1946 - The rosters, which are part of the Records of the War Relocation Authority, consist of alphabetical lists of evacuees resident at the relocation centers during the period of their existence. The lists typically provide the following information about the individual evacuees: name, family number, sex, date of birth, marital status, citizenship status, alien registration number, method of original entry into center (from an assembly center, other institution, Hawaii, another relocation center, birth, or other), date of entry, pre-evacuation address, center address, type of final departure (indefinite leave, internment, repatriation, segregation, relocation, or death), date of departure, and final destination. Included for each center are summary tabulations on evacuees resident at the center and on total admissions and departures.

Introduction to U.S. History: Slavery in America - Introduction to U.S. History: Slavery in America is a digital collection of over 600 documents in 75,000 pages selected by Vernon Burton and Troy Smith from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This collection documents key aspects of the history of slavery in America from its origins in Africa to its abolition, including materials on the slave trade, plantation life, emancipation, pro-slavery and anti-slavery arguments, the religious views on slavery, etc.

Japanese-American Relocation Camp Newspapers: Perspectives on Day-to-Day Life - Although histories exist about this chapter in American history, this digital collection of Japanese relocation camp newspapers record the concerns and the day-to-day life of the interned Japanese-Americans. Although articles in these files frequently appear in Japanese, most of the papers are in English or in dual text. Many of the 25 titles constituting this collection are complete or substantially complete.

Japanese American Internment: Records of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library - In an atmosphere of hysteria following U.S. entry into the Second World War, and with the support of officials at all levels of the federal government, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the internment of tens of thousands of American citizens of Japanese ancestry and resident aliens from Japan. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, dated February 19, 1942, gave the U.S. military broad powers to ban any citizen from a wide coastal area stretching from the state of Washington to California and extending inland into southern Arizona. The order also authorized transporting these citizens to assembly centers hastily set up and governed by the military in Arizona, California, Oregon, and Washington. The same executive order, as well as other war-time orders and restrictions, were also applied to smaller numbers of residents of the United States of Italian or German descent. Yet while these individuals (and others from those groups) suffered grievous violations of their civil liberties, the war-time measures applied to Japanese Americans were harsher and more sweeping. Entire communities were uprooted by an executive order that targeted U.S. citizens and resident aliens. This publication consists of the documents from The Papers of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Small Collections, “Japanese American Internment Collections,” in the custody of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, N.Y. 

Personal Justice Denied: Public Hearings of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment, 1981 - These documents reflect the Commission's twenty days of hearings and testimonies from more than 750 witnesses between July and December 1981, in cities across the country. These witnesses included Japanese Americans and Aleuts who had lived through the events of WWII, former government officials who ran the internment program, public figures, internees, organizations such as the Japanese American Citizens League, interested citizens, historians, and other professionals who have studied the subjects of the Commission's inquiry. Included also are publications, reports, press releases, photographs, newspaper clippings, and transcripts that relate to the hearings. Many of the transcripts are personal stories of experiences of evacuees.

City and Business Directories: Alabama, 1837-1929

City and Business Directories: Arkansas, 1871-1929

City and Business Directories: Florida, 1882-1929

City and Business Directories: Louisiana, 1805-1929

City and Business Directories: Maryland, 1752-1929

City and Business Directories: Mississippi, 1860-1929

City and Business Directories: North Carolina, 1886-1929

City and Business Directories: Tennessee, 1849-1929  

City and Business Directories: Virginia, 1801-1929  

City and Business Directories: West Virginia, 1839-1929

City directories are among the most comprehensive sources of historical and personal information available. Their emphasis on ordinary people and the common-place event make them important in the study of American history and culture. One of the few means available for researchers to uncover information on specific individuals, these directories provides such information as:
• Addresses
• City and county officers
• Heads of families, firms and names of those doing business in the city
• Lists of city residents
• Occupations
• Street Directories
In addition, researchers can learn much about day-to-day life through analysis of information on churches, public and private schools, benevolent, literary and other associations, and banks. Finally, most directories include advertising, often illustrating the products being sold. This information lends valuable insight into the city’s lifestyles and illustrates popular trends.

