U.S. History: Primary Source Collections Online

Largest online source for information on the Vietnam War. Formed by Vietnam veterans in 1989 with a mission to “collect and preserve the documentary record of the Vietnam War.” Contains more than 550,000 items for searching and browsing. Note the curated subject guides on many topics for help digging into the wealth of content. (Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech Univ.)

by Seth Kershner and Michael Mannheim, College & Research Libraries News, 2015

Hundreds of photographs and documents cataloguing the history of protest and activism against war--particularly, the Vietnam War--among students, soldiers, and residents of the Pacific Northwest. (Univ. of Washington)

Sampling of primary documents showing CIA's involvement in every aspect of the Indochina War. (George Washington Univ.)

Spans from 1950 to 1964, ending with President Lyndon Johnson’s reaction to the Gulf of Tonkin incident, providing a narrative of the run up to war as told in diplomatic cables, government statements, and presidential addresses. (Avalon Project, Yale Law School)

From the FBI Vault. Note: modern dates beside files indicate when they were put online, not when they were created.

Declassified documents related to the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964. (National Security Agency, NSA)

Two parts of the digital reading room in particular are most interesting to Vietnam researchers. The first is a collection of Johnson’s National Security Action Memorandums, which are presidential directives that relate to national security. The second is a collection of contemporary interviews with key Cold War figures—such as Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Foreign Policy Adviser Walt Rostow, and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara—which are helpful to understanding the war from the administration’s perspective.

Online exhibit from the Nixon Library & Museum. Includes tapes, documents, photos, and videos related to the Dec. 1972 bombing of North Vietnam and the Paris Peace negotiations. Look for "Additonial Media" links at the bottom of each page to find audio, maps, etc. (Nixon Library, National Archives)

Features transcripts and audio interviews with a wide range of activists, including military veterans who turned against the war and longtime peace activists. (Utah Valley Univ)

The complete report, declassified and with no redactions, available online in PDF format. This report was originally commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1967; small portions were leaked to the press in 1971. The online release includes significant amounts of content never before available. (National Archives)

Oral histories from Rutgers graduates who served in Vietnam. All four branches of the military are presented, and interviews may be downloaded in HTML or PDF format. (Rutgers Univ.)

20 interviews with Vietnam veterans, most conducted in 2010. Only excerpts of interview videos are provided, but full interviews are available in audio and transcript form. (Utah Valley Univ.)

"Documents on the Vietnam War. These telegrams, minutes, and discussion notes range from the mid-1950s to the end of the 1970s, and most come from Chinese and Albanian archives." (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars)

Leaflets and newspapers that were distributed on the University of Washington campus by the Students for a Democratic Society in the 1960s and 1970s; covers hot social issues of the time, including the antiwar movement. (Univ. of Washington)

National Archives portal to their records on the Vietnam War. Most records relate to casualty counts for both U.S. and Vietnam. Also files on prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action. (National Archives)

Includes interviewees are from all branches of the armed forces, serving in various years of the nearly ten-year-long conflict, representing different ranks and different fields of duty. (Univ. of Florida)