Library Guides: Historical Primary Sources: United States: Primary Sources: 20th c.

20th Century

Ad*Access Project
Images and information for advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines. Concentrates on five main subject areas: Radio, Television, Transportation, Beauty and Hygiene, and World War II.
Images and information for over 7,000 advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955. Ad*Access concentrates on five main subject areas: Radio, Television, Transportation, Beauty and Hygiene, and World War II, providing a view of a number of major campaigns and companies through images preserved in one particular advertising collection available at Duke University.
American Civil Liberties Union Papers, 1912-1990
The digital archive of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), covering 1912-1990.
For most of the twentieth century the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was the principal defender of the rights that citizens can assert against government. Its a leader in the defense of the freedoms of speech and press, the separation of church and state, the free exercise of religion, due process of law, equal protection of the law, and the privacy rights of all citizens. Scholars and students of 20th Century American social history and politics will find this archive of special interest because of its focus on civil rights, civil liberties, race, gender, and issues relating to the U.S. Supreme Court.

American Decades Primary Sources
Call Number: E169.1 .A471977 2004 Doe Reference Reference Hall (and online)

Publication Date: 2004

Each Primary Sources volume covers a decade in American history corresponding to an American Decades volume.

American Social Health Association Records 1905-1990
The records chronicle the American Social Health (originally "Hygiene") Association's efforts to control and prevent venereal disease, prostitution, and drug addiction through educational, legal, and medical measures
Americans for Democratic Action Records, 1932-1999 (HV)
Covers the activities of Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), a liberal political organization involved in civil rights, economic reform, and labor policy advocacy. Documents include meeting records, correspondence, and policy papers on issues such as desegregation, union support, and economic equality. The collection reflects the ADA's influence on mid-20th-century progressive politics.

Archives of the settlement movement. The archives of the National Federation of Settlements and successors, c. 1899-1958 [microfilm]
Call Number: MICROFILM.78000 Newspapers & Microforms

The settlement movement established houses in poor urban areas where middle-class workers would live, providing services such as daycare, education, and healthcare to the community. This collection consists of the records of the National Federation of Settlements, predating its official formation in 1911 and continuing through 1958.

Environmental History: Conservation and Public Policy in America, 1870-1980
Primary sources that document the role of government agencies, conservation organizations and individual actors who pioneered the study of the natural environment and campaigned for its protection. UCB access only.
The sources in this database document the different aspects of conservation and environmental public policy in North America in the modern era. Researchers can explore unique primary sources that trace the evolution of land rights, resource usage, trade rules, and environmental protections that mark the beginning of the modern conservation movement. Scholars will find the papers of pioneering conservationists such as George Bird Grinnell and Joseph Trimble Rothrock, alongside material from government agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Reclamation who have formed and conserved national parks, forests and dams across North America, shaping the landscape it is today.
Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports
The Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Report includes radio and television broadcasts, newspapers and periodicals, government statements, books, and other sources of unrestricted information such as databases and gray literature from non-English sources around the world. The original mission of the FBIS was to monitor, record, transcribe and translate intercepted radio broadcasts from foreign governments, official news services, and clandestine broadcasts from occupied territories. [1941 - 1996]
Information from thousands of foreign media sources, including political speeches, television and radio broadcasts, newspapers, periodicals, and more, offering an extensive collection of military, political, scientific and technical reports from countries around the world, translated into English. The original mission of the FBIS was to monitor, record, transcribe and translate intercepted radio broadcasts from foreign governments, official news services, and clandestine broadcasts from occupied territories. Coverage is global with the exception of the FBIS Annexes (a supplementary publication created by the U.S. intelligence community to benefit analysts and policy makers from April 1974 through September 1996) and Western European regional broadcasts.

HEARTH Home Economics Archive
A "core electronic collection of books and journals in Home Economics and related disciplines. Titles published between 1850 and 1950 were selected and ranked by teams of scholars for their great historical importance."

Market Research and American Business, 1935-1965
Provides insight into the American consumer boom of the mid-20th century through the complete market research reports of Ernest Dichter, the era's foremost consumer analyst and widely-recognised "father" of Motivational Research.
Includes thousands of reports commissioned by advertising agencies and global businesses in a booming era for consumerism. The documents of Ernest Dichter and his Institute for Motivational Research include extensive qualitative investigations into consumer behavior and motivation. Hundreds of advertising images are available in the Ad Gallery. Supplementary material includes a searchable interactive chronology of events in the history of American consumerism and essays and other resources that provide a deeper insight into Dichter and the world of market research. Formerly titled "American Consumer Culture."

