Contact Info
Archive, Manuscript & Rare Book collections are accessed in Olin Library at the Special Collections reading room.
*HOURS: Monday - Friday 9:00-5:00 by appointment
*LOCATION: Olin Library, 1st floor, Danforth Campus
*REQUESTS / APPOINTMENTS: 314-935-5495 spec@wumail.wustl.edu
*collections stored offsite require advance notice for retrieval and use
Questions about a specific topic? Contact:
University Archives: Sonya Rooney
Rare Books: Cassie Brand
Manuscript: Joel Minor
Local History: Miranda Rectenwald
Modern Graphic History Library: Skye Lacerte
Film & Media Archive: Andy Uhrich
Guides to Archive Collections
This guide contains an overview of collections that include primary sources that are broadly related to the 20th century decolonization movement. Topics include national self-determination, universal human rights, creation of the League of Nations and United Nations, anti-imperialism, and transregional history.
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Students for a Democratic Society Collection, Series 02Unusual pamphlets and publications from China, Cuba, Laos, Sri Lanka, North Korea and elsewhere (in English) from the 1960s. Titles include items such as: "Laos and the Victorious Struggle of the Lao People against U.S. Neo-colonialism," by Phoumi Vongvichit, 1969 and early issues of "Tricontinental," published in Havana by the "Executive Secretariat of the Organization of Solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America."
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Arthur Holly Compton PapersCompton was a Nobel prize-winning physics professor and WU Chancellor (1945 - 1953). In December 1949 he was one of several University chancellors who attended the "India-America Relations Conference" in New Delhi, India. In 1950 Compton presided over an assembly at UNESCO House in Paris to create the "World Brotherhood" organization, in cooperation with the National Conference of Christians and Jews.
See folders in Series 02, Box 13 for documents related to these programs, including conference agendas, speeches, travel documents, and so on. Also included are 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. -
Edna Gellhorn PapersA 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 Eleanore 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).
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Tricontinental available at University Archives(Note: Issues no. 1, 3, 48, 52-53, 70, 71, and 74-75 are only located at University Archives, in the Students for a Democratic Society Collection, Series 02.)
Online Primary Sources
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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.
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Empire Online This link opens in a new windowOver 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.
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Confidential Print: Middle East, 1839-1969 This link opens in a new windowHistorical 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.
Secondary Sources
Library Subjects:
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-- See Also: Autonomy and independence movements--subdivision History--Autonomy and independence movements under names of countries, etc.
United Nations Resources
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United Nations Collection at WashU's West Campus LibraryThe West Campus Library has a 'significant number' of official documents and
sales publications, from 1945 to 1993. Their collection is described more fully here.
With appreciation to Jennifer Lawrence (LIS Practicum Student, 2005).