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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, settlement patterns, and scarce early town and city plans.

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.

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; and 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.

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) began with intellectuals united in the fight for racial justice and culminated in the Communist Party's Depression-era effort to unite black and white workers. 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 question."

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is a UK organization that advocates the abandonment of nuclear weapons by the UK and the world. Founded in 1958 by the philosopher Bertrand Russell, Anglican priest Canon L. John Collins, and others, the CND organized Easter marches in the 1950s and 1960s between Aldermaston, the location of the Atomic Weapons Establishment, and London. This collection collects internal documents of the CND, such as its constitution, policy, committee and council minutes, accounting records, reports, annual conference papers, campaign records, Easter march papers, and correspondence, from 1958 to 1972.

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.

Documents in this collection trace U.S.-Panamanian relations during the Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy administrations. Issues relating to shipping and the significance of the Panama Canal during the Cold War include: “Panama Stymies Use of Her Flag in Vietminh Trade … A parallel situation exists in the trade with Red China” (September 1955); and “Ships Enroute to U.S. from Soviet or Satellite Ports” (October 1957). A letter to U.S. Ambassador Julian F. Harrington details “the possibility that the Conference on the Law of the Sea in 1960 would result in a general acceptance by the United States of a six-mile breadth of territorial sea” (April 1960). Other documents chart day-to-day aspects of the economy: a report on sugar production with tables on sugar production and consumption (June 1950); and an announcement by the Panamá Canal Company of a contract award for native lumber (August 1952).

Romania in the postwar Stalinist era is the subject of this archive. The Red Army swept into Romania in 1944, and in the late 1940s and 1950s the Romanian Communist Party imposed a totalitarian regime. An elaborate security system manned by the secret police and supported by a repressive prison network, enforced obedience to the party. Documents include excerpts from “International Developments of Naval Interest,” 6 February 1948, by the Office of Naval Intelligence: “Confiscation of private property in an attempt to destroy the capitalist class, heretofore limited to Rumanian businessmen, is now being extended to foreigners. One method employed by the Rumanian Government is to accuse foreign owners of ‘economic sabotage.’ …Another method being employed to seize foreign businesses is to tax them out of existence.” The documents here are sourced from the Central Files of the General Records of the Department of State. The records are under the jurisdiction of the Legislative and Diplomatic Branch of the Civil Archives, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.

This collection delivers the full story leading up to the current global economic and financial crisis -- highlighting corporate finance, joint ventures and M&A, country profiles, capital markets, investor relations, currencies, banking, risk management, direct investment, money management and all the rest -- specifically tailored for faculty and students around the world. Included are over 320 papers and reports published by the Federal Reserve Board, Federal Reserve Banks, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the U.S. General Accountability Office, Congressional Research Service, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Office of Thrift Supervision, International Organization of Securities Commissions, and other bodies.

The year 1931 stands as a major turning point in Japan’s modern history. In September 1931 Japanese armed forces overran Manchuria, committing their government to a course of direct action in Asia and, ultimately, to the rejection of the structure of international relations which had emerged in the 1920s. By 1940 Japan was caught up in a cycle of extreme nationalism, isolation, and ultimately war with the United States. This archive charts a key decade in U.S.-Japanese relations. It is is one of three digital collections based on the microfilm title Records of the U.S. Department of State Relating to United States Political Relations with Japan, 1930-1954. The source material contains Decimal File 711.94.

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 the wars and their aftermath in 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.

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. He 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.

The documents in this collection on Turkey, Greece, and the Balkans are sourced from the Central Files of the General Records of the Department of State. The records are under the jurisdiction of the Legislative and Diplomatic Branch of the Civil Archives, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. Contained here is the Greco-Turkish Convention signed at Ankara, 10 June 1930. Most of the archive is in French and Turkish.

