hist 495

HIST 395/495 Divided Germany, 1945-1990 Library Research Guide

Purdue Libraries, particularly the HSSE Library, offers a wide variety of resources for conducting research on topics relating to this course. The Libraries online catalog offers access to books and some digital resources. Examples of Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) you can use to find books for this class include:

Germany Foreign Relations 1945-
Germany History Twentieth Century
Germany History 1945-1990
Germany Politics and Government 1945-1990
United States Foreign Relations Germany

You can also use the online catalog to find books on particular individuals by doing LSCH searches e.g. Adenauer, Konrad or to find books about particular organizations e.g. Christlich-Demokratische Union Deutschlands (Germany: West) for books about the Christian Democratic Party or government agencies such as Germany Auswärtiges Amt for books about that country's foreign ministry. You can also do author searches to search for books by organizations.

Journal Article Databases
Databases you can use to look for scholarly journal articles include:

Historical Abstracts (Provides acces to scholarly articles, book chapters, books, and book reviews for non-U.S. & Canadian History.)
Humanities Abstracts (Indexes articles in history and other humanities journals.)
PAIS International (Indexes articles from political science and other public policy journals and some U.S. Government documents from 1972-present.)

Scholarly Journal Collections
JSTOR (Provides access to historical journal articles in the humanities and social sciences. DOES NOT include the most recent five years.)
Project Muse (Provides access to recent scholarly journal articles in the humanities.)

U.S. Government Resources
The U.S. Government is the world's largest publisher and has produced significant quantities of information on German History during this time period. A good index to begin with is Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications HSSE Periodicals 016.353 Un36 and online from 1976-present with many recent documents being freely available in full text.

CIS Index to U.S. Congressional Committee Hearings 1833-1969 HSSE REF 348.731 C76
CIS U.S. Congressional Committee Hearings Index (1970-present) HSSE REF & Periodicals 328.73005 C76
Digital United States Congressional Serial Set (Purdue Users Only) (Resource providing access to U.S. Government documents, including congressional committee legislative reports, from 1789-1969).
Foreign Relations of the United States HSSE Periodicals 327.73 Un32 and also online here (Official U.S. foreign policy documentary record.) The State Dept. Historians Office has additional resources you can use.
Central Intelligence Agency Freedom of Information Act (Features numerous declassified CIA national intelligence estimates on various countries. Select "Special Collections" then "National Intelligence Council" before beginning your search.)
Information Bulletin (HIKS Repository W 1.72/8 & S 1.85 (Newspaper produced by U.S. military authorities in charge of occupying Western Germany after World War II.)
National Archives Access to Archival Database (The full text of many State Department Central File records are accessible here.)
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Books (This George Washington University project compiles declassified U.S. Government documents on foreign and national security policy.)
Trials of the Major War Criminals Before the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg Trials)HSSE 341.3 In85
U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey Reports (European War) HIKS Repository W 1.71 (U.S. military reports measuring and assessing the impact of allied bombing during World War II.)

U.S. Congressional Resources
The U.S. Congress and congressional committees are responsible for approving legislation, conducting oversight of federal agency programs, and funding these programs. Consequently, congressional publications are excellent resources for researching American policy toward Germany. Examples of these resources include:

Congressional Record HSSE Repository X/A and online through the Digital United States Congressional Serial Set (Contains congressional speeches and debates, recorded votes, and information on legislation for both the House & Senate.)
House Foreign Affairs & International Relations Committees HSSE DOC & HSSE ATTIC Y 4.F 76/1 & Y 4.IN 8/16
Senate Foreign Relations Committee HSSE DOC & HSSE ATTIC Y 4.F 76/2
(Congressional committee hearings from 1975-present are on the first floor of the HSSE periodical stacks. Prior to 1975, they must be requested through the Government Information Librarian.)

German and International Government Organization Resources
Akten zur Auswärtigen Politik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (In German) HSSE Periodicals 327.4300904505 AK79 (Official documentary record of West German foreign policy. Covers 1949-1950 to 1977 with gaps.)
Verhandlungen des Deutschen Bundestages. Stenographische Berichte. (In German) HIKS Repository 320.0943 G317 (Official proceedings of West German Parliament's lower house. Covers 1949-1990)(Some vols. in microfilm.)
Documents on British Policy Overseas HSSE 327.41 D569 1984 (Official British foreign policy documentary compendium. Covers selected European topics from 1968-1976).
Europeana-European Union funded resource of two million digital items including images, text, sound, and videos.
British House of Commons Parliamentary Debates HSSE Repository 328.42 G785 (Covers 1950-present.) Online from Nov. 1988-present HERE
Official Records United Nations General Assembly HSSE Repository 341.6306 Un250
Official Records United Nations Security Council HSSE Repository 341.6306 Un26o
Parallel History Project on Cooperative History (Features collections of NATO and Warsaw Pact military and intelligence documents. Many docuemnts in languages besides English.)

Professor Bert Chapman
Government Information and Political Science Librarian
chapmanb@purdue.edu
(9/09 rev.)