Library guides: Primary sources for humanities: International Studies

Suggested starting point

International Studies at Monash is very broad ranging across political entities and time periods. Begin with searching the ProQuest historical newspaper databases for commentaries on events, countries, groups or individuals.

Another good starting point for International studies is the United Nations official documents (ODS) database containing parliamentary documents and official records of the United Nations and includes General Assembly, Security Council, and other Council resolutions from 1946, all UN parliamentary documents from 1992 and various UN daily journals and lists of documents.

International Studies primary sources

Access to archival databases (AAD)
AAD gives you online access to electronic records that are highly structured, such as in databases. The initial release of AAD contains material from more than 30 archival series of electronic records, which include over 350 data files totaling well over 50 million unique records. The series selected for AAD identify specific persons, geographic areas, organizations, or dates. Some of these series serve as indexes to accessioned archival records in non-electronic formats. AAD allows you to search for and retrieve specific records from selected series and data files over the Internet. It includes a link to search descriptions of NARA's non-electronic records through NARA's online catalogue, ARC.
Confidential print. Africa, 1834-1966
This database spans the full era of the modern European colonisation of Africa, from the occupation of Algeria by France, through increasing British presence on the west African coast and around the Cape of Good Hope in the south, the Berlin Conference which set off the 'Scramble for Africa', the high-water mark of economic exploitation of Africans in the Congo Free State, rivalries amongst European powers and the era of withdrawal that followed the Second World War.
Digital National Security Archive : the documents that made U.S. policy.
A comprehensive set of declassified government documents, the Digital National Security Archive now includes 31 collections consisting of over 80,000 indexed documents. Each of these collections, compiled by top scholars and experts, exhaustively covers the most critical world events, countries, and U.S. policy decisions from post World War II through the 21st century. Together, these collections offer unparalleled access to the defining international strategies of our time. Glossaries, chronologies, bibliographies, overviews, and photographs are included.
Documents online [WTO]
Provides access to the official documentation of the World Trade Organization (WTO), including the legal texts of the WTO agreements, from 1995 onwards, with daily updates. Also contains selected material for the period 1986-1994, principally Uruguay Round documents and a small number of GATT documents. Note: this database does not contain WTO publications.
Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) daily reports. Asia & Pacific, East Asia
Created by the U.S. intelligence community to benefit policy makers and analysts, FBIS Daily Reports offer foreign views and perspectives on historical events from thousands of monitored broadcasts and publications. Translated into English from more than 50 languages, these comprehensive media reports from around the globe include news, interviews, speeches and editorial commentary. Topics range from political, military and social issues, to economics, science and technology. This database covers: Asia and the Pacific, and East Asia, 1974-1996.

Foreign Office files for China, 1949-1980
Sources from the National Archives UK. Monash has access to: 1949-1956: The Communist revolution; 1957-1966: The Great Leap Forward; 1967-1980: The Cultural Revolution. Material includes British diplomatic dispatches, originating in both London and China, correspondence, both government and private, newspaper cuttings/transcriptions and translations of press reports, minutes of meetings, political, economic and military analyses, statistical tables, biographies of prominent figures, reports of visits, investigations, published booklets and leaflets, posters, propaganda and annual reports, detailing events in a territory.

Gale primary sources
Provides an interactive research environment that allows researchers to cross-search databases to which the institution subscribes. These databases include: Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO), Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO), The Making of the Modern World : the Goldsmiths'-Kress Library of Economic Literature, The Making of Modern Law : Legal Treatises, 1800-1926, and The Making of Modern Law : Foreign, Comparative and International Law, 1600-1926.
Historic government publications from World War II : a digital library.
Provides researchers with access to a large collection of digitised World War II publications, or historic documents, published by the United States government in support of the war effort, held by the Central University Libraries, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
International historical statistics
International Historical Statistics is a ... collection of statistical data from around the world, covering a wide range of socio-economic topics. The collection includes data on the Americas and Europe, but also hard-to-find data on Africa, Asia and Oceania ... This new release updates the last print edition of International Historical Statistics, which was published in 2007 in 3 volumes. It now includes 260 years of rich data, collected between 1750-2010 and available online for the first time. Users will find the ability to conduct statistical analysis across both time and geopolitical boundaries particularly valuable. Data tables can be downloaded as ePDFs and/or Excel files.

Internet Archive
Free online images, documents, books and primary sources.
Monash University Library image databases
Monash University Library subscribes to ARTstor which contains more than 1,000,000 digital images covering many time periods and cultures, and documents the fields of architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts. The Library also subscribes to Bridgeman Education, Oxford Art Online as well as numerous others. This resource is very useful for locating images from particular collections and time periods.

