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Online Databases

Paid subscription databases on this website are available at NARA computers nationwide. NARA Only

Contact local public or university libraries to find out how to access subscription databases when not on a NARA computer.

Contents:

The NARA Library Catalog

  • Over 106,000 bibliographic citations.
  • Strong collection in the following areas:
    • Archival administration.
    • American history and government.
    • Administrative history.
    • Biography.
    • Information management.
    • Government documents.

 

U.S. Serial Set Digital Collection NARA Only
The U.S. Serial Set is a collection of U.S. Government publications compiled under directive of the Congress. It contains comprehensive and often detailed information on an extremely wide range of subjects. The U.S. Serial Set Digital Collection contains hundreds of thousands of documents and over 52,000 maps, ranging from 1789 to the present.

 

Ancestry.com NARA Only
Ancestry is a subscription service offering extensive resources for researching family history including databases containing billions of digitized historical documents, message boards, educational materials, and family trees contributed by individual researchers.

 

Fold3 (Formerly Footnote.com) NARA Only
Fold3 presents digitized historical documents that can be searched and browsed. The site covers a wide variety of topics, including Civil War records, Native American resources, newspapers, photographs and much more.

 

ProQuest

  • ProQuest Research Library NARA Only
    ProQuest Research Library includes:
    • Citations, abstracts, and/or full text of over 1000 newspapers and journals, including:
      • Newspaper abstracts and/or full text from 1985-
        (including the full text New York Times for the most recent 90 days).
      • Full text of the Washington Post from 1877-2004.
      • Full text of the New York Times from 1851-2017.
      • Abstracts for over 1000 journals from 1986-.
      • Full text for over 700 journals from 1992-.
  • ProQuest History Vault NARA Only
    American Indians and the American West, 1809-1971
    • 36 collections of searchable, digital images of NARA records related to the American West, including:
      • American Indians and the U.S. Army: Department of New Mexico, 1853-1866.
      • Apache Campaign of 1886: Records of the U.S. Army Continental Commands, Department of Arizona.
      • Indian Removal to the West, 1832-1840: Files of the Office of the Commissary General of Subsistence.
      • Letters Received by the Attorney General, 1809-1870: Western Law and Order.
      • Major Council Meetings of American Indian Tribes.
  • ProQuest History Vault NARA Only
    Immigration: Records of the INS, 1880-1930
    • 8 modules of searchable, digital images of NARA records related to immigration, including:
      • Asian Immigration and Exclusion, 1906-1913
      • Mexican Immigration, 1906-1930
      • Ellis Island, 1900-1933
      • European Investigations, 1898-1936
      • Prostitution and White Slavery, 1902-1933
      • Suppression of Aliens, 1906-1930

     

