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DP History Research Resources

Cold War

Foreign Relations of the United States

The Office of the Historian is responsible, under law, for the preparation and publication of the official documentary history of U.S. foreign policy in the Foreign Relations of the United States series.

The Office maintains a public website at history.state.gov, which provides in-depth information to the public on the history of U.S. foreign policy. In addition to a full text archive of the Foreign Relations series, the website includes valuable encyclopedic content on the history of U.S. relations with states around the world, a database of the Department’s principal officers and chiefs of mission, and special tools and resources for students and teachers.

In keeping with the Open Government Directive’s principle of transparency, participation, and collaboration as the cornerstone of an open government, the Office of the Historian has begun preparing many of its rich historical publications in a raw data format that can be accessed through data.gov. Please visit our Open Government page to learn more about these resources.

Check out short descriptions of major milestones from the Cold War era from the Office of the Historian.

  • Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS)  
      
    US1..S.........-F56 GOVT 1861+ Government Publications, 5th floor, Robarts Library
    Contains documents from Presidential libraries, Departments of State and Defense, National Security Council, Central Intelligence Agency, Agency for International Development, and other foreign affairs agencies as well as the private papers of individuals involved in formulating U.S. foreign policy. In general, the editors choose documentation that illuminates policy formulation and major aspects and repercuss
  • Foreign Relations of the United States Online
    The State Department web site below is a permanent electronic archive of information released prior to January 20, 2001. Please see www.state.gov for material released since President George W. Bush took office on that date. This site is not updated.
  • Foreign Relations of the United States Online (from the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center)  
      
    The Foreign Relations of the United States series is the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions that have been declassified and edited for publication. FRUS begins with the administration of Abraham Lincoln in 1861. There are two cumulative indexes covering 1861-1899 and 1900-1918.
  • FRUS list of all volumes

United States Government

  • U.S. Federal Government Key Resources Research Guide
    This research guide identifies major print and electronic United States federal government information sources.
    All print resources are linked to titles available in the Government Publications Collection of the Robarts Library at the University of Toronto.
  • Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the United States Congress
    The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. At the back of each daily issue is the "Daily Digest," which summarizes the day's floor and committee activities.
    Data , Map & Government Information Services, US1 ..XY...-C57. Some volumes are in storage and must be requested ahead of time.
    Indexes: Permament edition, Dec. 19, 1925 to Sept. 24, 1980, an index is issued for each
  • The Congressional Record - online
    Government Printing Office (GPO) Access contains Congressional Record volumes from 140 (1994) to the present. The current year’s Congressional Record database is usually updated daily by 11 a.m., except when a late adjournment delays production of the issue. Documents are available in ASCII text and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). The date of the publication refers to the date the proceedings were recorded, not necessarily the date of delivery.
  • United States Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1994
    The bound, sequentially numbered volumes of all the Reports, Documents, and Journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives constitute a rich collection of primary source material on all aspects of American history. Upon completion, the digital version of the Serial Set will consist of approximately 369,000 publications published in 14,500 volumes and over 11 million pages.
  • Cumulative Subject Index To The Monthly Catalog Of United States Government Publications, 1900-1971
    US1..GP....73C77....ENG, Data and Map & Government Information Services
    This index provides a subject index for United States government publications; a monthly catalogue US..1..GP-M 50 which provides microfilm/microfiche numbers for the microtext documents in the Government Documents microfilm collections.
    Use MarciveWeb DOCS, below, for July 1976 on
  • Major Studies and Issue Briefs of the Congressional Research Service 1916-1989
    DMGIS US1.. XL..150- 19889 M17 Microfilm shelves. Index available with same call number at Microfilm shelves.
    The Congressional Research Service is the research branch of the Library of Congress charged with providing research to members of congress. Non-partisan background papers and research documents to inform debate in the US Congress.
  • Presidential Papers
    Robarts Library, 11th floor, JA82 (???)
  • MarciveWeb DOCS, 1976-
    The Catalog of the U.S. Government Printing Office Documents. Coverage July 1976 - Present.