Confidential print, Middle East, 1839-1969
Covers Middle Eastern history from 1839-1969; countries included are: Afghanistan, Egypt, Sudan, Persia, Suez Canal, Turkey, Jordan, Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, and Syria. The series originated as a need for the British Government to preserve the most important papers generated by the Foreign and Colonial Offices. Some of these were one page letters or telegrams -- others were large volumes or texts of treaties. All items marked 'Confidential Print' were circulated to leading officials in the Foreign Office, to the Cabinet, and to heads of British missions abroad.
Sixties : primary documents and personal narratives 1960-1974.
The Sixties brings the 1960s alive through diaries, letters, autobiographies and other memoirs, written and oral histories, manifestos, government documents, memorabilia, and scholarly commentary ... Spanning 1960 to 1974, The Sixties is centered on key themes that provide insight into the issues that shaped America and that still resonate in today's debates: Arts, Music, and Leisure; Civil Rights; Counter-Culture; Environmental Movement; Gay and Lesbian Rights; Law and Government; Mass Media; New Left and Emerging Neo-Conservative Movement; Science and Technology; Student Activism; Vietnam War; and Women's Movement.
Testaments to the Holocaust
This digital resource offers the unique resources of the World's oldest Holocaust museum, including documents and rare printed materials from the Wiener Library, London. Alfred Wiener fled Germany in 1933 and established his collection in London. The collection offers fully searchable personal accounts of life in Nazi Germany, along with photographs, propaganda materials such as school text books, limited circulation publications and rare serials in a uniquely flexible format, enabling detailed research into the domestic policies of Nazi Germany, Jewish life in Germany from 1933 to after the war, propaganda, life in the concentration camps, in hiding, emigration and refugee life....
United Nations official documents : ODS.
ODS Online is a full-text database of parliamentary documents and official records of the United Nations available in the official languages of the UN (English, Spanish and French). Includes General Assembly, Security Council, and other Council resolutions from 1946, all UN parliamentary documents from 1992 and various UN daily journals and lists of documents. "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."
United Nations treaty collection = Collection des traites des Nations unies.
Includes all multilateral treaties deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations and, those formerly deposited with the League of Nations, their latest status and a link to the full texts. Also includes bilateral and multilateral treaties registered with and published by the United Nations Secretariat, detailed treaty references and full texts in all authentic language(s); and recently deposited multilateral treaties that have been deposited but not yet published.
Visual history archive
NOTE: VHA's system requirements: Windows Vista, 7, and 8 with Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 9 or above

The USC Shoah Foundation Institute's Visual History Archive provides access to over 50,600 video interviews conducted with survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust. These testimonies were collected in 56 countries and in 32 languages. The majority of the interviews are with Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. Political prisoners, Roma and Sinti (Gypsy) survivors, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and liberators, witnesses, rescuers, and aid providers also provided testimony.

World Bank publications and documents
Provides access to the World Bank's formal publications. Holds over 15,000 free, downloadable documents, including Operational documents (project documents, analytical and advisory work, and evaluations), formal and informal research papers, and most Bank publications. Also provides archival access to official records of the Bank's work from 1946 to the present, including country files, project files, correspondence, film, videos and photos. This site includes a link to the portal "Open Knowledge Repository".

World constitutions illustrated : contemporary & historical documents & resources
Contains the current constitution for every country, constitutional histories, texts on constitutional law, links to scholarly articles about constitutional development, and a bibliography of selected constitutional books. Browsable by country or resource.