    GaleNet

    • Archives Unbound NARA Only
      Archives Unbound presents topically-focused digital collections of historical documents that support the information needs of researchers and staff members. Collections include:
      • Afghanistan and the U.S., 1945-1963: Records of the U.S. State Department Central Classified Files.
        • This collection of U.S. State Department Central Classified Files relating to internal and foreign affairs contain a wide range of materials from U.S. diplomats, including special reports on political and military affairs, foreign policymaking, interviews and minutes of meetings, and much more.
      • Ambassador Graham Martin and the Saigon Embassy’s Back Channel Communication Files, 1963-1975.
        • Consists of State Department telegrams and White House backchannel messages between U.S. ambassadors in Saigon and White House national security advisers, talking points for meetings with South Vietnamese officials, intelligence reports, drafts of peace agreements, and military status reports.
      • Civil War Service Reports of Union Army Generals.
        • These generals’ reports of service represent an attempt by the Adjutant General’s Office (AGO) to obtain more complete records of the service of the various Union generals serving in the Civil War. In 1864, the Adjutant General requested that each such general submit "…a succinct account of your military history…since March 4th, 1861."
      • Final Accountability Rosters of Japanese-American Relocation Centers, 1944-1946.
        • The rosters, which are part of the Records of the War Relocation Authority, consist of alphabetical lists of evacuees resident at the relocation centers during the period of their existence. The lists typically provide the following information about the individual evacuees: name, family number, sex, date of birth, marital status, citizenship status, alien registration number, method of original entry into center (from an assembly center, other institution, Hawaii, another relocation center, birth, or other), date of entry, pre-evacuation address, center address, type of final departure (indefinite leave, internment, repatriation, segregation, relocation, or death), date of departure, and final destination.
      • Intelligence Reports from the National Security Council’s Vietnam Information Group, 1967-1975.
        • Primarily Department of State cables and CIA intelligence information cables concerning South and North Vietnam. Topics include the Vietnam War, U.S.-South Vietnam relations, South Vietnam’s political climate, opposition groups, religious sects, ethnic groups, labor unions, corruption, press censorship, the North Vietnam’s military and economy, peace negotiations, and events in Cambodia and Laos.
      • Japan at War and Peace, 1930-1949: U.S. State Department Records on the Internal Affairs of Japan.
        • There is essential and unique documentation on a wide variety of topics relating to Japanese internal affairs, including national preparedness, militarism, Sino-Japanese war and the home front, and much more.
      • Nazi Bank and Financial Institutions: U.S. Military Government Investigation Reports and Interrogations of Nazi Financiers, 1945-1949.
        • This publication comprises two collections related to Holocaust Era Assets. The first includes Records Regarding Bank Investigations and Records Relating to Interrogations of Nazi Financiers, from the records of the Office of the Finance Division and Finance Advisor in the Office of Military Government, U.S. Zone(Germany) (OMGUS), during the period 1945-1949. The second comprises Records Regarding Intelligence and Financial Investigations, 1945-1949, from the Records of the Financial Intelligence Group, Office of the Finance Adviser. These collections consist of memorandums, letters, cables, balance sheets, reports, exhibits, newspaper clippings, and civil censorship intercepts.
      • Papers of the Nixon Administration: The President’s Confidential and Subject Special Files, 1969-1974.
        • This publication consists of documents of an administratively-sensitive nature, arranged according to subject from President Nixon’s Special Files collection, comprising the Confidential and Subject Files. These documents provide an in-depth look into the activities of the President, his closest advisors, and the administration.
      • Policing the Shanghai International Settlement, 1894-1945.
        • This collection provides researchers with the opportunity to explore a unique period in China’s struggle toward a modern existence through the International Settlement in Shanghai.
      • Political Relations and Conflict between Republican China and Imperial Japan, 1930-1939: Records of the U.S. State Department.
        • The records in this collection relate to political relations between China and Japan for the period 1930-1939. The records are mostly instructions to and despatches from diplomatic and consular officials; the despatches are often accompanied by enclosures.
      • Political, Economic, and Military Conditions in China: Reports and Correspondence of the U.S. Military Intelligence Division, 1918-1941.
        • This collection reproduces the six principal Military Intelligence Division (MID) files relating exclusively to China for the period 1918 to 1941 (general conditions, political conditions, economic conditions, army, navy, and aeronautics). Also includes documents created by other U.S. Government agencies and foreign governments from the records of the MID.
      • Public Housing, Racial Policies, and Civil Rights: The Intergroup Relations Branch of the Federal Public Housing Administration, 1936-1963.
        • This collection includes directives and memoranda related to the Public Housing Administration's policies and procedures. Among the documents are civil rights correspondence, statements and policy about race, labor-based state activity records, local housing authorities' policies on hiring minorities, court cases involving housing decisions, racially-restrictive covenants, and news clippings.
      • Records of the Persian Gulf War.
        • This collection contains materials related to the diplomatic and military response by the United States (as part of a multi-national force) to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990.
      • SAFEHAVEN Reports on Nazi Looting of Occupied Countries and Assets in Neutral Countries.
        • It was within the context of evidence collection that the War Crimes Branch received copies of documents known as "SAFEHAVEN Reports." In order to coordinate research and intelligence-sharing regarding SAFEHAVEN-related topics, the War Crimes Branch received SAFEHAVEN reports from various agencies of the U.S. Government, as well as SAFEHAVEN-related military attaché reports, regarding the clandestine transfer of German assets outside of Germany that could be used to rebuild the German war machine or the Nazi party after the war, as well as art looting and other acts that elicited the interest of Allied intelligence agencies during the war.