Hollywood, Censorship, and the Motion Picture Production Code, 1927-1968
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Production Code Administration Files collection documents forty years of self-regulation and censorship in the motion picture industry. [1927-1968]

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"The Production Code was written in 1929 by Martin J. Quigley, an influential editor and publisher of motion picture trade periodicals, and Reverend Daniel A. Lord, a Jesuit advisor to Hollywood filmmakers. Officially accepted in 1930 by the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA), the precursor organization to the MPAA, the Production Code presented guidelines governing American movie production. The five hundred titles selected were chosen by the staff of the library’s Special Collections Department, with advice from film historian Leonard J. Leff.
Source Library: Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, California. "
Media History Digital Library
Open-access collection of fully digitized and searchable trade publications, fan and technical magazines, and other out-of-copyright materials relating to the development of mass media.
National Park Service History eLibrary
Site created by Randall Payne and Dr. Harry A. Butowsky, a former NPS employee. Includes digitized books, periodicals, brochures, and reports produced by the Park Service.

Political Extremism and Radicalism
The Library has access to the first module: Far-Right and Left Political Groups in the U.S., Europe, and Australia in the Twentieth Century

PRISM: Political & Rights Issues & Social Movements
Composed of materials focusing on a wide range of political and rights issues and social movements which provide insight into the prevailing leftist and liberal views of the times from countries all around the world; from the United States to Korea and India to Canada.

Sex & Sexuality
Includes research collections from the Kinsey Institute Library & Special Collections and resources sourced from the US, UK and Australia that focus on individual stories and experiences.
The collection makes available papers from ground-breaking sexologists; official records of pressure groups and community organizations; diaries, correspondence and photographs charting the relationships and lived experiences of individuals; as well as erotic fiction, ephemeral materials, objects, videos, public service announcements, legal and government documents, and more.

Social Welfare History Project
An extensive guide of resources illuminating the history of social reform and social welfare services in the United States. Provides information about key individuals, organizations, programs, and contains a wide range of primary sources.

20th Century: Pre WWII

Alcohol, Temperance and Prohibition
Includes broadsides, sheet music, pamphlets and government publications from the Brown University collections.
The American Influenza Epidemic of 1918-1919: A Digital Encyclopedia
Builds on an initial study undertaken to understand how various American cities responded to the Influenza epidemic. Includes an anthology of essays about the cities, additional secondary sources, and thousands of historical documents.
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940
2,900 life histories describe the informant's family education, income, occupation, political views, and more

Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920
Advertising items and publications illustrating the rise of consumer culture and the birth of a professionalized advertising industry in the United States.
Over 9,000 images, with database information, relating to the early history of advertising in the United States. The materials is drawn from the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke University.
Emma Goldman Papers
Collection of tens of thousands of documents (including books, newspaper articles and third party accounts, essays and pamphlets, and speeches) by and about Emma Goldman. [1910 - 1940]
Emma Goldman, influential anarchist and early feminist who advocated free speech, birth control, women's equality and union organization.

Great Depression Interviews
Videos and transcripts of interviews gathered for program The Great Depression.

Legal Treatises, 1800-1926
A collection of 19th and 20th century legal treatises, casebooks, local practice manuals, form books, pamphlets, letters, speeches, and other historical legal works, covering a wide range of topics of US and British law. Includes approximately 10 million pages and more than 21,000 works. [1800 - 1926]. Access courtesy of the Law Library.
A collection of 19th and 20th century legal treatises, casebooks, local practice manuals, form books, pamphlets, letters, speeches, and other historical legal works, covering a wide range of topics of US and British law. Includes approximately 10 million pages and over 21,000 works.

McKinley Assassination Ink: A Documentary History
Transcriptions of articles, essays, editorials dealing with the McKinley assassination in 1901
Progressive Era: Robert M. La Follette Papers (1879-1924) (HV)
Documents the career of Robert M. La Follette, a progressive politician and advocate for labor rights, government accountability, and anti-monopoly reforms. The collection includes speeches, correspondence, and legislative records, highlighting his influence on Progressive Era politics.
Prosperity and Thrift: The Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy, 1921-1929
Includes a wide array of Library of Congress source materials from the 1920s that document the widespread prosperity of the Coolidge years, the nation's transition to a mass consumer economy, and the role of government in this transition
What America Ate: Preserving America's Culinary History from the Great Depression
Includes materials from the Depression-era jobs creation program that sent writers and photographers across the country to chronicle American eating by region. The archive also includes digitized community cookbooks and advertisements, pamphlets, recipe leaflets and food packaging materials.
William H. Anderson and the Anti-Saloon League Papers 1903-1928
Correspondence, press releases, speeches, and reports related to Anderson's work with the Anti-Saloon League and the League's relations with John D. Rockefeller and the Black Belt Farms Company.

