LibGuides: Vietnam War: Primary Sources

Primary Source Collections

Military Resources: Vietnam War
From the National Archives
Vietnam-Era POW/MIA Database

Stephen H. Warner Collection (photographs)
Vietnam War - Wikimedia Commons
Virtual Vietnam Archive
Contains over 1.5 million pages of materials, including photographs, slides, audio and movie image recordings, oral histories, documents & more.

Women Overseas Service League Oral Histories
The Women’s Overseas Service League (WOSL) oral history digital collection offers free, worldwide listening to 162 audio interviews with American women who served overseas during the Great War, World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, and the Gulf War.
Billings Gazette: Vietnam Voices
A series of personal accounts told by veterans of the Vietnam War. This was a special series by the Billings Gazette.
Oral History: Veterans Remember: Vietnam War
Vietnam Online (WGBH)
Vietnam Powwow: The Vietnam War As Remember by Native American Veterans
Vietnam Project: The Oral History Project
Vietnam War Era Veterans Oral Histories (Ball State University)

Sixties Project: Primary Document Archive
Includes documents from Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Blank Panther Party, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and several similar groups.
Anti-War Demonstrators Storm Pentagon, 1967/10/24
Video of a mass protest against Vietnam war in Washington DC
British news report on protests at Berkeley 1967
Famous Trials; "The Chicago Eight" (or "Chicago Seven") Trial (1969-1970)
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"What did it all mean? Was the Chicago Eight Trial merely, as one commentator suggested, "a monumental non-event"? Was it, as others argue, an important battle for the hearts and minds of the American people? Or is it best seen as a symbol of the conflicts of values that characterized the late sixties? These are some of the questions that surround one of the most unusual courtroom spectacles in American history, the 1969-70 trial of eight radicals accused of conspiring to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago..."
The site provides access to various sources including the trial transcript, images, and audio files.
FBI Vault: Abbie Hoffman
Abbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman (1936-1989) was a political and social activist, especially in the 1960s.
Vietnam Day Berkeley
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This film documents the two day anti-Vietnam War rally held in Sproul Plaza at the University of California. There are many scenes of students gathering, activities, carrying signs, collecting money, etc. Identified speakers include Robert Scheer,
FBI Vault: Kent State
FBI Vault: Kent State Shooting
Daily Kent Stater
Student-run newspaper from Kent State. Issues from 1926-2016. Browse or search issues.
Protests Galore! 1967/05/05
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(1) Vietnam protest demonstration in Britain; also at Madrid University in Spain, burned American flag; also 4000 in Detroit at "love-in" and "be-in" with hippies and wild constumes (2) News In Brief - U.S. jet bombers hit North Vietnam targets (3) May Day parade in Moscow, Premier Kosygin (partial newsreel).
Kent State Shootings: Oral Histories
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"The Kent State Shootings Oral History Project collects and provides access to personal accounts of the May 4, 1970, shootings and their aftermath."
May 4 Collection
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Kent State University was placed into the international spotlight on May 4, 1970, after 13 students were shot by members of the Ohio National Guard at a student demonstration. Four students were killed and nine others were wounded, including one who was permanently paralyzed from his injury. The May 4 Collection, established by the Kent State University Libraries in 1970, includes over 300 cubic feet of primary sources related to the Kent State shootings and their aftermath. The collection is open to the public and is used by researchers from around the world.

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Vietnam War and American Foreign Policy, 1960–1975
Reproduces many archival collections on the Vietnam War and the U.S. government, including records of the Associated Press and other media, the CIA, the State Department, the EPA, the military, the Kissinger telephone conversation transcripts on world affairs, and national security files from the, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford administrations. Log-in required.
American Politics and Society from JFK to Watergate, 1960–1975
Collections include JFK's Office Files; Confidential File of the LBJ White House, Political Activities of the Johnson White House, Johnson Administration's Response to Anti-Vietnam War Activities, and more. Log-in required.

Vietnam Document and Research Notes Series
These notes consist of and/or highlight translated Viet Cong and North Vietnamese political and military reports, treatises, resolutions, directives, and program descriptions. In addition, they contain U.S. and South Vietnamese commentary on the enemy material, as well as analyses of political methodology, strategy, infrastructure, and history. While the majority of the notes relate to political topics, military topics include analyses of soldiers' diaries and comments on military conditions and tasks. Log-in required.

Open-access internet resources: