HIST4800: The World Since 1945: Web-Based Digital Collections
Library resources to support the course HIST 4800: The World Since 1945, with an emphasis on the "1989" research paper assignment about democratic revolutions at the end of the Cold War.
This site, hosted by CNN, contains archived broadcast stories on the 1989 revolutions in Eastern Europe along with updates to developments in the region since then.
British History Online is the digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles. Created by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust, we aim to support academic and personal users around the world in their learning, teaching and research.
The Cold War International History Project (CWIHP) was established at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., in 1991. The Project supports the full and prompt release of historical materials by governments on all sides of the Cold War, and seeks to accelerate the process of integrating new sources, materials and perspectives from the former "Communist bloc" with the historiography of the Cold War which has been written over the past few decades largely by Western scholars reliant on Western archival sources. The CWIHP's web site includes a substantial digital archive of documents organized into over 50 collections documenting numerous Cold War topics.
Well-organized collection of links to Western European historical documents that are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile, or translated. The documents are not limited to modern European history. Maintained by Richard Hacken, European Studies Bibliographer, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.
Europeana enables people to explore the digital resources of Europe's museums, libraries, archives and audio-visual collections. It promotes discovery and networking opportunities in a multilingual space where users can engage, share in and be inspired by the rich diversity of Europe's cultural and scientific heritage. The Europeana portal currently provides access to more than 15 million items. These objects include: Images - paintings, drawings, maps, photos and pictures of museum objects; Texts - books, newspapers, letters, diaries and archival papers; Sounds - music and spoken word from cylinders, tapes, discs and radio broadcasts; and Videos - films, newsreels and TV broadcasts
Vast, comprehensive site designed by Paul Halsall of the University of North Florida collects together an enormous amount of primary source material that ranges over the entire modern period. The site was designed to support the needs of teachers and students in college survey courses in modern Western Civilization, and every major theme in History 102 (The West and the World) is addressed by the documents available here. Well-organized and worth exploring.
This site "offers a multimedia approach to telling the stories of the revolutions that swept across Eastern Europe in 1989, along with offering substantive lesson plans and document based questions to be used in the classroom. The materials on the site are contained within five sections, including 'Primary Sources,' 'Scholar Interviews,' 'Teaching Modules,' and 'Case Studies.' First-time visitors may wish to read the introductory essay here, along with separate sections which briefly discuss the cultural and social milieu in Bulgaria, Hungary, and other countries in the region. The 'Primary Sources' section includes a search engine, along with a listing of individual countries and a 'Featured Item.'"
This page, hosted by the National Security Archive at George Washington University, contains several primary source documents pertaining to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Among the highlights of this collection are the detailed (and previously classified) U.S. government accounts of the infamous military assault by the Chinese government on pro-democracy demonstrators in and around Tiananmen Square in Beijing in June 1989.
One of the revisions included in The Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 1996 (E-FOIA) requires that federal agencies provide public access to government records electronically. In response to this requirement, the Department of State has developed the FOIA Electronic Reading Room to make available frequently requested declassified documents released under the FOIA. The site can be used to identify numerous documents related to the end of the Cold War era.
This page, hosted by the National Security Archive at George Washington University, contains several primary source documents pertaining to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Among the highlights of this collection are CIA reports on the potential for political crisis in China as well as candid cables from the U.S. ambassadors in Beijing both before and after the crackdown describing their frustrations with the U.S. response to the crisis.
This site, hosted by The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes in the Czech Republic, makes available to the public selected documents pertaining to the events of 1989 in Czechoslovakia, with an emphasis on documents deriving from the Communist security services, and today deposited in the Security Services Archive.
Useful collection of online resource guides to European studies prepared by library specialists in the field. Includes regional, historical, and contemporary sources, texts and text collections, library resources, and book reviews.
This site, based in Poland, offers a portal to historical information and documents (in the original languages) related to the events of 1989 in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. For each country, there is a historical essay, a detailed calendar of events, a photo gallery, multimedia links, and links to other sources of information. The sections for Poland and Czechoslovakia also include selected primary source documents.
Electronic Resources Librarian
Reference and Information Services Office, Room 107g
David and Lorraine Cheng Library
William Paterson University
300 Pompton Road
Wayne, NJ 07470
