Research Guides: International Relations: U.S. Primary Sources

Primary Sources

Foreign Relations of the United States
Official documentary record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity from Lincoln to Clinton (Reagan era is the most current complete set of documents).

U.S. Declassified Documents Online This link opens in a new window
Declassified executive brand documents, including Intelligence studies, policy papers, diplomatic correspondence, cabinet meeting minutes, briefing materials, and domestic surveillance and military reports. 1900s-2000s.

National Security Archive
U.S. declassified documents, pictures, and recordings.
National Security Archive: Electronic Briefing Books
Declassified documents and narrative context on U.S. national security, foreign policy, diplomatic and military history, intelligence policy, and more.
Avalon Project: documents in Law, History and Diplomacy
Digital documents relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government. Includes links to supporting documents expressly referred to in the body of the text.

Congressional Publications This link opens in a new window
Find reports and hearing from the House Committee on Foreign Affairs

National Archives: Foreign Affairs
Links to the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), pre-1861 materials, and the archived State Department websites for Clinton, Bush, and Obama.
U.S. Treaties and Agreements Library
Find U.S. treaties and Native American treaties. Filter by treaties in force or not, country, date, and more.
Frontline Diplomacy: The Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training
Transcripts of interviews of American diplomats offer personal and professional assessments of American and foreign leaders, successful and unsuccessful policies, and foreign conflicts. Search by country of interest. Late 1940s to present.
U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets
Annual reports covering 2016 - present on the state of U.S. relations with each country that the United States has relations. Each report contains info on bilateral relations with the U.S., travel, and business.