African newspapers : from the World newspaper archive in partnership with the Center for Research Libraries.
African Newspapers, 1800-1922 provides more than 40 fully searchable African newspapers published in the 19th and 20th centuries. Featuring English- and foreign-language titles from Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe, African Newspapers offers unparalleled coverage of the issues and events that shaped the continent and its peoples between 1800 and 1922. This collection includes such key publications as the East African Standard, Mombasa Times & Uganda Argus (Kenya), Leselinyana la Lesutho (Lesotho), Central African Times (Malawi), Beira Post (Mozambique), Lagos Standard (Nigeria), Mafeking Mail and Protectorate Guardian (South Africa), Sierra Leone Weekly News (Sierra Leone), Uganda Herald (Uganda), Buluwayo Chronicle (Zimbabwe) and nearly two dozen others.
Gale NewsVault
Gale NewsVault delivers the definitive cross-searching experience for exploring Gale's range of historical newspaper and collections. Users can simultaneously search or browse across multiple products owned by their institution, including: 17th-18th century Burney Collection newspapers, and the historial archives of the Daily Mail [1896-2004], Economist [1843-2013], Listener [1929-1991] , Illustrated London News [1842-2003], Sunday Times [1822-2006], the Times [1785-2011], and the Times Literary Supplement [1902-2012].
Illustrated London news historical archive, 1842-2003
The Illustrated London News Historical Archive gives students and researchers unprecedented online access to the entire run of the ILN from its first publication on 14 May 1842 to its last in 2003. Each page has been digitally reproduced in full colour and every article and caption is full-text searchable with hit-term highlighting and links to corresponding illustrations.
Pravda digital archive : 1912 - 2009
Pravda ("Truth") was the official voice of Soviet communism and the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1918 and 1991. Founded in 1912 in St. Petersburg, Pravda originated as an underground daily workers newspaper, and it soon became the main newspaper of the revolutionary wing of the Russian socialist movement. Throughout the Soviet era, party members were obligated to read Pravda. Today, Pravda still remains the official organ of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, an important political faction in contemporary Russian politics.

ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Complete set of 10 archives.

ProQuest historical newspapers. New York Times (1851-2014)
Includes full page images and article images from the New York Daily Times (1851 to 1857) and the New York Times from its first issue in 1857 to 2014. The collection includes digital reproductions of every page from every issue, cover to cover, in downloadable PDF files.The database covers a span of issues currently not covered by any other electronic resource.
ProQuest historical newspapers. The Guardian and The Observer (1791-2003)
The Guardian (1821-2003) and The Observer (1791-2003) offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue. Coverage includes all titles of these newspapers. Observer (London, England) (1791- ) and The Manchester guardian and British volunteer (1925-1828), Manchester guardian (Manchester, England : 1828) (1828-1959), Guardian (Manchester, England) (1959- ).
ProQuest historical newspapers. The Washington Post (1877-2002)
The Washington Post (1877-2002) offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue. Individual issues can be selected or the complete range can be searched by subjects, companies, people, products, and geographic areas.

Each issue of every newspaper is indexed thoroughly, not only top news stories but also detailed information on the arts, sports, business, and popular culture. Items such as editorials, editorial cartoons, obituaries, and letters to the editor from well-known people are indexed. An abstract is provided for each article cited in the database.
ProQuest historical newspapers. Times of India (1838-2010)
The Times of India (1838-2010) offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue for the following titles: The Bombay times and journal of commerce (1839-1859), The Bombay times and standard (1860-1861), and The times of India (1861-current).
South Asian newspapers
"South Asian Newspapers features titles published in India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Languages include English, Bengali, Gujarati, and others. Titles include such key publications as: Amrita Bazar Patrika (Calcutta), Bankura Darpana (Bankura, India), Madras Mail (Madras), Tribune (Lahore, Pakistan) and the Ceylon Observer (Sri Lanka) .. The collection will provide more than 400,000 fully searchable pages of newspapers published in South Asia between 1864 and 1922."--Center for Research Libraries.
Times digital archive, 1785-2012
Includes full page images and articles from The Times (London, England) and its predecessor, the Daily Universal Register, from its first issue in 1785 to 2012. The archive also includes digital reproductions in downloadable PDF files. Keyword searching and hit-term highlighting can be used to retrieve full facsimile images of either a specific article or a complete page. The entire newspaper is captured, with all articles, advertisements and illustrations/photos divided into categories to facilitate searching.

America's Historical Newspapers

For more titles look at the Newspapers library guide

Cold War international history project
Includes scans and translations of Cold War documents.From the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
EuroDocs
European primary historical documents that are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile, or translated and which focus on key historical happenings within the respective countries and within the broadest sense of political, economic, social and cultural history.
Smithsonian Libraries - Library and archival exhibitions on the web
Online exhibitions that have been created by libraries, archives, and historical societies, as well as to museum online exhibitions with a significant focus on library and archival materials. The scope is international and multi-lingual.
The Vietnam Centre and Archive
Site dedicated to support and encourage research and education regarding all aspects of the American Vietnam experience; promoting a greater understanding of this experience and the peoples and cultures of Southeast Asia. Posts millions of documents, images and other materials such as results of the Oral History Project.
Wikileaks
Clearinghouse of classified diplomatic cables and other secret documents obtained by the organization and posted on the web. There is no search engine that allows full-text searching of the documents, but materials can be searched by date, country, or originating embassy or government entity. Useful for more recent information.