Research Guides: History Resources: South & Southeast Asia

South & Southeast Asia: Primary Sources

South Asia Sources

East India Company This link opens in a new window
Executive papers and factory records of the East India Company charts the history of British trade with the East, politics, and the rise and fall of the British Empire.
Coverage: 1595 to 1947.
Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan This link opens in a new window
British diplomatic dispatches and files covering the high politics of Independence and Partition, social and cultural interchange after 1947, and the ramifications that these changes continue to have throughout South Asia today.
Coverage: 1947-1980.
India, Raj and Empire This link opens in a new window
Explore the history of South Asia and the relationship between Britain and India through primary source materials ranging from the papers of key East India Company representatives and colonial officials to records of daily life in Agra, Bombay, Lahore, and Madras.
Coverage: 17th - 19th century.
South Asia Commons: History and Culture This link opens in a new window
Full-text repository, search engine and preservation tool for openly available books, magazines, reports, historical journals, video, audio, zines, newspapers, letters, diaries and other primary sources.
Empire Online This link opens in a new window
Manuscript, printed, and visual primary source materials for the study of 'Empire' and its theories, practices and consequences, predominantly from the British Library. Secondary resources include scholarly essays, maps and an interactive chronology.
EIU: Economist Intelligence Unit Country Reports Archive This link opens in a new window
Covering almost 200 countries, each report presents detailed statistics alongside expert commentary and forecasting from the EIU’s analysts. This database presents the historical reports up to 1995, with all data from the statistical tables fully captured and downloadable in spreadsheet form. It is a unique archive of analysis and explanation of political, economic and commercial developments, together with historical statistical data.
Global Commodities: Trade, Exploration and Cultural Exchange This link opens in a new window
Visual, manuscript, and printed materials explore the history of fifteen key commodities that have been transported and consumed around the world for hundreds of years, transforming societies, global trading operations, habits of consumption, and cultural practices.
Coverage: 18th - 20th century.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Large and important archive for academic journals, books, and primary sources in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Many journals do not have current issues.

Southeast Asia Sources

Foreign Office files for South East Asia, 1963-1980 This link opens in a new window
Primary source documents that offer insight into the political and economic challenges faced during this period as the region moved towards industrialization and establishing the foundations for economic growth.
Archives Unbound This link opens in a new window
South and Southeast Asia related collections included.
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.
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
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.