County and Regional Histories & Atlases: California - State and especially local history gives students a chance to understand the people, places and things around them with which they’re already familiar. Originally compiled and produced by publishers and subscriptions agents for area residents and patrons, the original histories are difficult-to-find materials. Included in this collection on California are ninety-seven titles covering eight cities and regions. These titles comprise tables and lists of vital statistics, military service records, municipal and county officers, chronologies, portraits of individuals and views of urban and rural life not found anywhere else. The atlases provide additional information on land use and settlement patterns and scarce early town and city plans.

County and Regional Histories & Atlases: Illinois - State and especially local history gives students a chance to understand the people, places and things around them with which they’re already familiar. Originally compiled and produced by publishers and subscriptions agents for area residents and patrons, the original histories are difficult-to-find materials. Included in this collection on Illinois are fifteen cities and regions in 361 titles. These titles comprise tables and lists of vital statistics, military service records, municipal and county officers, chronologies, portraits of individuals and views of urban and rural life not found anywhere else. The atlases provide additional information on land use and settlement patterns and scarce early town and city plans.

County and Regional Histories & Atlases: Indiana - State and especially local history gives students a chance to understand the people, places and things around them with which they’re already familiar. Originally compiled and produced by publishers and subscriptions agents for area residents and patrons, the original histories are difficult-to-find materials. Included in this collection on Indiana are Thirteen cities and regions covered in 262 titles. These titles comprise tables and lists of vital statistics, military service records, municipal and county officers, chronologies, portraits of individuals and views of urban and rural life not found anywhere else. The atlases provide additional information on land use and settlement patterns and scarce early town and city plans. 

County and Regional Histories & Atlases: Michigan - State and especially local history gives students a chance to understand the people, places and things around them with which they’re already familiar. Originally compiled and produced by publishers and subscriptions agents for area residents and patrons, the original histories are difficult-to-find materials. Included in this collection on Illinois are fifteen cities and regions in 361 titles. These titles comprise tables and lists of vital statistics, military service records, municipal and county officers, chronologies, portraits of individuals and views of urban and rural life not found anywhere else. The atlases provide additional information on land use and settlement patterns and scarce early town and city plans.

County and Regional Histories & Atlases: New York - State and especially local history gives students a chance to understand the people, places and things around them with which they’re already familiar. Originally compiled and produced by publishers and subscriptions agents for area residents and patrons, the original histories are difficult-to-find materials. Included in this collection on New York are 28 cities, regions, and counties in 465 titles. These titles comprise tables and lists of vital statistics, military service records, municipal and county officers, chronologies, portraits of individuals and views of urban and rural life not found anywhere else. The atlases provide additional information on land use and settlement patterns and scarce early town and city plans.

County and Regional Histories & Atlases: Ohio - State and especially local history gives students a chance to understand the people, places and things around them with which they’re already familiar. Originally compiled and produced by publishers and subscriptions agents for area residents and patrons, the original histories are difficult-to-find materials. Included in this collection on Ohio are 21 cities and regions covered in 305 titles. These titles comprise tables and lists of vital statistics, military service records, municipal and county officers, chronologies, portraits of individuals and views of urban and rural life not found anywhere else. The atlases provide additional information on land use and settlement patterns and scarce early town and city plans.

County and Regional Histories & Atlases: Pennsylvania - This collection of local and regional histories provides vivid portraits of individual people, places, and situations.  It puts local history in the service of current event with the examination of historical demographic, social, and cultural transformations. For example, these volumes can provide historical perspectives on politics and literature and show how metaphor  – “Keystone State”, and the “city of brotherly love, Philadelphia”-- and myth invent, distort, and hold captive local towns, peoples, and places. Included in this collection are 15 cities and regions covered in 283 titles. These titles comprise tables and lists of vital statistics, military service records, municipal and county officers, chronologies, portraits of individuals and views of urban and rural life not found anywhere else. The atlases provide additional information on land use and settlement patterns and scarce early town and city plans.

