• Speeches and public addresses: FDR's Message to Congress on the Neutrality Act
• Laws and policies: Nazi Nuremberg Laws
• Government debates/Hansard: War Situation report by Churchill to Parliament, Sept 1940
• Agreements and treaties: Yalta Conference Agreement, Feb. 1945
• Personal accounts: The Diary of Dawid Sierakowiak: Five Notebooks from the Lodz Ghetto
• News articles: New Enemy Attacks - Times of London, Sept 16, 1941

• Examine secondary sources on your topic carefully - look at the footnotes and bibliographies for primary documents mentioned there; examine the text of the secondary sources for mention of key reports, pieces of legislation or other primary documents you can look for; look for the names of important organizations or historical figures who may have created primary documents on your topic.
   
• When searching FOR collections of primary sources - usually via Google - include a term that might be used to describe an online primary source collection, such as: primary sources, primary documents, or use specific terms: letters, correspondence, diaries, posters, etc.
   
• Used advanced search options where possible - limit searches by DATE, or search for keywords in the TITLE of the source.
   
• Think of who might have collected the type of primary source you are looking for, then search that specific website e.g. historic
  British government documents? Search the British National Archives website.
  
  
• Evaluate the host of the source carefully - is the document legitimate? See the American Library Association's advice on how to tell.
   
• Plan ahead - primary source research can be very time consuming.

Online Primary Source Collections

• Allied Propaganda in World War II and and the British Political Warfare Executive

  Files of the Political Warfare Executive (PWE) from the U.K. National Archives, along with the secret minutes of the special 1944 War Cabinet Committee "Breaking the German Will to Resist." Included here is all the correspondence, minutes and agents’ mission files along with a complete collection of all the airborne propaganda leaflets dropped over mainland Europe during the war by the British and American air forces. Includes leaflets, single sheets and miniature books.

• Avalon Project - Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy: Declarations of war, armistice and surrender documents, conference and treaty records, among many others. Includes the International Military Tribunal for Germany and The Nuremberg Trials Collection.

• British Cabinet Papers - Look for the "total war" collection for World War II records. 

• Canadian War Museum: Canadian Newspapers and the Second World War:  An online exhibit featuring news clippings and editorials from Canadian newspapers related to the war. 

• EuroDocs: Online Sources for European History: An extensive list of transcriptions, facsimiles and translations of documents organized by country and historical time period. Note the Shoah (Holocaust) collection. 

• Franklin D. Roosevelt Library & Museum: Documents include wartime correspondence, speeches, press conference transcripts, and more.

• Hansard/Parliamentary Debates: Verbatim transcripts of the debates in Parliament. See here for British hansard and here for Canadian hansard. 

• Nazi and East German Propaganda Archive - Calvin University online archive; includes visual material, speeches and a wide range of propaganda literature.

• UK National Archives Online Collections: Includes several World War II-related subcollections from the private papers of the Foreign Secretary to Royal Air Force combat reports. Some collections charge a fee for access while others are free.

• United States Congressional Record: Daily Congressional proceedings may include legislative activity by the chambers and their committees, member remarks, communications from the president. Limit searches by date.
   

Print and Electronic Primary Sources via MRU's LibrarySearch Tool

• Try MRU's LibrarySearch (Search for articles, books, & more box on the the Library homepage).
   
• Add the term sources to your search, or use specific terms to describe a type of primary source: letters, correspondence, diaries, posters, etc. These are the tags  or subject headings used by. libraries to describe primary sources. 
   
• Sample primary source search, note the use of the drop-down menus in the advanced search. 
   
• OR use the LibrarySearch side panel to limit by resource type to newspapers

More Primary Source Collections

For more exhaustive lists of recommended primary source collections, try the following sections of this research guide:

• Primary Sources - including various historical newspapers.
• Holocaust Studies  

Use the MRU LibrarySearch tool - the search box on the library homepage - to find information in all formats (books, journal articles, videos, 

LibrarySearch Tips

• Log in with your MRU credentials for best results
• Use the sidebar options to refine your search (e.g. limit results to only relevant subjects, or to preferred resource type, e.g., books).
• Use the advanced search to search for important terms in the subject or title fields on the drop-down menus.
• Limit results to only peer-reviewed sources to find only scholarly journal articles.
• "Pinning" items allows you to return to them later, if you have logged in.

• Google Scholar - great for discovering journal articles. Make sure you adjust the "library links" settings to search MRU's collection.
• WorldCat - searches library catalogues across North America. An excellent tool for discovery books beyond MRU's collection.
• interlibrary loan - borrow items not owned by MRU via interlibrary loan service. 

Using effective search terms is an important part of finding relevant sources.

• Avoid using slang terms or abbreviations, e.g., WWII
• Experiment with various terms, e.g., World War Two, Second World War, World War II
• Libraries use specific subject tags or headings to describe the items they own. The heading used to describe World War II is World War 1939 - 1945. Using it as a search term can improve your results.