Archives Unbound:
American Studies
 
Archives Unbound: American Studies

Supporting a deep dive into American culture, primary source materials in this collection help researchers explore music, art, literature, and cinema from all regions of the country in the 19th and 20th centuries.

U.S. Government History

Electing the President: Proceedings of the Democratic National Conventions, 1832-1988 - This collection includes the proceedings of the 1832-1988 Democratic National Conventions, providing gavel to gavel coverage, including speeches, debates, votes, and party platforms. Also included are lists of names of convention delegates and alternates. Records of the earliest proceedings are based in part on contemporary newspaper accounts.

Electing the President: Proceedings of the Republican National Conventions, 1856-1988 - The collection includes the proceedings for 1856-1988 of the Republican National Conventions, providing gavel to gavel coverage of the conventions, including speeches, debates, votes, and party platforms. Also included are lists of names of convention delegates and alternates. Records of the earliest proceedings are based in part on contemporary newspaper accounts.

Election of 1948 - This collection provides documents and the perspectives of the four base camps from the 1948 United States presidential election: Democrat incumbent President and eventual victor Harry S. Truman (1884–1972; U.S. President, 1945–1953), Republican and New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey (1902–1971), Progressive and former Vice President Henry A. Wallace (1888–1965) and Dixiecrat and South Carolina Governor J. Strom Thurmond (1902–2003). Sources include Papers of Harry S Truman, Thomas E. Dewey Papers, Papers of Americans for Democratic Action as well as selections from several southern newspapers.

Franklin D. Roosevelt – “The Great Communicator,” The Master Speech Files, 1898, 1910–1945: Series 1 – Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Political Ascension - Franklin Delano Roosevelt began his first presidential term riding a tidal wave of public support. In the 1932 election, he crushed dour incumbent Herbert Hoover and carried the Democrats to a solid majority in Congress. Following his inauguration, legislators gave Roosevelt unprecedented authority to remake the American presidency. The collection gathers the text of FDR’s oratory in his early rise to presidential politics.

Franklin D. Roosevelt – “The Great Communicator,” The Master Speech Files, 1898, 1910–1945: Series 2 – “You have nothing to fear but fear itself”: FDR and the New Deal - The simultaneous rise in popularity of radio and Franklin Delano’s political fortune is an interesting historical twist of fate. Radio brought news alive but left people free to create images in their imaginations. Through this means of mass communication, FDR could convey his ideas with tremendous effectiveness. Throughout his presidency, evidence of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s successful use of the spoken word is widespread. His fireside chats gained him broad support from the American populace for his sweeping social programs. This collection records FDR’s talks that built support for The New Deal—and included the rallying cry about “fear itself.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt – “The Great Communicator,” The Master Speech Files, 1898, 1910–1945: Series 3 – “The Four Freedoms” and FDR in World War II - Because Franklin Delano Roosevelt was such a masterful orator, he was able to use his speeches, press conferences, and radio broadcasts to shape American history. Radio provided him with a direct link to his voting public and the next generation of voters, and his use of radio helped him to win people's hearts. Historians still debate FDR's true significance in history, but there is no doubt that FDR will always be known as the Great Communicator, and his impact on America resonates even today. This third folio of FDR’s well-known speeches collects FDR’S World War II–era rhetoric.

The George W. Ball Papers - This collection documents the private and professional life of American lawyer and diplomat George W. Ball. From 1942 to 1944, Ball served as counsel in the Lend-Lease Administration and the Foreign Economic Administration. He was appointed under secretary of state for Economic Affairs in 1961, serving through 1966 under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. His tenure as under secretary of state is most noted for his opposition to the Vietnam War. This is an outstanding collection for those interested in researching diplomatic history and foreign policy.

Johnson Presidency Administrative Histories: Economy, Finance and Trade - This collection provides extensive documentation on a variety of presidential programs and initiatives. Agency and departmental records include: Bureau of the Budget; Council of Economic Advisers; Department of Commerce; Department of Treasury; Federal Deposit Corporation; Federal Home Loan Bank Board; Federal Reserve System; Federal Trade Commission; Interstate Commerce Commission; and Securities Exchange Commission. The archive is based on the film title, Administrative Histories of the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidency, The Economy, Finance and Trade.

Johnson Presidency Administrative Histories: Foreign Affairs and National Security - The archive is based on the film title, Administrative Histories of the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidency, The Economy, Finance and Trade.

Johnson Presidency Administrative Histories: Health, Education and Welfare - This collection provides extensive documentation on a variety of presidential programs and initiatives. Agency and departmental records include: Department of Agriculture; Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; Department of Housing and Urban Development; Endowment for the Arts; National Endowment for the Humanities; Office of Economic Opportunity; Office of Education; and Veteran’s Administration. The archive is based on the film title, Administrative Histories of the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidency, Health, Education and Welfare.

