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US History Free Primary Sources

This is a guide with links to digital primary sources, mainly archives and other organizational collections.

General

National Security Archive

Hosted by George Washington University, this archive was established in 1985 and makes use of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to make declassified government documents available to the public.

National Security Internet Archive

Focuses on files collected from That 1 Archive, MuckRock, NARA, the National Security Archive at GWU, Hood College, the Black Vault, the Government Attic, Paperless Archives, Ernie Lazar, the International Center for 9/11 Studies as well as various other historians, collectors and activists.

The Nixon Tapes: Audio and Transcripts

This archive has the most complete, digital collection of the Nixon tapes in existence, which includes approximately 2,950 hours of the nearly 3,000 hours of tapes currently declassified, as well as transcriptions of many of these conversations. 

Intelligence Agencies

CIA Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room

Access reports from the CIA, made available under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).


FBI Records: The Vault

The Vault is the new Freedom of Information (FOIA) Library, containing 6700 documents and other media that have been scanned from paper into digital copies.


National Security Agency/Central Security Service: Historical Releases

Collections of historical documents declassified by the National Security Agency. Mainly mid-20th century topics, including Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam War.

Terrorism

Our Marathon: The Boston Bombing Digital Archive

Our Marathon is a crowdsourced archive of pictures, videos, stories, and even social media related to the Boston Marathon; the bombing on April 15, 2013; the subsequent search, capture, and trial of the individuals who planted the bombs; and the city’s healing process.


September 11 Digital Archive

"The Archive contains more than 150,000 digital items, a tally that includes more than 40,000 emails and other electronic communications, more than 40,000 first-hand stories, and more than 15,000 digital images."