Contact Info
All Special Collections materials must be used on-site.*
HOURS: Monday - Friday 9:00-5:00 by appointment*
REQUESTS / APPOINTMENTS:
314-935-5495 spec@wumail.wustl.edu
*collections require advance notice for retrieval and use
Resources available at University Archives & WU Libraries
This guide contains an overview of collections at the Department of Special Collections at WU Libraries that include primary sources broadly related to the emergence of an “international community” in the 19th and 20th century. Topics include human rights, supranational institutions such as the United Nations, influence of the media / journalists, anti-imperialism, and transregional history.
Select Primary Sources: United Nations
- Arthur Holly Compton Papers (UA)
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Compton was a Nobel prize-winning physics professor and WU Chancellor (1945 - 1953).
See folders in Series 2, Box 13 for various publications collected by Compton, dating from circa 1945-1956 related to India, Pakistan, and the region, such as "Report on the Session of the 1st Conference for the Indian National Commission for Co-operation with UNESCO, April 9-10, 1949.
See Series 3, Box 4 for Compton's attendance at the first meeting of the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission.
Other materials about UNESCO and the UN are found throughout the collection. - Edna Gellhorn Papers
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A St. Louis civic leader active in many civic programs, including the women's suffrage movement and a founding member of the National League of Women Voters. She was also active in supporting the creation of the United Nations in the 1940s, and worked for its promotion through the 1950s and 1960s. See Series 02 for materials related to the UN.
A close friend to Eleanor Roosevelt, this collection also contains correspondence between the two women on various topics, including the United Nations (See Series 04, Series 10 and Series 11). - United Nations Documentsofficial documents and sales publications, from 1945 to 1993. Their collection is described more fully online. Contact WashU Library Gov Docs staff for more information.
Select Primary Sources: Media & Journalism
These collections are located in various departments of the WU Libraries.
- Insignia Film Collection (FMA)Includes materials from 'Reporting America at War,' with public perceptions of the different wars, as filtered through the media. Covers wars from the Spanish American War through the First Gulf War.
- Eyes on the Prize Episode 2: Fighting Back (FMA)Pertains to the way American segregation affected global public opinion about the U.S. during the Cold War. See especially footage of members of the Little Rock Nine, and answer by Terrence Roberts in particular
- Edna Gellhon Papers (UA)
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Letters from a young Martha Gelhorn to her Grandmother in the 1930s discussing Ernest Hemingway and her earliest years becoming a war correspondent.
(See Series 5, Box 14, Folder "Martha Gellhorn, Letters / Telegrams" and Series 6, Box 15, folder "M.E. Frischell - Letters from Martha Gellhorn" for correspondence.)
Select Primary Sources: Human Rights (International)
- Arthur Holly Compton Papers (UA)
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Compton was a Nobel prize-winning physics professor and WU Chancellor (1945 - 1953).
See folder in Series 3, Box 7 for UNESCO materials -- Compton was a member of the National Commission to advise the Department of State on Education, Scientific and Cultural cooperation, 1946-1947. File includes text of "Comments on the Basic Human Rights" by Compton, April 30, 1947, Washington University; and a text by A.J. Lien, of Washington University, called "A Fragment of Thoughts Concerning the Nature and the Fulfillment of Human Rights
Select Primary Sources: South African Apartheid
- Students for a Democratic Society Collection (UA)
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See Series 2, Box 1, Box 2, and Box 3 for materials on South Africa Apartheid.
Select Primary Sources: Vietnam War
- Vietnam War Research GuideThis guide contains an overview of collections at University Archives and the WU Libraries that include primary sources that are 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.
Select Primary Sources: Susan Sontag
- Students for a Democratic Society Collection
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See Series 2, Box 2, Folder "T" for Trip to Hanoi: Notes on the Enemy Camp by Susan Sontag - Assembly Series Recordings (UA)
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Susan Sontag, "Regarding the Pain of Others" #ASL2004-14, March 24, 2004.
Audio cassette recording of Sontag speaking on campus available at University Archives.
Online Primary & Secondary Sources
- Doing Photography and Social Research in the Allied Occupation of Japan, 1948-1951: A Personal and Professional MemoirOnline publication documenting the observations and photographs of anthropologist John W. Bennett.
- Human Rights Journals20+ journals available in full text, covering the 1970s-present
- Confidential Print: Middle East, 1839-1969 This link opens in a new window
Historical documents covering such important events as the Egyptian reforms of Muhammad Ali Pasha in the nineteenth century, the Middle East Conference of 1921, the Mandates for Palestine and Mesopotamia and the Suez Crisis in 1956, to the partition of Palestine, post-Suez Western foreign policy and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
- Empire Online This link opens in a new window
Over 70,000 images of original documents relating to Empire Studies. The images are sourced from libraries and archives around the world, including a strong core of document images from the British Library.