U.S. federal government archives

Yale Library owns or has access to a wealth of U.S. federal government archival material, including microfilm sets of materials from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). These resources may save you the time and effort of making a trip to NARA or to a presidential library.

• Orbis (Yale library catalog)

Example search for State Department records about Iran:

keyword search: "state department" AND iran AND "national archives"

You will need to use a finding aid to help you determine how the records are arranged on a microfilm set - in other words, to figure out which reels contain which documents. Some finding aids are available online (and linked from the Orbis record for the microfilm set); others are available in print in Sterling Memorial Library's Microform Room.

See also:

• U.S. Government International Relations Collections
• Yale Library Manuscripts & Archives: U.S. Foreign Relations, partial collections list
• U.S. Government Legislative Information (Congressional materials)
• Presidential Papers: public (speeches, etc.) and personal
• Finding Primary Sources (U.S. History and American Studies)

Beyond Yale

Search these sites to discover microfilm sets of records that you can request through Interlibrary Loan.

• NARA's Microfilm Catalogs
• Center for Research Libraries
• WorldCat

For help ascertaining what NARA records are available either here at Yale or through Interlibrary Loan, contact either Julie Linden, Librarian for Political Science, International Affairs, and Government Information, or Greg Eow, the Kaplanoff Librarian for American History and American Studies.