Start Your Research
Fuzzy on the details? Lacking inspiration for a topic?
Read up on cold war topics by consulting background sources like encyclopedias and dictionaries.
Encyclopedia of Cold War Politics by Call Number: Reference E840 .T57 2000ISBN: 0816035741Publication Date: 2000-08-01"Encyclopedia of Cold War Politics is a concise yet comprehensive A-to-Z reference on the period from World War II to the demise of the Soviet Union. Its 700 entriesThe Cold War Encyclopedia by
Call Number: Reference D840 .P28 1996ISBN: 0805027785Publication Date: 1996-01-01
Encyclopedia of the Cold War by Call Number: Request from ARS - D843 .A668 1994ISBN: 0816019754Publication Date: 1994-06-01This work offers A to Z information on the political struggle that has dominated East-West relations since 1945 and which, until the last few years, has seemed irrevocable. The rivalry between the superpowers is delineated, particularly in terms of the potential effects of thermonuclear weapons.
Search for Articles
Use these library databases to search for scholarly information. They give you more control over your search than Google Scholar.
- America: History and Life with Full Text This link opens in a new windowThis database covers the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. With selective indexing for 1,700 journals from 1964 to the present, this database also provides full-text coverage of more than 196 journals and more than 92 books.
- Historical Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new windowThis database covers the history of the world (except the United States and Canada) from 1450 forward. It provides selective indexing of historical articles from more than 1,800 journals in over 40 languages back to 1955, as well as access to the full text of more than 316 journals and more than 138 books.
- Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective: 1907-1984 (H.W. Wilson) This link opens in a new windowIndexes nearly 1200 scholarly journals covering the entire range of the humanities and social sciences from 1907-1984. Also covers many important scientific journals through the 1950s. For indexing of articles appearing 1985-present, use Social Sciences Full Text and/or Humanities Full Text.
- Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson) This link opens in a new windowIndexes and abstracts English-language articles in the most important journals in the humanities, from 1984-present. The full text of many of these articles is available online from 1995 forward. Updated daily. For indexing of articles appearing prior to 1984, use Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective.
Search for Books
Use OSCAR, the Library's catalog, to search for books SCU Library owns or subscribes to.
You can also use OneSearch to search for books, and then narrow it to Library Catalog in the result screen.
- OneSearchA search engine that lets you simultaneously search across a range of library research tools.
- Interlibrary Loan & LINK+Find out more about requesting books and articles from other libraries.
Primary Sources
Primary source collections on the open web
- Wilson Center Digitial ArchivesConstructed and maintained by the Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program, the Digital Archive contains declassified historical materials from archives around the world, much of it in English translation. The historical documents presented in the ever-expanding Digital Archive provide unique insights into recent international history, and serve to deepen and enrich international scholarship, history education, and public policy debate on important global issues and challenges.
- National ArchivesThe National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the nation's record keeper. Of all documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government, only 1%-3% are so important for legal or historical reasons that they are kept by us forever.
Those valuable records are preserved and are available to you, whether you want to see if they contain clues about your family’s history, need to prove a veteran’s military service, or are researching a historical topic that interests you. - Hoover Institution Cold War DocumentsThe Hoover Institution at Stanford University is dedicated to the study of war for the purpose of making peace. It contains more than six thousand archival collections.
- Cold War International History ProjectA digital collection of documents, many from the Soviet Union. Includes a section on the collapse of the Soviet Union, and also on the "Soviet Union and the Olympics)
- Cold War Dispatches: Service Stories from 1947-1991From the Library of Congress, this collection features narratives from a dozen veterans that served during the cold war period.
- Political Cartoons by Herblock and Others About the Cold WarFrom the Library of Congress, this collection contains important responses to world affairs. Few American editorial cartoonists favored the Soviet government during the Cold War, but they had divergent responses to the fear of nuclear warfare.
Primary source collections available through SCU Library
- Literaturnaia Gazeta This link opens in a new windowLiteraturnaia Gazeta was one of the most influential cultural newspapers of the Soviet Union. Includes the full text of all issues from 1921 to 2011.
- Socialism on Film This link opens in a new windowThis streaming video collection documents the communist world from the Russian Revolution until the 1980s. Footage includes documentaries, newsreels and feature films that reveal the world as seen by Soviet, Chinese, Vietnamese, East European, British and Latin American filmmakers.
- Times Digital Archive This link opens in a new windowThe Times of London has covered all major international events from the French Revolution to the War in Iraq. The Times Digital Archive makes this highly regarded resource available for students and researchers of 19th-, 20th-, and early 21st-century history, literature, culture, business, art & architecture, and more. Every complete page of every issue is full-text searchable - every headline, article, editorial, announcement, image, and advertisement, from 1785 to 6 years ago.
On the Front Lines of the Cold War: Documents on the intelligence war in Berlin, 1946 to 1961 by Call Number: Folio DD881 .O55 1999ISBN: 1929667019Publication Date: 1999-11-01
The Cold War: A History Through Documents by Call Number: D839.3 .C57 1999ISBN: 0137612893Publication Date: 1998-06-02This comprehensive collection of more than 100 edited documents (speeches, treaties, statements, and articles) traces the Cold War - from its roots at Yalta and Potsdam in 1945 through the collapse of the Soviet state in 1991 - making the great events of the era come alive through the words of those who were involved
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