County and Regional Histories & Atlases: Wisconsin - State and especially local history gives students a chance to understand the people, places and things around them with which they’re already familiar. Originally compiled and produced by publishers and subscriptions agents for area residents and patrons, the original histories are difficult-to-find materials. Included in this collection on Wisconsin are 12 cities, regions, and counties in 158 titles. These titles comprise tables and lists of vital statistics, military service records, municipal and county officers, chronologies, portraits of individuals and views of urban and rural life not found anywhere else. The atlases provide additional information on land use and settlement patterns and scarce early town and city plans.

Goldey-Beacom College Historical Archives 

Indiana History

Kansas History: Territorial through Civil War, 1854–1865 

Mountain People: Life and Culture in Appalachia - This collection consists of the diaries, journals, and narratives of explorers, emigrants, military men, Native Americans, and travelers. In addition, there are accounts on the development of farming and mining communities, family histories, and folklore. These accounts provide a view of the of the vast region between Lexington, Kentucky and Winchester, Virginia, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Birmingham, Alabama, which spans three and a half centuries and provides information on the social, political, economic, scientific, religious, and agricultural characteristics of the region.

Overland Journeys: Travels in the West, 1800-1880 - Western settlers created what we think of as the American West. Explorers came and went, soldiers came and went, miners and others came and went. But the settlers came to stay. For settlers, the ways of reaching a destination in the frontier country were either wretched ordeals or wondrous adventures. Fortunately, many of these men and women recorded daily events and their thoughts with such picturesque zest that some accounts of westward journeys have elements of great literature within them.

War on Poverty Community Profiles: Midwestern States - The Community Profiles provide an in-depth analysis of poverty in America with an extensive inventory of historical data at a local level. Each profile, composed as a narrative with statistical indices, contains information showing general poverty indicators, size and composition of the poor population, and selected aspects of geography, demography, economy, and social resources. Midwestern states in this collection include Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The documents in this archive are from the Presidential Papers of Lyndon Baines Johnson, White House Office Files, Office Files of Fred Panzer: Office of Economic Opportunity Information Center, Community Profiles, in the custody of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library in Austin, Texas. 

War on Poverty Community Profiles: Northeastern States - The most ambitious and controversial part of the President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society was its initiative to end poverty. The centerpiece of the War on Poverty was the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), which was established to oversee a variety of community-based antipoverty programs. Central to OEO’s mission was the idea of "community action," the participation of the poor in framing and administering the programs designed to help them. To assess the scale of poverty in America, the OEO developed the Community Profile Project, designed to increase the scope, accessibility, accuracy, and utility of information supporting the planning and evaluation of programs for community improvement. The Project compiled data for 3,135 U.S. counties and county equivalents that subdivided each state into independently-administered localities. Each profile, composed as a narrative with statistical indices, contains information showing general poverty indicators, size and composition of the poor population, and selected aspects of geography, demography, economy, and social resources. The Community Profiles provide an in-depth analysis of poverty in America with an extensive inventory of historical data of the United States at a local level. Northeastern states in this collection include Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The documents in this archive are from the Presidential Papers of Lyndon Baines Johnson, White House Office Files, Office Files of Fred Panzer: Office of Economic Opportunity Information Center, Community Profiles, in the custody of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library in Austin, Texas. 

War on Poverty Community Profiles: Southern States - The Community Profiles provide an in-depth analysis of poverty in America with an extensive inventory of historical data at a local level. Each profile, composed as a narrative with statistical indices, contains information showing general poverty indicators, size and composition of the poor population, and selected aspects of geography, demography, economy, and social resources. Midwestern states in this collection include Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The documents in this archive are from the Presidential Papers of Lyndon Baines Johnson, White House Office Files, Office Files of Fred Panzer: Office of Economic Opportunity Information Center, Community Profiles, in the custody of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library in Austin, Texas. 

War on Poverty Community Profiles: Texas - The Community Profiles provide an in-depth analysis of poverty in America with an extensive inventory of historical data at a local level. Each profile, composed as a narrative with statistical indices, contains information showing general poverty indicators, size and composition of the poor population, and selected aspects of geography, demography, economy, and social resources. The documents in this archive are from the Presidential Papers of Lyndon Baines Johnson, White House Office Files, Office Files of Fred Panzer: Office of Economic Opportunity Information Center, Community Profiles, in the custody of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library in Austin, Texas.

War on Poverty Community Profiles: Western States - The Community Profiles provide an in-depth analysis of poverty in America by providing an extensive inventory of historical data at a local level. Each profile, composed as a narrative with statistical indices, contains information showing general poverty indicators, size and composition of the poor population, and selected aspects of geography, demography, economy, and social resources. Western states in this collection include Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. The documents in this archive are from the Presidential Papers of Lyndon Baines Johnson, White House Office Files, Office Files of Fred Panzer: Office of Economic Opportunity Information Center, Community Profiles, in the custody of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library in Austin, Texas. 
 

Electing the President: Proceedings of the Democratic National Conventions, 1832-1988 - This collection includes the proceedings of the 1832-1988 Democratic National Conventions, providing gavel to gavel coverage, including speeches, debates, votes, and party platforms. Also included are lists of names of convention delegates and alternates. Records of the earliest proceedings are based in part on contemporary newspaper accounts.

Electing the President: Proceedings of the Republican National Conventions, 1856-1988 - The collection includes the proceedings for 1856-1988 of the Republican National Conventions, providing gavel to gavel coverage of the conventions, including speeches, debates, votes, and party platforms. Also included are lists of names of convention delegates and alternates. Records of the earliest proceedings are based in part on contemporary newspaper accounts.

Election of 1948 - This collection provides documents and the perspectives of the four base camps from the 1948 United States presidential election: Democrat incumbent President and eventual victor Harry S. Truman (1884–1972; U.S. President, 1945–1953), Republican and New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey (1902–1971), Progressive and former Vice President Henry A. Wallace (1888–1965) and Dixiecrat and South Carolina Governor J. Strom Thurmond (1902–2003). Sources include Papers of Harry S Truman, Thomas E. Dewey Papers, Papers of Americans for Democratic Action as well as selections from several southern newspapers.

Johnson Presidency Administrative Histories: Economy, Finance and Trade - This collection provides extensive documentation on a variety of presidential programs and initiatives. Agency and departmental records include: Bureau of the Budget; Council of Economic Advisers; Department of Commerce; Department of Treasury; Federal Deposit Corporation; Federal Home Loan Bank Board; Federal Reserve System; Federal Trade Commission; Interstate Commerce Commission; and Securities Exchange Commission. The archive is based on the film title, Administrative Histories of the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidency, The Economy, Finance and Trade.

Johnson Presidency Administrative Histories: Foreign Affairs and National Security - The archive is based on the film title, Administrative Histories of the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidency, The Economy, Finance and Trade.

Johnson Presidency Administrative Histories: Health, Education and Welfare - This collection provides extensive documentation on a variety of presidential programs and initiatives. Agency and departmental records include: Department of Agriculture; Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; Department of Housing and Urban Development; Endowment for the Arts; National Endowment for the Humanities; Office of Economic Opportunity; Office of Education; and Veteran’s Administration. The archive is based on the film title, Administrative Histories of the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidency, Health, Education and Welfare.

Johnson Presidency Administrative Histories: Labor and Employment - This collection provides extensive documentation on a variety of presidential programs and initiatives. Agency and departmental records include: Civil Service Commission; Department of Labor; Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service; General Services Administration; Post Office Department; and National Labor Relations Board. The archive is based on the film title, Administrative Histories of the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidency, Labor and Employment.

Johnson Presidency Administrative Histories: Science and Technology - This collection provides extensive documentation on a variety of presidential programs and initiatives. Agency and departmental records include: Atomic Energy Commission; Federal Power Commission; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); and Office of Science and Technology.

Liberia and the U.S.: Nation-Building in Africa, 1864-1918 - This archive serves as a companion to Liberia and the U.S.: Nation-Building in Africa, 1864-1918. It consists of correspondence and telegrams received and sent by American diplomats, as well as records of American citizens and companies with relations to Liberia. It carries the story from the end of First World War into the interwar period. 

Papers of the Nixon Administration: The President’s Confidential and Subject Special Files, 1969-1974 - This publication consists of documents of an administratively-sensitive nature, arranged according to subject from President Nixon’s Special Files collection, comprising the Confidential and Subject Files. These documents provide an in-depth look into the activities of the President, his closest advisors, and the administration.  These records support the behind-the-scenes historical inquiry into an administration that may well be the most significant one since World War II and one of the most important in the 20th century.

Press Conferences of the U.S. Secretaries of State, 1922-1974 - This collection reproduces the transcripts of all the press conferences held by the U.S. secretaries of state from Charles Evan Hughes (1862–1948; 44th Secretary of State, 1921–1925) through Henry Kissinger (b. 1923; 56th Secretary of State, 1973–1977). These conferences are an important record of official U.S. foreign policy and its global influence from the interwar years to the Cold War and détente.

Rise and Fall of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy - The brief but dramatic political reign of Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy (1908–1957) is examined in this collection, from the Wheeling speech in 1950 to McCarthy's condemnation by the Senate in late 1954. McCarthy rode the crest of U.S. anti-communist paranoia in the early 1950s, and his tactics of accusation through insinuation and innuendo have come to be known as "McCarthyism". His popularity was short-lived, however; in 1954 his television appearances severely damaged his image, followed by a backlash by his political opponents resulting in a condemnation vote by the Senate in December that year.

Spiro T. Agnew Case: The Investigative and Legal Documents - Spiro T. Agnew (1918–1996) was Vice President to Richard Nixon from 1969 until his resignation in 1973 following an investigation on suspicion of criminal conspiracy, bribery, extortion and tax fraud. This collection contains the legal documents of the case, the correspondence surrounding the investigation and trial, Agnew's personal records, and related newspaper and magazine articles. Few criminal investigations have ever uncovered such detailed evidence of wrongdoing, with near mathematical precision. These documents are also noteworthy because they detail a most unusual occurrence, in which the second highest official of a government has been investigated, prosecuted and forced from office by the Justice Department of that same administration.

The Amerasia Affair, China, and Postwar Anti-Communist Fervor - The Amerasia Affair was the first of the great spy cases of the postwar era.  It prompted several congressional investigations, stirred-up partisan controversy and threatened to destroy the political reputations of several government officials.

The Minority Voter, Election of 1936 and the Good Neighbor League - This collection is designed as a case study of minority involvement in a presidential election campaign, using the 1936 Democratic Campaign as a model. The 1936 election provides an excellent example partly because of the availability of manuscript material on the Good Neighbor League, a vital force in helping make minorities part of the Roosevelt coalition in 1936. Through recruitment and publicity, the League were one means Democrats used to attract minority voters to Roosevelt. Their activities show that bringing together such a coalition was not a chance occurrence, but a well-planned political move whose basic premise was the New Deal legislative program. Minorities proved by their participation that they would be a significant influence in elections to come. 

The Scopes Case - This collection records one of the most famous cases of the 20th century, which pitted lawyer Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) against the politician and fundamentalist William Jennings Bryant (1860–1925). The Scopes Case, formally known as The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes, took place in July 1925. The trial highlighted the ongoing debates in the United States between creationism and evolutionism, and involved a high school teacher, John T. Scopes (1900–1970), who was accused of teaching evolution at a school in Dayton, Tennessee. His trial became a highly controversial spectacle, sparking debates across the country. The so-called "Monkey Trial" became less about a law getting broken and more about whether science or religion should take priority in U.S. education.