This collection of U.S. State Department files relating to the internal and foreign affairs of Thailand contains a wide range of materials from U.S. diplomats. Included here are special reports on political and military affairs; studies and statistics on socioeconomic matters; interviews and minutes of meetings with foreign government officials; full texts of important letters, instructions, and cables sent and received by U.S. diplomatic personnel; reports and translations from foreign journals and newspapers; translations of high-level foreign government documents, including speeches, memoranda, official reports, and transcripts of political meetings and assemblies

This archive divides into two distinct parts. The first part, 1930-1944, documents a critical period in the formation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; the second part, 1955-1959, illustrates the day-to-day workings of the oil-rich state. Saudi Arabia, which extends over most of the Arabian peninsula, absorbed several tribal groups that had previously been dependent on the Ottoman empire. The creation of a centralized state expressed the interests of all classes, including the nobility, the merchant class, and most of the population, ensuring security and putting an end to tribal feuds. Although fixing the boundaries of the country remained a problem, by 1930 most of the frontiers with Iraq, Jordan, and Kuwait, had been established. In 1932 Hijaz (the western portion of the country containing the holy cities of Mecca and Medina), Najd, and other districts under the control of Ibn Saud were united to form the modern kingdom. In the late 1930s Saudi Arabia became rich in oil and was courted both by allied and axis powers in the years leading up the Second World War. Export of oil began in 1938 and within one year 500,000 barrels of oil had been produced. In the 1940s exploitation of oil brought great prosperity and transformed the social fabric of the country. To reciprocate the warm reception in Washington, D.C., in 1957, King Saud endorsed the Eisenhower Doctrine and renewed a deal giving the United States airbase rights in his country. The records in the second portion of the archive detail internal political and national defense affairs; economic, financial, industrial, and social affairs; among other topics.

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." The Indexes have been arranged not only alphabetically but also geographically, designed to help identify potential threats to the United States from within immigrant communities as quickly as possible in times of national crisis.

Published from 1672, this influential periodical promised in its first issue to chronicle the activities of luminaries in metropolitan Paris, in the French provinces, and abroad, and to offer good literature to lovers of novels and stories. It was published first under the title Le Mercure Galant by Donneau de Vise. Upon his death it was taken over by Riviere Dufresny (1710), then Lefevre de Fontenay (1714), and Abbot Bucher. In 1724 the title was changed to Le Mercure de France, and the periodical was split into a literary and a political section.

The United States decision to provide military assistance to France and the Associated States of Indochina was reached informally in February/March 1950, funded by the President on May 1, 1950, and was announced on May 8, 1950. The decision was taken in spite of the U.S. desire to avoid direct involvement in a colonial war, and in spite of a sensing that France's political-military situation in Indochina was deteriorating. This collection consists of unique records of U.S. agencies established to intervene in Vietnam—the country U.S. foreign policy deemed a lynchpin in the free world’s fight against communism. The Subject Files from the Office of the Director, U.S. Operations Missions, document the myriad concerns and rationales that went into the control and direction of U.S. economic and technical assistance programs, as well as the coordination of mutual security activities, with respect to Vietnam.

Fannie Lou Hamer was the daughter of sharecroppers and spent eighteen years of her adult life as a sharecropper and timekeeper on the Dee Marlow plantation in Sunflower County, Mississippi. She was fired in 1962 because of her attempt to register to vote. The following year she became a registered voter and also became the field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. She was instrumental in starting the Delta Ministry, and she was one of the founders of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. She led a delegation to the Democratic National Convention in 1964. She became chairman of the board of the Fannie Lou Hamer Day Care Center founded in Ruleville, Mississippi, in 1970, by the National Council of Negro Women. She also served as a member of the board of the Sunflower County Day Care Center and Family Service Center, and on the policy council of the National Women's Political Party of Mississippi. This collection comprises more than three thousand pieces of correspondence plus financial records, programs, photographs, newspaper articles, invitations, and other printed items.

This collection is a record of the U.S. Operations Mission's experiences in Saudi Arabia. In it are outlined the programs that were initiated, the problems encountered, and the results of the five year effort in the Point Four program. In Saudi Arabia, there were two chief aims that guided the International Cooperation Administration (ICA) effort and the Point Four Program. The first was to promote the acceptance and support of ICA by cooperating and integrating the efforts of local and regional governments and bureaucrats. The second was to initiate projects that would reach as many people as possible, especially the common people who desperately needed opportunities and help. Three kinds of aid were provided: United States technicians advised or worked with the Saudi Government; supplies and equipment were provided for demonstration purposes; and Saudi personnel were sent to the U.S. or third countries for observation or training programs. Much was achieved in public health, education, public administration, community development, and transportation. The aim of the Point Four program was to promote the combined growth of economic and social improvement and political freedom.