Johnson Presidency Administrative Histories: Labor and Employment - This collection provides extensive documentation on a variety of presidential programs and initiatives. Agency and departmental records include: Civil Service Commission; Department of Labor; Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service; General Services Administration; Post Office Department; and National Labor Relations Board. The archive is based on the film title, Administrative Histories of the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidency, Labor and Employment.

Johnson Presidency Administrative Histories: Science and Technology - This collection provides extensive documentation on a variety of presidential programs and initiatives. Agency and departmental records include: Atomic Energy Commission; Federal Power Commission; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); and Office of Science and Technology.

Liberia and the U.S.: Nation-Building in Africa, 1864-1918 - This archive serves as a companion to Liberia and the U.S.: Nation-Building in Africa, 1864-1918. It consists of correspondence and telegrams received and sent by American diplomats, as well as records of American citizens and companies with relations to Liberia. It carries the story from the end of First World War into the interwar period.

Papers of the Nixon Administration: The President’s Confidential and Subject Special Files, 1969-1974 - This publication consists of documents of an administratively-sensitive nature, arranged according to subject from President Nixon’s Special Files collection, comprising the Confidential and Subject Files. These documents provide an in-depth look into the activities of the President, his closest advisors, and the administration. These records support the behind-the-scenes historical inquiry into an administration that may well be the most significant one since World War II and one of the most important in the 20th century.

Press Conferences of the U.S. Secretaries of State, 1922-1974 - This collection reproduces the transcripts of all the press conferences held by the U.S. secretaries of state from Charles Evan Hughes (1862–1948; 44th Secretary of State, 1921–1925) through Henry Kissinger (b. 1923; 56th Secretary of State, 1973–1977). These conferences are an important record of official U.S. foreign policy and its global influence from the interwar years to the Cold War and détente.

Rise and Fall of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy - The brief but dramatic political reign of Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy (1908–1957) is examined in this collection, from the Wheeling speech in 1950 to McCarthy's condemnation by the Senate in late 1954. McCarthy rode the crest of U.S. anti-communist paranoia in the early 1950s, and his tactics of accusation through insinuation and innuendo have come to be known as "McCarthyism". His popularity was short-lived, however; in 1954 his television appearances severely damaged his image, followed by a backlash by his political opponents resulting in a condemnation vote by the Senate in December that year.

Spiro T. Agnew Case: The Investigative and Legal Documents - Spiro T. Agnew (1918–1996) was Vice President to Richard Nixon from 1969 until his resignation in 1973 following an investigation on suspicion of criminal conspiracy, bribery, extortion and tax fraud. This collection contains the legal documents of the case, the correspondence surrounding the investigation and trial, Agnew's personal records, and related newspaper and magazine articles. Few criminal investigations have ever uncovered such detailed evidence of wrongdoing, with near mathematical precision. These documents are also noteworthy because they detail a most unusual occurrence, in which the second highest official of a government has been investigated, prosecuted and forced from office by the Justice Department of that same administration.

The Amerasia Affair, China, and Postwar Anti-Communist Fervor - The Amerasia Affair was the first of the great spy cases of the postwar era. It prompted several congressional investigations, stirred-up partisan controversy and threatened to destroy the political reputations of several government officials.

The Minority Voter, Election of 1936 and the Good Neighbor League - This collection is designed as a case study of minority involvement in a presidential election campaign, using the 1936 Democratic Campaign as a model. The 1936 election provides an excellent example partly because of the availability of manuscript material on the Good Neighbor League, a vital force in helping make minorities part of the Roosevelt coalition in 1936. Through recruitment and publicity, the League were one means Democrats used to attract minority voters to Roosevelt. Their activities show that bringing together such a coalition was not a chance occurrence, but a well-planned political move whose basic premise was the New Deal legislative program. Minorities proved by their participation that they would be a significant influence in elections to come.

The Scopes Case - This collection records one of the most famous cases of the 20th century, which pitted lawyer Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) against the politician and fundamentalist William Jennings Bryant (1860–1925). The Scopes Case, formally known as The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes, took place in July 1925. The trial highlighted the ongoing debates in the United States between creationism and evolutionism, and involved a high school teacher, John T. Scopes (1900–1970), who was accused of teaching evolution at a school in Dayton, Tennessee. His trial became a highly controversial spectacle, sparking debates across the country. The so-called "Monkey Trial" became less about a law getting broken and more about whether science or religion should take priority in U.S. education.