Research Guides: Vietnam War (1961-1975) History Guide: Vietnam War

Primary Sources at Special Collections

overview of archive collections that include primary sources broadly related to the war in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos (circa 1960-1975). Topics include anti-war protests, environmental issues, and Cold War politics / history.

Please note: Collection inventories (finding aid) are linked below, however most materials are in original (paper) format and not available online. Contact the Department of Special Collections by phone or email to access the collections.

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) Collection
Series 01 includes documents from both the local WUSTL chapter of SDS, and the national organization. A keyword search for "Vietnam" will return a number of relevant folders.
Series 02 includes unusual pamphlets and publications from China, Cuba, Laos, Sri Lanka, North Korea and elsewhere (in English) along with anti-war publications from independent newspapers in the USA (most dating from the 1960s and 1970s)
WU Student Union: Files of President Ben Zaricor, 1963-1974
See folders in Box 1 for documents related to Protests. 1969-1970, and Strikes and SDS materials 1968-1970. Box 2 also contains relevant materials filed under USNSA.
Environmental Response Records
Environmental Response was a broadly based group, with participation by Washington University students and faculty, and local interested citizens. Formed in Spring 1970, it was an outgrowth of Project Survival at Washington University during the first Earth Week.
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See Series 4: Projects for Vietnam War research project, Series 6: Projects and Miscellaneous Items for items on Anti-Vietnam War, and Series 17: Organizational Material for Anti-Vietnam war posters.
Dan Bolef Papers, Series 06
From 1953-1963 Bolef worked as a research physicist in the area of nuclear magnetic resonance for the Westinghouse Research Laboratories. In 1963 Bolef joined the faculty at Washington University in St. Louis as Professor of Physics.
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Series 6 is include materials related to Vietnam, the draft, civil rights, and other social issues covering the 1960s through the early 1980s.
Walter Lowenfels Papers (MSS074)
Consists of letters and contributions to "Where is Vietnam?" A collection of anti-war poems by 89 poets, including poems from the Vietnam Read-Ins.
Kaltenthaler Comic Books and Zines Collection (MGHL00015)
Includes comic titles "Vietnam Journal 1-8; 11, 1987-1989 (Apple)" and magazines "Chronicles of War: Vietnam, 1988" and "Vietnam Mission, 1989."
Humanities Comics Collection (MGHL00016),
Includes "Vietnam Journal 1988 (Apple Comics)"

Primary Sources Located At Olin Library

Online Primary Sources

Empire Online
Digitized collections from libraries and archives around the world, including the British Library.

Secondary Sources

Check the Library Catalog for these subjects: