Guide to European and UK Libraries, Archives and Research Centers: Guide to W. European Archives
Colonialism
Digitized colonial primary sources at Columbia
Routledge guides to using historical sources
**Sources and methods in histories of colonialism : approaching the imperial archive
Imperios Research Group projects
Harvard guide to colonial collections
More information on specific countries/regions is available through the relevant tabs on this guide.
Archive of European Integration
The Archive of European Integration at the University of Pittsburgh is a free comprehensive repository for research materials on the topic of European integration and unification. As of 2020, there are nearly 78,000 documents and counting.
Sources on WWI and WWII
Western European Archives
*If you are planning to go to Europe and conduct in-person research in a library or archive, please consult the EU’s Re-Open portal: https://reopen.europa.eu/en.
Choose a country, then click on Services, and then Guidelines for Libraries and Museums. Each country has different requirements, restrictions, and policies! Most COVID protocols have been lifted but it is important to verify before you schedule travel...
- Archives Portal EuropeThe Archives Portal Europe provides access to information on archival material from different European countries as well as information on archival institutions throughout the continent. *Extremely useful! Run by the European Commission.
- East and Southeast European ArchivesDetails and useful info about national/state archives and large collections in many East and Southeast European countries
- EuroDocsLinks connect to European primary historical documents that are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile, or translated. In addition you will find video or sound files, maps, photographs or other imagery, databases, and other documentation. The sources cover a broad range of historical happenings (political, economic, social and cultural). The order of documents is chronological wherever possible
- Film & Television Collections in EuropeA comprehensive overview of film/tv collections in most European countries
- Foreign Relations of the United States (Online)Browse by specific volumes or search through presidential administrations on the website of the U.S. Office of the Historian. The digitized offerings are incomplete so you'll want to check both the print and online to be thorough. NB: Columbia has a subscription to this series through HeinOnline as well: http://www.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/cul/resolve?clio5708792.001
- Foreign Relations of the United States (Print Series)Presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity. The series, which is produced by the State Department's Office of the Historian, began in 1861 and now comprises more than 450 individual volumes. The volumes published over the last two decades increasingly contain declassified records from all the foreign affairs agencies.
- International Institute of Social HistoryLocated in The Hague, Netherlands, the institute has some 3000 archival collections related to the global history of labor, workers, and labor relations. The online index can be searched by keyword and by country.
- Official site for European Union Libraries and ArchivesIncludes links to Europeana (portal to digitized EU collections), EU media libraries, historical archives of European Parliament, European Central Bank, and the historical archives of the EU at the European University Institute of Florence, Italy.
The Routledge Guide to European Political Archives by
Call Number: EbookPublication Date: 2011Wide-ranging survey of the non-governmental archive sources for historians of post-war Europe. These major archive resources range from the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam to the Modern Records Centre at Warwick University, from the European University Institute at Florence to the Archive of Social Democracy near Bonn, from the Feltrinelli Institute in Milan to the Monnet Foundation in Lausanne.
- Osterreichisches StaatsarchivAustrian State Archives
*Please contact Ian Beilin, igb4@columbia.edu, for further support and questions.
Research guide to libraries and archives in the Low Countries. Martha L. Brogan. New York, Greenwood Press, 1991.
Butler Reference R027.9B B78
Archives générales du Royaume (State Archives of Belgium)
Belgian Colonial Archives in Brussels
Meredith Levin, mjl2209@columbia.edu, is the subject specialist for Belgium.
Slovník pro historiky a návštěvníky archivů. Václav Rameš. Praha, Libri, 2005.
Butler Stacks CD1150 .R36 2005g
Vademecum soudobých dějin Česká Republika : průvodce po archivech, badatelských institucích, knihovnách, sdruženích, muzeích a památnícíc. Praha : Ústav pro soudobé dějiny AV ČR, 2005.
Butler Stacks CD1150 .V33 2005g
A Guide to historical institutes, history departments, archives and museums in the Czech Republic by
Call Number: Butler Stacks DB2009 .G84 1995gPublication Date: 1995
Rob Davis, rhd2106@columbia.edu, is the subject specialist for Czech Republic.
The Archives Nationales is responsible for preserving French government records and has many archival materials relating to private citizens.
- As of December 2015, the Archives unsealed the collections relating to WWII and have made many documents available online, including materials relating to the Vichy government and the resistance.
Archives Nationales d'Outre-Mer preserves all of the French colonial archives.
- See also the French Colonial Historical Society for colonial archival materials.
- Archives de la famille Ferry (Jules Ferry, colonialism, etc.)- part of the Archives departementales des Vosges
- Maison d'Auguste Comte
Archives nationales du monde du travail is a branch of the Archives Nationales, though most of its archives are non-governmental. It stores the archives of businesses, trades unions, associations and societies, and architects.
Bibliothèque nationale de France catalogue
Gallica, portal to digitized materials at the BnF
RetroNews, the official news site of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, offers 400 titles of the French press published from 1631 to 1950 plus editorial contents highlighting press archives and advanced research tools.
Guide des sources de la traite négrière, de l'esclavage et de leurs abolitions (in print)
Les Archives nationales : état général des fonds. Jean Favier. Paris, Archives nationales , 1978-1988.
Butler Reference R016.944 F84
t. 1. L'Ancien Régime.
t. 2. 1789-1940.
t. 3. Marine et outre-mer.
t. 4. Fonds divers et additions et corrections aux tomes I, II et III
t. 5. 1940-1958, fonds conservés à Paris.
(An exhaustive print guide to the contents of the Archives Nationales)
Les sources de l'histoire ouvrière, sociale et industrielle en France (XIXème et XXème siècles) : guide documentaire. Michel Dreyfus. Paris , Editions ouvrières, 1987.Butler Reference R331.8 D82
Guide des papiers privés d'époque révolutionnaire . Françoise Hildesheimer. Paris, Archives Nationales, 1987.
Butler Reference R016.944 H55
Guide des papiers des ministres et secrétaires d'Etat de 1871 à 1974. Chantal de Tourtier-Bonazzi and François Pourcelet . Paris, Archives nationales, 1984.
Butler Reference R016.944 F843
*Meredith Levin, mjl2209@columbia.edu, is the subject specialist for France.
The Bundesarchive houses the German federal archives, with material from the Middle Ages to the present. ARGUS is its search engine.
Deutsche Archive im Internet is the list of official and unofficial German archives maintained by the Archivschule in Marburg.
Zentrale Datenbank Nachlässe is an online guide to German personal papers held in German archives and in some foreign ones.
Deutsche Wirtschaftsarchive: Nachweis historischer Quellen in Unternehmen, Kammern und Verbänden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Edited by Klara van Eyll . 2nd edition, Stuttgart : F. Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden, 1987-1991. 3 v.
Butler Stacks HC282.2 .D48 1994g
The GDR in German archives : a guide to primary sources and research institutions on the history of the Soviet zone of occupation and the German Democratic Republic, 1945-1990. Bernd Schäfer, Henning Hoff, and Ulrich Mählert. Washington, D.C. : German Historical Institute, 2002.
Butler Reference R016.943087 Sch14
The records of German history in German and certain other record offices : with short notes on libraries and other collections = Die Archivalien zur deutschen Geschichte in deutschen und einigen anderen Archiven. Butler Reference, 301, R016.943 H11
Archives in Germany: an introductory guide to institutions and sources Butler Stacks CD1220 .A78 2001g
German History in Documents and Images (from the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C.)
German Colonial History online
*also reach out to Ian Beilin, igb4@columbia.edu, the Librarian for German Studies!
Ottoman Studies and archives in Greece: Butler Stacks DR438.95.G7 B35 2003g
Archival repositories in the Balkan states: Butler Offsite 025.171 Un3434
General State Archives in Greece
*Karen Green, klg19@columbia, is the subject specialist for Greece.
Directory of Irish archives. Edited by Seamus Helferty. Portland, Oregon. Four Courts Press, 2011.
Butler Reference CD1100 .D57 2011
Church of Ireland Records: Butler Stacks CD1118.5.A1 R34 2000
The National Archives of Ireland
Irish Archives Resource (portal that links to archives across Ireland)
*John Tofanelli, jt628@columbia.edu, is the subject specialist for Ireland.
Archivio centrale dello Stato are the main national archives of Italy. However, the provinces have their own state archives, which have much historical information.
Guida generale degli archivi di Stato italiani. Piero D'Angiolini. Rome, Ministero per i beni culturali e ambientali, Ufficio centrale per i beni archivistici, 1981-1994.