      • The Chinese Civil War and U.S.-China Relations: Records of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Chinese Affairs, 1945-1955.
        • The U.S. State Department’s Office of Chinese Affairs, charged with operational control of American policy toward China, amassed information on virtually all aspects of life there immediately before, during, and after the revolution. Declassified by the State Department, the Records of the Office of Chinese Affairs, 1945-1955, provide valuable insight into numerous domestic issues in Communist and Nationalist China, U.S. containment policy as it was extended to Asia, and Sino-American relations during the post-war period.
      • The Savings and Loan Crisis: Loss of Public Trust and the Federal Bailout, 1989-1993.
        • This publication consists of studies, analyses, testimony, talking points and news clippings which detail the origins of the S&L crisis and outlined solutions to the growing crisis in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In essence, this publication provides an analysis of the causes and political perspectives on the Savings and Loan Crisis.
      • The U.S. Civilian Advisory Effort in Vietnam: U.S. Operations Mission, 1950-1954.
        • 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.
      • The War Department and Indian Affairs, 1800-1824.
        • This collection consists of the letters received by and letters sent to the War Department, including correspondence from Indian superintendents and agents, factors of trading posts, Territorial and State governors, military commanders, Indians, missionaries, treaty and other commissioners, Treasury Department officials, and persons having commercial dealings with the War Department, and other public and private individuals.
      • The War on Poverty and the Office of Economic Opportunity: Administration of Antipoverty Programs and Civil Rights, 1964-1967.
        • This collection brings together a series of Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) collections that highlight efforts to meld the issue of civil rights and antipoverty initiatives.
      • Tiananmen Square and U.S.-China relations, 1989-1993.
        • This digital collection reviews U.S.-China relations in the post-Cold War Era, and analyzes the significance of the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations, China’s human rights issues, and resumption of World Bank loans to China in July 1990.
      • U.S. Middle East Peace Policy and America’s Role in the Middle East Peace Process, 1989-1993.
        • This collection contains Bush Presidential Records from a variety of White House offices. These files consist of letters of correspondence, memoranda, coversheets, notes, distribution lists, newspaper articles, informational papers, published articles, and reports from the public, the Congress, Bush administration officials, and other various federal agencies primarily regarding American Middle East peace policy and the United States’ role in the many facets of the Middle East peace process.
      • U.S. Military Advisory Effort in Vietnam: Military Assistance Advisory Group, Vietnam, 1950-1964.
        • This collection contains documents from Record Group 472, Records of the United States Forces in Southeast Asia, 1950-1975, Records of the Military Assistance Advisory Group Vietnam, 1950-1964, Adjutant General Division.
      • U.S. Relations and Policies in Southeast Asia, 1944-1958: Records of the Office of Southeast Asian Affairs.
        • This collection identifies the key issues, individuals, and events in the history of U.S.-Southeast Asia relations between 1944 and 1958, and places them in the context of the complex and dynamic regional strategic, political, and economic processes that have fashioned the American role in Southeast Asia.
      • U.S. and Iraqi Relations: U.S. Technical Aid, 1950-1958.
        • 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. This collection comprises, in its entirety, the Primary Source Media microfilm collection entitled Records of U.S. Foreign Assistance Agencies, 1948-1961: U.S. Operations Mission in Iraq, 1950-1958.
      • World War II, Occupation, and the Civil War in Greece, 1940-1949: Records of the U.S. State Department Classified Files.
        • The Axis occupation of Greece during World War II began in April 1941 after the German and Italian invasion of Greece was carried out together with Bulgarian forces. The occupation lasted until the German withdrawal from the mainland in October 1944. This collection comprises, in their entirety, the Scholarly Resources microfilm collections entitled Records of the Department of State Relating to Internal Affairs, Greece, 1940-1944; and Records of the Department of State Relating to Internal Affairs, Greece, 1945-1949.
    • Biography and Genealogy Master Index NARA Only
      • Comprehensive index to nearly 12 million biographical sketches in more than 2700 volumes.
         
    • Declassified Documents Reference System NARA Only
      • Provides online access to over 500,000 pages of previously classified government documents covering major international events from the Cold War to the Vietnam War and beyond.
         

     

    America: History & Life NARA Only
    This database offers access to:

    • Complete bibliographic reference to the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present.
    • 490,000 bibliographic entries for periodicals dating back to 1954.
    • Over 2,000 journals published worldwide.
    • Produced by ABC-CLIO.
    • Also includes access to ebooks history collection of thousands of titles on all aspects of US and world history.
    • Click on subscription access link to browse the database.

     

    Digital National Security Archive NARA Only
    The Digital National Security Archive contains 38 collections consisting of over 94,000 declassified government documents totaling more than 650,000 total pages.

    • Contains comprehensive set of declassified government documents.
    • Covers critical world events, countries, and U.S. policy decisions from post World War II through the 21st century.
    • Includes glossaries, chronologies, bibliographies, overviews, and photographs.
    • Documents available in PDF format.

     

    HeinOnline NARA Only

    • Offers full-text of various legal resources and law journals.
    • Includes the complete Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, and the United States Code.
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