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Official Papers of Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King
Admiral Ernest J. King was one of the most prominent Allied military leaders of World War II. In 1941, he was appointed commander in chief of the Atlantic Fleet and as such oversaw the fulfillment of lend-lease programs to Great Britain and the Soviet Union. After the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor, he was selected to fill the new billet of commander in chief, U.S. Fleet (COMINCH), assuming operational control of all American naval forces. In early 1942, Admiral Harold R. Stark resigned as chief of naval operations (CNO), and President Roosevelt signed an executive order naming King to serve as both COMINCH and CNO. King was also a member of the newly formed Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Combined Chiefs of Staff, through which he played a pivotal role in the shaping of Allied grand strategy from the Arcadia Conference to Potsdam. Official Papers of Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King primarily contains records from the 1940s, of which the first series, correspondence and memorandums, makes up the bulk.
Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, 1941-1945
The complete official Soviet history of World War II, a monumental work of over 9,000 pages, this collection provides Western scholars with an opportunity to study what is considered one of the most significant historical documents produced in the Soviet Union. In addition to its importance in the war's historiography, this work is a valuable exposition of the development of a widely influential military doctrine.
Robert Winslow Gordon and American Folk Music
Robert Winslow Gordon (1888-1961), a native of Maine, attended Harvard College and taught in the department of English at the University of California at Berkeley. His monthly column in Adventure Magazine, "Old Songs that Men Sing," attracted attention from readers across the United States, and he received thousands of letters containing songs and queries. In 1928 Gordon became the first archivist of the Archive of American Folk Song (now the Archive of Folk Culture) in the Library of Congress. He was a pioneer in using mechanical means to document folk musicians, and his cylinders and discs in the Library of Congress form part of his legacy. The collection of Gordon manuscripts contained here, primarily from 1922 to 1932, offers researchers online access to the daily workings of an important twentieth-century American folklorist.
Occupation and Independence: The Austrian Second Republic, 1945-1963
The experience of the Anschluss and Nazi rule deepened the commitment of Austrians to parliamentary democracy and Austrian statehood. The electorate remained divided into three political camps—socialist/Marxist, Catholic, and nationalist/liberal—but cooperation replaced extreme political polarization. Through Allied occupation, slow economic growth, dependency on Marshall Plan, the Second Republic became a stable democracy. The major political parties strove towards ending Allied occupation and restoring a fully independent Austria. Upon the termination of Allied occupation, Austria was proclaimed a neutral country, and "everlasting" neutrality was incorporated into the Constitution on October 26, 1955.
U.S. Operations Mission in Iran, 1950-1961
This collection is a record of the U.S. Operations Mission's experiences in Iran. In it are outlined the programs that were initiated, the problems encountered, and the results of the 11-year effort. The program of technical cooperation in Iran 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. Three kinds of aid were provided: United States technicians advised or worked with the Iranian Government; supplies and equipment were provided for demonstration purposes; and Iranian personnel were sent to the United States or third countries for observation or training programs. The bulk of assistance was directed towards improving agricultural methods, but much also was achieved in such areas as preventive medicine, education, and administrative improvement.
This collection comprises correspondence, studies and reports, cables, maps, and other kinds of documents related to U.S. consular activities. U.S. Consulates were listening posts reporting on the activities of the French colonial government and the activities of the native peoples. Highlights include the beginning of an anti-colonial movement and problems along the Moroccan-Algerian border.
Cambodia: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1960-1963
This collection provides a window into the political, social, and economic development of Cambodia, the rapidly maturing “modern” state in the heart of Southeast Asia. Traced here is the critical legacy of Prince Norodom Sihanouk (1922-2012), the nation’s controversial and paradoxical leader. Khmer nationalism, loyalty to the monarch, struggle against injustice and corruption, and protection of the Buddhist religion were at the forefront of developments in this period. The archive is an essential resource for the study of Southeast Asian history and the U.S. role in the war in Vietnam. The files are arranged according to the classification system of U.S. State Department Records, and they cover a wide range of internal political affairs.
Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Trans-Jordan: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1836-1944
The Presidential Correspondence with Foreign Leaders, 1974-1977, includes material prepared for and by the National Security Adviser and the National Security Council staff. The collection chronicles the practice of diplomacy and presidential decision-making at the highest level. There are more than one thousand memoranda of conversations addressing U.S. foreign policy and national security issues during the latter part of the Nixon administration, and through the entire Ford administration.
