History of World War II: Primary Sources

The library has many primary sources for research in military history.  In addition to digital collections such as historical newspapers, you can find thousands of books in the collection that are personal narratives and other first hand accounts related to World War II.  Searching the Library Catalog will help you identify printed sources. 

Primary sources provides direct or firsthand evidence about an event, person, object or place.  These sources are created by participants or witnesses to an event at the time it occurred, and their experiences can be recorded later in the form of an autobiography, memoir or oral history. 

Secondary sources, on the other hand, provide a more critical analysis of an event, person or object.  They often interpret primary sources and refer to secondary sources created by other authors to help formulate a less personal account.

Below are recommended sources and websites to find primary sources for military history with documents on World War II and related events.