Research Guides: History 365: Vietnam War: Find Primary Sources

Primary Source Collections

AM Explorer This link opens in a new window
AM Explorer contains hundreds of thousands of primary source documents from 88 unique collections. Themes include area studies, cultural studies, empire and globalism, ethnic studies, gender and sexuality, history, politics, literature, theatre, war and conflict. Content ranges from medieval times to the present.

The Avalon Project
A project of the Yale Law School’s Lillian Goodman Law Library, The Avalon Project collects primary sources in law, history and diplomacy ranging from 400 B.C.E. to the present day. The section on Indochina spans from 1950 to 1964, ending with President Lyndon Johnson’s reaction to the Gulf of Tonkin incident, and thus provides an intriguing narrative of the run up to war told in diplomatic cables, government statements, and presidential addresses. Unfortunately, the documents are provided without any context, making the site difficult to use for less experienced researchers.
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A project of the Yale Law School’s Lillian Goodman Law Library, The Avalon Project collects primary sources in law, history and diplomacy ranging from 400 B.C.E. to the present day. The section on Indochina spans from 1950 to 1964, ending with President Lyndon Johnson’s reaction to the Gulf of Tonkin incident, and thus provides an intriguing narrative of the run up to war told in diplomatic cables, government statements, and presidential addresses. Unfortunately, the documents are provided without any context, making the site difficult to use for less experienced researchers.
Internet Modern History Sourcebook
The Internet History Sourcebooks Project of Fordham University is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts presented cleanly (without advertising or excessive layout) for educational use. Includes a collection on the "Vietnam War".
Virtual Vietnam Archive
Texas Tech University’s Vietnam Center and Archive is the largest online source for information on the Vietnam War. Browse through digitized collections and oral histories.

Fold3 This link opens in a new window
Historical documents collections, most never before available before on the Internet, relating to the Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI, WWII, U S Presidents, historical newspapers and naturalization documents.

Military Resources: Vietnam War
From the National Archives and Records Association. Includes a listing of archival collections pertaining to military operations in Vietnam.

Digital National Security Archive This link opens in a new window
Collections of declassified government documents covering U.S. policy toward critical world events - including their military, intelligence, diplomatic and human rights dimensions - from 1945 to the present.
ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Abstracts and indexing for congressional publications, legislative histories, member biographies, committee assignments, voting records, and financial data; and the full text of key regulatory and statutory resources. Full-text access to House and Senate Unpublished Hearings Parts A, B, & C.
U.S. Declassified Documents Online This link opens in a new window
The most comprehensive compilation of declassified documents from the executive branch. The types of materials include intelligence studies, policy papers, diplomatic correspondence, cabinet meeting minutes, briefing materials, and domestic surveillance and military reports.

Gulf of Tonkin: NSA Documents
Declassified documents related to the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964. (National Security Agency, NSA)

Antiwar and Radical History Project
From the University of Washington, this site seeks to provide an overview of antiwar activities from around the Pacific Northwest. In doing so, the site gives us a history from World War I to the present. The section on the Vietnam War is further broken down into four sections: student activism, draft resistance, scanned photos and documents, and antiwar voices from within the military.
FBI Files on the Antiwar Movement
During the Vietnam War, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) acted as a kind of secret police: spying on antiwar activists and other dissidents, compiling dossiers, and engaging in what some might call “dirty tricks” to disrupt their organizations. Today the FBI’s website makes some of its investigative files from that era available to the public, including thousands of pages relating to the antiwar movement. Here users can search subcollections of files on famous personalities (such as historian Howard Zinn) and prominent antiwar organizations (like the Quaker-based American Friends Service Committee).
Vietnam War Ephemera Collection.
art of the University of Washington Libraries’ digital collections, this site collects leaflets and newspapers that were distributed on campus by the Students for a Democratic Society in the 1960s and 1970s. Users may search through a large collection of scanned documents related to the antiwar movement, as well as other hot social issues of the time. All of the scans are high-quality.

Veterans History Project
The Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war. (Library of Congress)
The Rutgers Oral History Archives
This site is contributed to by Rutgers graduates who served in Vietnam. All four branches of the military are presented, and interviews may be downloaded in HTML or PDF format. Select "Vietnam War" under the Conflict menu tab on the right-hand side.
Vietnam Era Oral History Project
A project of Utah Valley University, this site contains 20 interviews with Vietnam veterans. Most of the interviews were conducted in 2010. Although the interviews were videotaped, only excerpts are provided, but full interviews are available in audio and transcript format.

For more oral history collections search: Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives as a subject heading in the WVU Library catalog.

West Virginia University, Student Anti-War Movement, Records
Materials concerning West Virginia University student activities in opposition to the Vietnam War in 1969 and 1970. Includes announcements of meetings and demonstrations, campus newsletters, anti-war literature, and publicity of other student concerns.
Scott Bills, Student, Activist Records
Records regarding political activities of West Virginia University (WVU) students. Includes newspaper clippings, flyers, broadsides, constitutions for organizations, petitions, correspondence, and legal documents regarding the Anti-Vietnam movement, United Farm Workers national boycott, etc. There is also miscellaneous material regarding the rights of African-American students at WVU. Organizations represented include the Mountaineer Freedom Party, Student Activist League, Students for a Democratic Society, and the WVU Moratorium Committee.
West Virginia University, War Dead Honor Roll
A roll of honor containing a listing of those students of West Virginia University who were killed during U.S. involved conflicts in the twentieth century. There are listings for World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
Louis George Sarris, Resume and Personal Memoir of a U.S. Foreign Affairs Officer
Resume (2 pages) and personal memoir (18 pages) of Louis George Sarris, a West Virginian from Wheeling who worked for the U.S. State Department, serving as Chief of the Southeast Division during the Vietnam War era. The memoir discusses his family's immigrant roots in Greece and their life in America (ca. 1920 to 2000), including his father's work as a coal miner in West Virginia. It also touches on the career of Louis George Sarris.
Raymond Young, Photographer, Photographs regarding World War II and Other Material
Papers of Raymond M. Young (1924-1986) of Oak Hill, West Virginia, a combat photographer who served in the United States armed forces in Europe during and after World War II, and in Vietnam.