Turkey: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1802-1949
Modern Turkey, from its late Ottoman roots in the early 19th-century to its emergence as a republic following the First World War, is traced here. Correspondences from U.S. Consults in Alexandretta, Ezerum, Harput, Siva, and Smyrna are included. This archive is 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.
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.
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 on 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.
World War I and Revolution in Russia, 1914-1918
This collection documents the Russian entrance into World War I and culminates in reporting on the Revolution in Russia in 1917 and 1918. The documents consist primarily of correspondence between the British Foreign Office, various British missions and consulates in the Russian Empire and the Tsarist government and later the Provisional Government.
Meriam Report on Indian Administration and the Survey of Conditions of the Indians in the U.S.
After 40 years of failed Indian policy, the U.S. Senate called these hearings to see what could be done to improve matters. Under the Dawes Act (or General Allotment Act) of 1887, tribal lands previously held in common by Indian nations had been split up into small parcels for individual owners. The government had said this was because it wanted to encourage self-sufficient farming, but under the Dawes Act some parcels could be sold to non-Indians and Native American owners could lose their land if they became too poor to pay taxes or debts. Forty years later the Secretary of the Interior ordered an investigation into the consequences of the Dawes Act, and in 1928 its 160-page "Merriam Report" declared that allotment had been a disaster for Native American communities. Non-Indians had acquired almost half of all Indian lands in the U.S., and poverty, disease, and anger had all skyrocketed on reservations. In 1928 the Senate ordered the new hearings excerpted here, in order to figure out how to fix the situation. The hearings ultimately lasted for 15 years and filled 41 volumes of text.
FBI Surveillance of James Forman and SNCC
Born to a poor sharecropper family in 1928, James Forman was raised on his grandmother's Mississippi farm and as an adolescent moved to Chicago with his mother. In the summer of 1961, Forman was recruited to work for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Atlanta, Georgia. SNCC was active in voter registration for disenfranchised black populations throughout the South. Forman acted as Executive Secretary of SNCC until 1966, arranging transportation, food, housing for volunteers, and raising funds. From 1967-1969, Forman served as SNCC's International Affairs Director and became involved with linking SNCC to the black power movement. This collection of FBI reports comprises the Bureau's investigative and surveillance efforts primarily during the 1961-1976 period, when James Foreman was percieved as a threat to the international security of the United States. The collected materials also include Foreman's involvement with the 'Black Manifeso' and the Bureau's 'COINTELPRO' investigations into 'Black Nationalist- Hate Groups/Internal Security', which include information on the activities of SNCC.
County and Regional Histories & Atlases: Michigan
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, settlement patterns, and scarce early town and city plans.
Much of the United States’ 19th and 20th century dealings with Panama revolved around its commercial and military interests in transit across the Isthmus, which culminated in 1914 with the completion of the Panama Canal. The documents found in these files are predominantly instructions to – and despatches from – diplomatic and consular officials and are often accompanied by enclosures. Notes between the Department of State and foreign diplomats in the United States, memoranda prepared by State Department officials, and correspondence with officials of other government departments, as well as with private businesses and persons, are also included.
Actes royaux français, 1256-1794 (French Royal Acts, 1256-1794)
Approximately 16,000 pamphlets covering this important period in French history are available in this collection. One of the largest collections of its kind, it offers a wealth of information on the legislative history and governance of France, as well as other aspects of French life.
This period of the history of the Peruvian Republic not only saw the end of the Second World War, but was also near the end of the era in Peru known as the Democratic Spring (Primavera Democrática), 1939-1948. This period saw Manuel Carlos Prado y Ugarteche serve two terms as President, 1939 – 1945, and 1956 – 1962. Publications relating to political relations between the United States and other states generally include cables, memoranda, and correspondence addressing the political affairs and concerns affecting the particular state. Covering primarily the early Cold War documents, this collection gives researchers a unique insight into American foreign policy during one of its most stressful periods in international relations. After World War II, with only two superpowers vying for influence, access, and control, the United States looked to its state department to provide detailed analyses and insight into political affairs. As such these records are bound to be of great interest to diplomatic historians and historians studying these countries, seeking to understand American foreign affairs during this period.
City and Business Directories: North Carolina, 1886-1929
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; 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.
Hungary: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1945-1963
Hungary from the end of the Second World War to 1963 is the focus of this collection. Covered here is the critical period of the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 against the Soviet-backed government, and one of the most dramatic events of the Cold War, The flow of tens of thousands of refugees out of Hungary is tracked in many records. The documents 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.