Research Guides: HIST 3000W: The History Workshop: World Government: History, Debates, Prospects: Primary Sources

Primary Sources

United Nations Treaty Collection This link opens in a new window
All multilateral treaties deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations and those formerly deposited with the League of Nations. Bilateral and multilateral treaties registered with and published by the UN Secretariat. Detailed treaty references and full texts are available in all authentic languages.
Official Documents Systems (ODS) of the United Nations This link opens in a new window
Multilingual database containing full text of United Nations official documentation from 1993, with older publications added continuously. Includes full text of resolutions of the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, and the Trusteeship Council from 1946, as well as selective United Nations administrative issuances. The system does not contain press releases, UN sales publications, the United Nations Treaty Series or information brochures issued by the Department of Public Information. Documents are stored in portable document format (PDF).
Coverage: 1993 to present.
Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy This link opens in a new window
Digital documents, including ebooks, relevant to the fields of law, history, economics, politics, diplomacy and government.
Coverage: Covers ancient times (BCE) to the present.
HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive legal research database. Extensive coverage of law reviews and historical access to resources such as the Federal Register, the Code of Federal Regulations, and US Supreme Court decisions. Legislative history and select foreign and international materials. Contains specialized libraries: intellectual property, taxation and economic reform, etc.
Vendor Tutorials: Training videos are available to show you how to use select Hein Online libraries - http://heinonline.org/wiki/index.php/HeinOnline:Videos
Making of Modern Law: Foreign Primary Sources, 1600-1970 This link opens in a new window
Historical legal codes, statutes, regulations, and commentaries on codes from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and other countries in northern Europe. Crucial sources of historical statutes and regulations for the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
Archives Unbound This link opens in a new window
Coverage of US and global primary sources from 19th and 20th centuries.
Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
Newspapers, books, manuscripts, maps, and photographs. Simultaneously search: 17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers, 19th Century U.S. Newspapers, Sunday Times (London), Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO), Making of the Modern World, Times Literary Supplement, and Times Digital Archive, Financial Times (London).
History Vault This link opens in a new window
Digitized letters, papers, photographs, scrapbooks, financial records, diaries, and other primary source materials.

• American Indians and the American West
• American Politics and Society
• Civil Rights and the Black Freedom Struggle
• International Relations and Military Conflicts
• Southern Life, Slavery, and the Civil War
• Women's Studies
• Workers and Labor Unions
Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports This link opens in a new window
FBIS Daily Reports issued by the U.S. Government, includes translations of broadcasts, news agency transmissions, newspapers, periodicals, and government statements from nations around the world. Current coverage includes 1941-1996.
Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), 1945-80 (US Department of State) This link opens in a new window
Official documentary historical record of major US foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity.
Coverage: 1945-80.

NATO Archives
Archives of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Proquest Congressional Publications This link opens in a new window
U.S. Congressional materials (hearings, bills, Congressional Record and compiled legislative histories) and Executive Branch documents.
Coverage: index:1970 to present; full text: coverage varies. Vendor Tutorials: Training videos - http://help.lexisnexis.com/tabula-rasa/congressional/trainingvideos_ref-reference?lbu=US&locale=en_US&audience=all
U.K. Parliamentary Papers This link opens in a new window
Historical and current working documents from the House of Commons and the House of Lords, including papers, debates, journals, bills, and acts. Also included are command papers, Hansard (Official Report of debates), and public petitions to Parliament.
Coverage: 1688-present. Vendor Tutorials: https://proquest.libguides.com/parliamentary

Academic Video Online This link opens in a new window
Documentaries, interviews, performances, news programs and newsreels, field recordings, commercials, raw footage, and thousands of award-winning films.
Docuseek2 This link opens in a new window
Streaming access to documentary and social issue films from a variety of distributors, including Bullfrog, Collective Eye, and Icarus Films.
Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies This link opens in a new window
Collection of interviews with Holocaust survivors and witnesses that detail a wide range of experiences, including imprisonment in concentration camps, living in hiding, fighting with partisans or the resistance, rescuing and protecting those targeted by Nazi persecution, and escape to Allied or neutral countries.

First time users must register for an account then search for and request access to an initial testimony. You only need to request access to one testimony to obtain viewing rights for the entire collection. To view testimonies, users must start from a library authenticated URL (http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/eres?id=1696) and login to their personal account. Detailed instructions for access can be found at http://fortunoff.library.yale.edu/archive/search.
Kanopy This link opens in a new window
On-demand streaming video service for documentaries, training films, and theatrical releases. Films under a current license agreement are available for immediate viewing. Other films may require a request through the Kanopy site. Viewing films in a group forum is permitted as long as the viewing is by Vanderbilt authorized viewers only (current faculty, staff, or students) and it is not for commercial benefit (i.e. no admission costs are charged and no profit is made from the screening).
Socialism on Film This link opens in a new window
This collection of films from the communist world reveals war, history, current affairs, culture and society as seen through the socialist lens. It spans most of the twentieth century and covers countries such as the USSR, Vietnam, China, Korea, much of Eastern Europe, the GDR, Britain and Cuba.
Visual History Archive (USC Shoah Foundation) This link opens in a new window
Streaming video collection of primary source testimonies of survivors and witnesses of crimes against humanity.

HathiTrust This link opens in a new window
Digitized collections of some of the nation’s great research libraries, established in this repository to archive and share their digital content.
Access Note: VU is a partner institution. Login is required for downloading. Vendor Tutorials: http://researchguides.library.vanderbilt.edu/HathiTrust