USAFA Library Guides: Military & Strategic Studies: Primary Sources

Primary Sources

Primary sources provide firsthand accounts or direct evidence to the event, person, object or place. These sources were created by participants or witnesses of an event as it occurred or experiences recorded later in the form of an autobiography, memoir or oral history. Many primary sources are available from government entities.

Understanding U. S. Military Conflicts Through Primary Sources
Multi-volume reference traces key decisions in U.S. military history from the Revolutionary War through the 21st-century conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq by examining documents relating to military strategy and national policy judgments by military & political leaders.

Congressional and Legal Publications

Hein Online
Access key documents from US legislative actions and foreign relations, including international treaties
ProQuest Congressional
The most comprehensive web-based collection of historic and current congressional information. Includes congressional hearings, committee prints, reports, and documents from 1970-present.

Conflict and Security

Aeronautics and Space Flight: Global Origins of Modern Aviation and Rocketry, 1957-1995
Collection of journal articles and reports covering aeronautics and space sciences in later 20th century
Confidential Print: Middle East, 1839-1969
Complete volumes of all confidential print from the British Colonial and Foreign Offices, Middle East

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This collection includes primary source documents in the National Archives UK on Middle Eastern history, politics, military conflicts and culture from 1839 through 1969, and covers the following countries: Afghanistan, Egypt, Sudan, Persia, Suez Canal, Turkey, Jordan, Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, and Syria.
Digital National Security Archives (ProQuest)
Declassified government documents covering US policy toward critical events from 1945 to the present

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Subject coverage: History, Political Science, Latin American Studies, Middle East Studies, Asia Studies, Diplomacy, Intelligence. Examples include the Berlin Crisis 1958-62, Cuban Missile Crisis 1962, the Gulf War 1980-94, CIA Covert Operations, and many others.
Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Report, 1941-1996
Transcripts of foreign broadcasts and news for a unique perspective on political and historical events
History Vault (ProQuest)
Collections on international relations & military conflicts
International History Declassified
Documents from governments around the world, especially international histories (Cold War, Korea, etc.)
Middle East and North Africa: Global Perspectives, 1958-1994
Translated print sources, radio and TV broadcasts from countries in North Africa and the Middle East
Morality and Science: Global Origins of Modern Bioethics, 1957-1995
Journal articles and reports covering bioethics during the second half of the 20th century
National Security Archive
Access declassified US documents on national security, geographic regions and significant historical events (GW University)
Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
Significant letters, memoranda, cables, and directives written or dictated by Eisenhower from the years prior to WW II until the end of his presidency in 1961

Human Rights and Migration

Border & Migration Studies Online (ProQuest)
Collection explores and provides historical background on 30+ key worldwide border areas
Human Rights Studies Online (ProQuest)
Primary and secondary materials focused on major human rights, such as genocides since the 20th century

Types of Primary Sources

Books: autobiographies, correspondence, diaries, letters, memoirs, manuscripts, pamphlets, papers, personal narratives, sources, speeches, statistics

Creative Works: art works, architecture, films, maps, music recordings, paintings, photographs, poems, sculptures, etc.

Government Documents: law and legislation, treaties

Journal/Newspaper Articles: witnessed reported events, reports that quote witnesses

News Sources: broadcast transcripts

Oral Histories and Culture: audio/video recordings, folklore, storytelling, interviews

Research Data: datasets, original research, statistics, surveys

Searching for Primary Sources

LC Subject Headings
Search Terms to help identify Primary Sources
- autobiographies
- correspondence
- diaries
- interviews
- law and legislation
- letters
- manuscripts
- memoirs
- papers
- personal narratives
- pamphlets
- sources
- speeches
- statistics
- treaties

Types of Secondary Sources

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

Books: based on primary works, academic research on a subject, analytical, interpretive, biographies, dissertations
Journal/Newspaper Articles: non-witnessed reported events, scholarly research on topics, critiques or essays
Research Data: analysis of data, interpretation of data

Other Primary Sources

The American Presidency Project
A vast collection of presidential documents on the web
The Avalon Project at Yale University
Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy from ancient to modern history including major wars and conflicts
Foreign Relations of the United States: pre-Truman Administration
Access volumes covering the period in US foreign relations prior to the Truman Administration
Foreign Relations of the United States: Truman to Reagan Administration
Official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and diplomatic activity
Library of Congress: Web Guides
In-depth guides to resources, many primary, on a range of topics in US history including world conflicts
National Aeronautics & Space Administration
Access to electronic NASA document collections