Cold War History Websites and Other Resources

Cold War International History Project (CWIHP).

https://www.wilsoncenter.org/program/cold-war-international-history-project
Located at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in
Washington, CWIHP is the principal center for translating and evaluating
newly-released documents from the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe,
China, and other states normally thought of as having been on the other
side during the Cold War. On this website you will find electronic
editions of its now famous Bulletin, the single most important source for
the new Cold War history.
National Security Archive.
http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/
This non-official organization (not to be confused with the National
Security Agency), specializes in seeking the declassification of United
States government documents from the Cold War period; but it also works
closely with CWIHP and serves as the archival depository for its
materials. Also contains the full text of interviews done for the CNN
television documentary Cold War.
Harvard Project on Cold War Studies.
http://projects.iq.harvard.edu/coldwarstudies/home
A program based at Harvards Russian Research Center that seeks to
supplement the efforts of CWIHP and NSA by linking them to the
resources of a major research university. Publishes the Journal of Cold
War History.
Department of State Foreign Relations Series.
https://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/collections/FRUS (for volumes through 1944).
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments (for volumes from 1945)
Published since 1861, the Department of States series Foreign Relations
of the United States has long been the principal published collection for
documents relating to American foreign policy. For the period after World
War II, it also includes documentation from such agencies as the Defense
Department, the National Security Council, and the Central Intelligence

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Agency. Its by no means complete -- perhaps only 1-2% of whats in the
archives. But its excellent as a starting point, and as a guide to the
archives. Volumes through the Carter administration are now mostly
available. Published volumes should also be available in the Government
Documents Library.
Central Intelligence Agency.
https://www.foia.cia.gov/historical-collections
The CIA since the 1980s has had a program of selectively releasing its
historical documents. Theyre not as thorough or as systematic as the
State Department, but this link will give you a sense of whats available.
National Security Agency.
http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/declass/venona/index.shtml
Not to be confused with the National Security Archive, above, the NSA -the governments top-secret code-breaking unit (or once top-secret, before
Edward Snowden) -- has an interesting website with material on the
VENONA intercepts, which document early Cold War Soviet espionage
efforts inside the United States, along with some other related information.
H-DIPLO.
http://www.h-net.org/~diplo/
H-DIPLO is the major internet discussion group for all aspects of
international history, but it has a heavy Cold War emphasis. Signing up
for it is a good way of keeping track of debates within the field, as well as
information on conferences, archives, and other websites of interest. The
address above is the H-DIPLO archive, where you can find past
discussions grouped by subject.
American Foreign Relations Since 1600.
Yale Orbis, under Databases and Article Searching.
Now in its third edition, under the editorship of Thomas Zeiler, this is the
best comprehensive annotated bibliography of books and articles on the
history of American foreign relations from the beginning. Its an excellent
place to go to figure out whether anyone has already published on a topic
youre researching.
CNN Cold War Documentary.

Bass Library, on reserve

CNNs 24 hour television documentary, clips from which Ive been using
in class, is the most thorough visual history of the Cold War, especially
valuable for its interviews with participants, both famous and not so
famous. Bass has the newly released high-definition DVD version, which
is also available from Amazon.