H220: American Military History

Government Information for Exploring Military History

Government Information, Maps and Microform Services
Hours: Sunday 11a.m.-12Mid, M-Th 8a.m. – 12 Mid., Friday 8a.m. – 9p.m., Sat.10a.m. – 9p.m.
Reference is now available M-F 10a.m.-3p.m.
C264 IUB Wells Library 812-855-6924
libet2@indiana.edu
www.libraries.iub.edu/libet2 .

Contact: Lou Malcomb (malcomb @indiana.edu) or Nancy Meuth (njmeuth @indiana.edu)

Government Information, Maps, and Microform Services provides collections, services, and specialized assistance for accessing IUB's holdings of government information and microforms. Specialized equipment is available for reading, printing or scanning microformat materials, for public access for internet access to government information, and for copying/scanning periodicals and fragile materials with a cradle copier. Staff can assist researchers by providing research guides, instructional presentations and specialized reference service (available M-F 10a.m. to 4p.m. or by appointment).

Before coming to the library: Think about dates, agencies involved, and officials involved. During paper writing process, don't hesitate to email questions or even consult us about sources, citations, or finding specific facts.

Resources

IUCAT includes government publications. For government publications it is best to use IUCAT, not IU WorldCat.

For Defense Department (and War Department) publications, use the IUCAT or browse the shelves in the SuDocs Stacks D. The Center for Military History publishes extensive publications concerning military actions; they also maintain extensive websites. If using Google we suggest you add the phrase "site:.mil" without quotes to your search to limit to military websites. For pre-1932 orders and military documents, ask about using the indexes to Executive Branch Documents microfiche. Remember also that pre-1930 many "War Department" documents were published as Congressional Documents, including the Annual Report of the War Department. Use Proquest Congressional to locate these:
http://www.libraries.iub.edu/scripts/countResources.php?resourceId=61

The Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications: The most comprehensive index for publications from any U.S. federal agency is: Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications, 1895-2004;2004 to the present is entitled Catalog of Federal Documents and available at FDSYS: Federal Digital System. Print version shelves SuDocs Reference Shelves GP 3.8/2. IUB subscribes to an electronic edition, Public Documents Masterfile covering 1789-1976.

State Department documents are shelved under S with the primary series being Foreign Relations of the U.S.. Located in the SuDocs Stacks S1.1: Year. (Digitally available at the University of Wisconsin http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/FRUS/ IUB also has considerable holdings of State Department records on microfilm (most listed in IUCAT). What we do not own can be requested on ILL so make sure to ask.

Presidential statements and documents available at IUB, consult our research guide at . http://www.libraries.iub.edu/index.php?pageId=2797. Most important is the series: Public Papers of the Presidents, Hoover to present. Located on SuDocs Reference under AE and GS. Includes speeches, press conferences, and other “public” papers. Available on the internet at: http://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries/research/. For pre-Hoover, ask about Richardson’s compilation: Messages and Papers of Presidents (Y 4.P 93/1:3) or for the microfilm of Presidential Papers.

Congressional publications: Historically Congress has published the most. Understand the congressional process by reviewing documents at the Library of Congress's website through Thomas.

For 1789-present use Proquest Congressional which includes:
U.S. Statutes at Large (fulltext)
Current bills and resolutions (fulltext since 1985)
Committee hearings (fulltext to 1970), prints, reports and documents(fulltext 1789-present with exceptions)
Issue briefs and reports from Congressional Research Service (1914 to date)
Congressional Record and its predecessors (1789-present) [Note: also on Hein Online]

http://www.libraries.iub.edu/scripts/countResources.php?resourceId=61

Archival records also exist, both classified and declassified. A couple of series you should know about include: Primary Sources in U.S. History: provides an index to microfilm copies of documents and records such as the Map Room Military Subject Files of FDR, 1941-1945. Also check the list of guides at Lexis-Nexis's company site.(http://wiki.proquest.com/upa/index.php?title=Primary_Sources_in_U.S._History)

The Digital National Security Archives contains several collections with more than 35,000 declassified documents, an archival record of reports, memoranda, correspondence and papers concerning important public policy decisions in the area of foreign affairs and national security. The Digital National Security Archive consists of twelve collections, Afghanistan, Berlin Crisis 1958-1962, Cuban Missile Crisis, El Salvador, Iran-Contra Affair, Intelligence Community, Iran Revolution, Military Uses of Space, Nicaragua, Nuclear Non-Proliferation, Philippines, and South Africa. New collections will be added yearly.

Declassified Documents Reference System (DDRS) provides indexing, abstracting and microfiche of a large selection of U.S. government publications from presidential libraries. The libraries receive declassified documents from various government agencies: the White House, the CIA, the FBI, the State Department and others. As researchers have visited the presidential libraries and requested documents, the libraries have copied them and sent them to DDRS for filming. The result is a collection of more than 70,000 documents--400,000 pages--that has literally been built by researchers themselves for nearly two decades.

FBIS is an online fulltext resource covering 1974-1996, providing translations of overseas news. For later see: World News Connection.

Remember the IUB Libraries serve as a depository for the European Union and the United Nations. Check out Access UN (1946-present).