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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 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.

The Threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction assembles research studies that analyze the weapons, efforts to control, and proliferation. Theses studies, reports, and analyses were conducted by governmental agencies, and private organizations under contract with the Federal government. They represent the most rigorous and authoritative research on global efforts to halt proliferation and reduce the threat. The documents in this collection are diverse in scope and emphasis. They dissect specific weapons, explore efforts to control proliferation, illuminate the psychology of WMD terrorism, trace the origins and development of international efforts to reduce WMDs, and address the formidable problem of developing feasible counter-measures and polices.

This collection contains miscellaneous papers and reports from the British legation and consulates in China. Specifically, it comprises a catalogue of embassy archives, 1727 to 1859; trade and intelligence reports; records of legal proceedings; miscellaneous papers, some in Chinese, of the Chinese Secretary's Office; an entry book of papers relating to the East India Company in China; claims arising from Sino-Japanese hostilities, 1927 to 1940; accounts; circulars, etc.

Arab-Israeli Relations 1917-1970—offers the widest range of original source material from the British Foreign Office, Colonial Office, War Office and Cabinet Papers, from the 1917 Balfour Declaration through to the Black September war of 1970-1. Here major policy statements are set out in their fullest context, the minor documents and marginalia revealing the workings of colonial administration and, following the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, British diplomacy towards Israel and the Arab states. Additional value has been added by the expansion from the original 562 National Archives records to over 17,000, thus substantially improving access to over 138,000 pages documenting the politics, administration, wars, and diplomacy of the Palestine Mandate, the Independence of Israel, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Some of the topics covered include the British capture of Jerusalem, the milestones in the Palestine-Zionist tension and their impact on British policy leading to the Partition of 1948, Jewish terror groups, the background to the establishment of the State of Israel as a Jewish national home, the Border wars of the 1950s, formation of the United Arab Republic, the Cold War in the Middle East, and Black September.

The collection documents the evangelistic, educational, and medical mission of the BFM in Syria-Lebanon. It provides a unique view into the turbulent political forces that dominated Syria and Lebanon's history during the 19th century, and illustrates the difficulty of conducting mission work under the conditions of internecine religious warfare.

This collection reproduces important letters, reports, memorandums, cablegrams, maps, charts, and other kinds of records relating to the activities of the American Expeditionary Forces in Siberia (hereafter, AEF in Siberia), 1918-20.

This series consists of reports, studies, and surveys on various topics of interest to the Department of State. The reports vary from short memorandums to detailed, documented studies. The topics range from individual commodities or countries to the economic and political characteristics of whole regions. This collection consists of research and intelligence reports prepared during 1941-1947 on China.

The documents in this collection are predominantly instructions to and dispatches from U.S. diplomatic and consular staff regarding political, economic, military, social, and other internal conditions in Japan. Documents also include reports and memoranda prepared by U.S. State Department staff, communications between the State Department and foreign governments, and correspondence with other departments of the U.S. government, private firms, and individuals. Contained here are U.S. Department of State Decimal Files 794, 894, and 994, entitled Records Relating to the Internal Affairs of Japan, for the years 1950-1954.

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.

Formerly known as the Pan Pacific Women's Association of the U.S.A., the Pan Pacific and Southeast Asia Women's Association was founded in 1928 to strengthen international understanding and friendship among the women of Asia and the Pacific, and women of the U.S.A. The group promotes cooperation among women of these regions for the study and improvement of social, economic, and cultural conditions; engages in studies on Asian and Pacific affairs; provides hospitality to temporary residents and visitors from Pacific and Asian areas; and presents programs of educational and social interest, dealing with the customs and cultures of Asian and Pacific countries. The records of the Pan Pacific and Southeast Asia Women's Association consist of international conference proceedings, from the 10th, 11th, and 13th-15th conferences; correspondence; minutes of the executive board and other meetings; reports; constitution and by-laws; publications and printed material; and photographs of the national PPSEA taken between 1950-1985. The records also include two scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, and records from four local chapters including New York, Chicago, Toledo (OH), and Stockton (CA).