Primary Sources - by Subject

European primary historical documents, including video and sound files, maps, photographs or other imagery, databases, and documentation.

Access massive amount of digital representations of Art, Fashion, photography, History, Maps migrations, Natural History, Sports, and more.

From the European University Institute

Photographs from European news agencies between 1900 and the 1990s

Database of books published in Europe from the beginning of print to the end of the 16th century

Primary and secondary history sources and teaching materials. From the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media.

Official record of major US foreign policy decisions that have been declassified. Produced by the State Department's Office of the Historian. Search within the volumes or by administration.

From the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (George Mason University)

Collections on Communism and the Cold War from Central European University

Radio broadcasts to Eastern Europe and the Soviet bloc

From New York Public Library

Photographs of daily life in the Soviety Union from 1919-21 and 1930

Declassified historically significant documents from the Central Intelligence Agency.

Declassified materials from the Central Intelligence Agency

Primary sources organized by time period

Transcripts from interviews with refugees from the USSR during the early years of the Cold War

Photographs, diaries, travel notes, and maps from the W.O. Field Collection of American Geographicaly Society Library

Includes a digital library and online exhibitions.

Reports on the former Soviety Union, created by the CIA's Directorate of Intelligence during 1951-1991

Photographic surveys of the Russian Empire from 1905-1915 from photographer Prokudin-Gorskii

From 1950-2005

Family albums documenting the final years of the Russian Imperial dynasty

Materials starting from the mid-19th century Russian legations in the German states through the development of the Soviet Union and independent states since 1991

Primarily Soviet Red Army topographic maps created for defense and economic planning

Satirical journals from revolutionary tumult of 1905-1907

Photos from 1926-1995

Images of photographs, posters, paintings, banners, sculptures, and more related to Stalin and Stalinism

The Avalon Project is provided by Lillian Goldman Law Library at Yale Law School. This collection contains law, history, and diplomacy documents pertaining to the Cold War.

Declassified historically significant documents from the Central Intelligence Agency.

Declassified materials from the Central Intelligence Agency

Not every link takes you to a primary source but many do. The site is maintained on a server at Mt. Holyoke College.

Historical materials from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Oral histories from people affected by the Nevada Test Site during the Cold War

Hundreds of interviews from the PBS series of the same name

Cold War-related collections in the Wilson Center Digital Archive. Collections are organized to present the Cold War era through a variety of aspects, which is helpful as you attempt to deal with the very disparate subjects and issues that were part of the era.