20th Century: Post WWII

1980s Culture and Society
Grassroots materials produced by left-wing organizations and under-represented groups are presented alongside government records and mainstream media to showcase the key social, cultural, and political concerns of the decade. Materials are sourced from archival collections housed across the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.

AdViews
The AdViews digital collection provides access to thousands of historic commercials created for clients or acquired by the D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles (DMB&B) advertising agency or its predecessor during the 1950s - 1980s.

Amnesty International Archives
Explore the growth of the human rights movement during the second half of the twentieth century through the International Secretariat records of Amnesty International. 1961 - 1991
"This collection covers a wide range of human rights concerns and issues including:
Activism and Campaigning, Global Politics, Mass Atrocities, Migrants and Refugees, Minority Rights, Mistreatment and Disappearances, Political Prisoners and Prisoners of Conscience (POCs), Structure and Administration of Amnesty International, Torture and Death Penalty."

FBI Vault - Anti-War movement
Investigative files from the Vietnam era relating to the antiwar movement, including files on Mario Savio, Abbie Hoffman, Howard Zinn, and Edward Abbey.
Food Mission Diaries of Hugh Gibson, 1946 and 1947
After the famine of 1946, Hugh Gibson accompanied Herbert Hoover to evaluate needs, identify surpluses, and quickly move food from one region to another. His daily record "provides a dizzying cross-section of the world just one year after the war ended."
The Freedom Archives
The Freedom Archives contains over 10,000 hours of audio and video tapes which date from the late-1960s to the mid-90s and chronicle the progressive history of the Bay Area, the United States, and international movements.
Kent State Shootings: Digital Archive
Audio recordings, photographs, artworks, and thousands of documents from the May 4 Collection that have been put into digital format.

The Nixon Years, 1969-1974
The complete UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) 7 and 82 files for the entire period of Richard Nixon's presidency.
Top-level Anglo-American discussions and briefing papers dominate these papers. There is also a wealth of material on social conditions, domestic reforms, trade, culture and the environment. Includes strong primary source coverage of US policy decisions by the FCO and the British embassy in Washington; White House staff appointments and UN discussions; views on Europe; the deployment of F-111 aircraft on US airbases in the UK and Nixon's battles over funding from Congress; visits to the US by Harold Wilson and Edward Heath; and the internal situation in the US and domestic reform.

Occupy Archive
A collection of digitized Occupy Movement materials and ephemera collected from 2011-2018
Parallel History Project on Cooperative Security
Focuses on the security dimensions of the Cold War and its implications for today's world, including prominently mutual threat perceptions, military planning, and the management of NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975
A collection of original archival material from libraries in Britain and America covering issues such as youth culture, student protest movements, civil rights, women's rights, the Vietnam War, and nuclear disarmament. [1950 -1975]
A collection of original archival material from libraries in Britain and America covering issues such as youth culture, student protest movements, civil rights, women's rights, the Vietnam War, nuclear disarmament and popular culture in Britain and America from 1950 to 1975.
Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives
Digitized archive of primary documents of key events, trends, and movements in 1960s America. Includes letters, diaries, oral histories, posters, broadsides, pamphlets, advertisements, and rare audio and video materials. [1960 - 1974]
Documents the key events, trends, and movements in 1960s America. Includes 70,000 pages of letters, diaries, and oral histories; more than 30,000 pages of posters, broadsides, pamphlets, advertisements, and rare audio and video materials. Enhanced by dozens of scholarly document projects, featuring annotated primary-source content that is analyzed and contextualized through interpretive essays by historians.
Student Activism
The primary sources are broad-based across time, geography, and political viewpoint from the conservative to the anarchist.

Students for a Democratic Society, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and the Anti-Vietnam War Movement (1958-1981) (HV)
Covers the activities of key anti-war groups, focusing on their strategies, protests, and internal dynamics. Documents include meeting minutes, pamphlets, and personal correspondence, shedding light on the broader peace movement and its impact on public opinion during the Vietnam War.
Wilson Center Digital Archive
Collects the research of three Wilson Center projects which focus on the interrelated histories of the Cold War, Korea, and Nuclear Proliferation. Contains documents from governments across the globe.

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Historical Primary Sources: United States: Primary Sources: 20th c.

20th Century

20th Century: Pre WWII

20th Century: Post WWII