Butler Reference R016.945 G94
Vatican Archives : an inventory and guide to historical documents of the Holy See. New York, Oxford University Press, 1998.
Butler Reference R016.945 V456
Extensive list of archives across Italy
*Meredith Levin, mjl2209@columbia.edu, is the subject specialist for Italy.
Research guide to libraries and archives in the Low Countries. Martha L. Brogan. New York, Greenwood Press, 1991.
Butler Reference R027.9B B78
National Archives of The Netherlands
Central Bureau voor Genealogie (genealogical/family research in The Netherlands)
*Meredith Levin, mjl2209@columbia.edu, is the subject specialist for The Netherlands.
Discovery in the Archives of Spain and Portugal: uincentenary essays, 1492-1992 by
Call Number: Butler Stacks CD1851 .D57 1994ISBN: 156024643XPublication Date: 1994Roteiro de fontes da história portuguesa contemporânea by
Call Number: Butler Stacks CD1882.A2 R67 1984Publication Date: 19841-3. Arquivos de Lisboa
4. Arquivos do Brasil- Os arquivos e as bibliotecas em Portugal byPublication Date: 1920Os serviços das bibliotecas e arquivos do estado em Portugal no último quiénio (1913-1918)
pte. I. Bibliotecas e arquivos.
pte. II. Bibliotecas populares e móveis.
pte. III. Comentários e observaçoes finais.
*Socrates Silva, ss5000@columbia.edu, is the subject specialist for Spain, Portugal, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
State Archives of the Russian Federation
The National Library of Russia
Access to Russian Archives is a freely available online resource containing descriptions of approximately 80,000 archival fonds from more than 20 guidebooks on Russian federal archives and 40 regional archives published from 1987 to 2004.
ArcheoBiblioBase: archives in Russia. A brief guide to over 50 major Russian archives located in Moscow and St. Petersburg, based on:
Archives of Russia : a directory and bibliographic guide to holdings in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Edited by Patricia Kennedy Grimsted. Armonk, N.Y , M.E. Sharpe, 2000.
The descriptions in the printed guide are more complete, but the online catalog is more up to date.
Butler Reference Desk R016.947 G8851
Archives and manuscript repositories in the USSR, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Belorussia. Patricia Kennedy Grimsted. Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press, 1981.
Butler Reference R016.947 G883
A microfiche collection of finding aids for archives and manuscripts from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Belorussia, based on the Grimsted catalog, is in the Microform Reading Room at MICFICHE FX3 1973.
*Rob Davis, rhd2106@columbia.edu, is the subject specialist for Russia and the Soviet Union.
Sweden
Libraries and Archives in Sweden Butler Offsite 027.0481 Ot8
Roots in Sweden: the genealogist's guide to Swedish archives Butler Stacks CS922 .S33 1997
Arkiven inför tvåtusentalet : programskrift för Riksarkivet och Landsarkiven Butler Stacks CD1836 .R54 1994g
The Diplomatica collection in the Swedish National Archives Butler Stacks DL658 .T6
Denmark
Kongehusarkivet : fra kongerne Frederik VI's, Christian VIII's og Frederik VII's tid Butler Stacks 948.9 D4173
Finland
Arkiston avain : Kansanrunousarkiston kortistot, hakemistot, luettelot, lyhenteet Butler Stacks GR200 .S84 2004
Norway
Norske arkivkatalogar : oversikt over katalogar, register, mikrofilm, kjeldeutgåver m.m. i norske arkiv Butler Reference, 301, R948.1 N99
Iceland
Icelandic libraries and archives: a selective guide for researchers
*Meredith Levin, mjl2209@columbia.edu, is the subject specialist for Scandinavia.
National Historical Archives of Spain
Guía de los archivos y las bibliotecas de la Iglesia en España. León, Asociación Española de Archiveros Eclesiásticos, 1985.
v. 1. Archivos
v. 2. Bibliotecas, personal
Butler Stacks CD1878.A1 G85 1985
Archival resources on Spain in CLIO
*Socrates Silva, ss5000@columbia.edu, is the subject specialist for Spain, Portugal, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
Guides and inventories for Swiss archives
*For help with French Swiss archives, contact Meredith Levin, mjl2209@columbia.edu. For help with German Swiss archives, contact Ian Beilin, igb4@columbia.edu.