OBIS
Subjects that are useful for finding primary sources related to World War II:
- World War, 1939-1945
- Personal narrative
- Sources
- Correspondence
- Archives
- Interviews
- Photographs
- Newspapers
Digital Primary Source Collections
Tips for searching primary source collections:
- Think about the language of sources you hope to find. What are keywords for your topic from that language?
- How did people refer to events at the time? For example, some contemporary news sources called "World War II" simply "the war," while it was ongoing.
- Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new windowTopically focused collections of historical documents. Includes the collection "Conditions & Politics in Occupied Western Europe, 1940-1945."
- Die Reichstagsprotokolle 1918-1942Session Proceedings of the Reichstag from the Treaty of Versailles to the begin of World War II:
A digitization project of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
(1919-1939; German transcriptions)
NB: Protokolle des Reichstags (1867-1895) are also available.
- Digital National Security Archive This link opens in a new windowCollections of declassified government documents covering world events, countries, and U.S. policy decisions from 20th and 21st centuries.
- Eastview Universal Databases This link opens in a new windowFull-text of Russian newspapers and English-language sources. Current Digest of the Chinese Press and Current Digest of the Russian Press.
- Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports (1941-1996) This link opens in a new windowTranscripts of foreign broadcasts and news translated into English; features stories selected by U.S. intelligence agencies for the use of policymakers.
- Legasee: The Veterans Video Archive70 remarkable interviews with men and women who played vital roles in the clandestine operations of WWII, including in occupied continental countries.
- Library of Congress: Foreign Affairs Oral HistoriesOral history archives of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST). These transcripts present a window into the lives of U.S. diplomats and the major diplomatic crisis and issues that the United States faced during the second half of the 20th century and the early part of the 21st. Most of the interviews involve post-World War II diplomacy, from the late 1940s to the present day.
- Library of Congress: Hannah Ardent PapersAdolf Eichmann File, 1938-1968
- Los Angeles Times (1881-1996) This link opens in a new windowSearch for keywords or browse images of complete pages by date.
- Japan Times (1897-2019) This link opens in a new windowFull text of all issues of this historically important newspaper covering the years 1897-2015. Japan Times is Japan's oldest English-language newspaper and the country's only independent English-language newspaper today.
- New York Times (1851-2018) This link opens in a new windowSearch by keywords or browse images of full pages by date.
- OhioLINK Library Catalog This link opens in a new windowOhioLINK Library Catalog is a combined catalog of over 7.8 million books and other library materials from many of Ohio's universities, colleges, community colleges and the State Library of Ohio. OhioLINK's design allows you to transfer a search from your local library catalog to the OhioLINK combined catalog with the touch of a button. The OhioLINK catalog provides immediate access to the library holdings of the whole system, including current availability status. Requested books and other materials are delivered to your library within a few days. Catalog entries for electronic books and journals link directly to those resources.
- Recollections of World War IIIn the United Kingdom, thousands of people have recorded their memories of the War. Recollections of WWII aims promote their stories through providing researchers with a unique directory of oral history collections relating to the Second World War.
- World War II NewsmapsThe U.S. War Department published Newsmaps throughout the second World War. During most of the war, Newsmaps typically featured maps of the world and of local areas seeing fighting, brief summaries of military action during the week, and photographs of troops and material.
- World War II: The People's War (BBC)47,000 pieces of written testimony about individual's experiences in World War II. To find information about a particular topic or person not addressed in the subject categorizations available on the website, use google advanced search to search your keyword and site:http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories
- Zasshi kiji sakuin shusei detabesu This link opens in a new windowComplete database for Japanese magazines and periodicals from the Meiji era to the present. Index to periodical articles published in Japanese, including those in former Japanese colonies, and local periodicals not present in many other indexes. Coverage is from 1868 onwards.
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