Archives Unbound

Archives Unbound offers 13 focused primary document collections on topics in American History. Each collection contains materials written by and for eyewitness participants in the events. 

• Federal Response to Radicalism in the 1960s: Sheds light on the internal organization, personnel and activities of some of the most prominent American radical groups and their movements to change American government and society.

• Federal Surveillance of African Americans: Documents originated by the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation on operatives investigating politically suspect figures and organizations. Dates of coverage: 1920-1984.

• In Response to the AIDS Crisis: Briefing books, hearing and meeting transcripts, reports and press clippings document the activities of the National Commission on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome from 1983-1994.

• JFK’s Foreign Affairs and International Crises, 1961-1963: Provides insights into President Kennedy’s views on foreign affairs, U.S. leadership of the "West" and various worldwide crises, 1958-1964.

• Literature, Culture and Society in Depression Era America: Archives of the Federal Writers’ Project: This collection presents the Federal Writers’ Project publications of all 47 states involved in the project, which ran from 1933 to 1943. Includes rare and unpublished materials.

• Papers of the Nixon Administration: The President’s Confidential and Subject Special Files, 1969-1974: The confidential and subject special files of President Richard M. Nixon. Dates of coverage: 1969-1974.

• Records of the Persian Gulf War: This collection contains materials related to the diplomatic and military response by the United States (as part of a multi-national force) to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990.

• The Civil War in Words and Deeds: These first-person accounts, compiled in the postwar period and early 20th Century period, chronicle the highs and lows of army life from 1861 through 1865.

• The Southern Literary Messenger: Literature of the Old South: The Southern Literary Messenger enjoyed an impressive thirty-year (1834-1864) run and was in its time the South’s most important literary periodical.

• The War Department and Indian Affairs, 1800-1824: From 1789 until the Bureau of Indian Affairs was established in 1824, Indian affairs were under the direct control of the Secretary of War. This collection consists of the letters received by and letters sent to the War Department, including correspondence from Indian superintendents and agents, factors of trading posts, Territorial and State governors, military commanders, Indians, missionaries, treaty and other commissioners, Treasury Department officials, persons having commercial dealings with the War Department and other public and private individuals.

• The War of 1812: Diplomacy on the High Seas: During the War of 1812 Congress authorized the Secretary of State to issue commissions of letters of marque and reprisal to private armed vessels permitting them to "cruise against the enemies of the United States."

• "We Were Prepared for the Possibility of Death:" Freedom Riders in the South, 1961: Freedom Riders were civil rights activists that rode interstate buses into the segregated South to test the United States Supreme Court decision in Boynton v. Virginia.

• Witchcraft in Europe and America: The earliest texts in this comprehensive collection on witchcraft date from the 15th century and the latest are from the early 20th century.