Library Guides: Nigeria: Post-Colonial History, Politics, Life and Culture: Primary Sources

Government Documents

United States

-- Documents: reports, miscellaneous publications, memoranda, letters, both public and internal

ProQuest congressional This link opens in a new window
Provides users with access to a comprehensive collection of historic and current congressional information. Includes full text of congressional publications, finding aids, a bill tracking service, public laws and other research materials. The database is an effective source for general research in many academic disciplines, in addition to research related to specific legislative proposals and laws. Researchers can access information about Congress, including member biographical and committee assignment information, voting records, and financial data.

USA.gov
Includes docs from all branches of U.S. government. Includes state, local, and tribal docs.

Foreign relations of the United States This link opens in a new window
Official diplomatic record of U.S. relations with other countries. Contains important speeches, communiques, and other communications of State Department officials and diplomats. There is a delay (approximately 30-40 years) in the release of information as it becomes declassified.

-- Declassified U.S. Government Documents

Declassified Documents Reference System This link opens in a new window
"online access to over 500,000 pages of previously classified government documents. Covering major international events from the Cold War to the Vietnam War and beyond, this single source enables users to locate key information underpinning studies in international relations, American studies, United States foreign and domestic policy studies, journalism and more."--Provider's description. Usage info: Licensed for 2 simultaneous users.
Digital National Security Archive This link opens in a new window
Declassified U.S. Government documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by the National Security Archive, an independent non-governmental research institute and library at George Washington University. The Digital National Security Archive provides enhanced access to a selected portion of the NSA collection.

National Security Archive
The National Security Archive combines a unique range of functions: investigative journalism center, research institute on international affairs, library and archive of declassified U.S. documents.

-- Other Legal Resources

HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
Provides access to more than 70 million pages of legal history available in full-text. Journals offer comprehensive coverage from inception of more than 1,600 law and law-related periodicals and contain exact page images of the documents in PDF format as they appear in the original print.

USA.gov
Includes docs from all branches of U.S. government. Includes state, local, and tribal docs.

Sample Collections

House of Commons parliamentary papers, 1801-1900 (Online) This link opens in a new window
Access Member profiles to find information on Members of Parliament, including biographical information, parliamentary offices, constituencies and Hansard contributions.

The United Nations

UN in General

DAG Digital Library
Contains: Current digitized Security Council documents; digitized documents of other UN bodies;
links to other UN libraries and resources. Note: See especially "About Dag Depository" and its links to additional resources.
United Nations
See "Documents" tab for access to the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, General Assembly Resolutions, Security Council Resolutions, and the Secretary-General's Annual Report.

UN Agencies

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Achieving food security for all is at the heart of FAO's efforts – to make sure people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives.
International Court of Justice (ICJ)
The International Court of Justice, which has its seat in The Hague, is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations
International Labour Organization (ILO)
The only tripartite U.N. agency, since 1919 the ILO brings together governments, employers and workers representatives of 187 member States , to set labour standards, develop policies and devise programmes promoting decent work for all women and men.
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
UNICEF works in 190 countries and territories to protect the rights of every child. UNICEF has spent 70 years working to improve the lives of children and their families. Defending children's rights throughout their lives requires a global presence, aiming to produce results and understand their effects.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
UNESCO is responsible for coordinating international cooperation in education, science, culture and communication. It strengthens the ties between nations and societies, and mobilizes the wider public.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is a global organisation dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people.
World Trade Organization (WTO)
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible.
World Health Organization (WHO)
Aims to build a better, healthier future for people all over the world. Working through offices in more than 150 countries, WHO staff work side by side with governments and other partners to ensure the highest attainable level of health for all people.
Alphabetic Index of Websites of the United Nations System of Organizations
Additional UN organizations.

Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs)

Full-text Collections

Full-text collections include complete texts from a particular literary genre, time period, or covering a particular subject. In most of these collections, individual texts or bodies of texts are searchable, enabling you to trace ideas, subjects, words, and phrases to particular works or authors, as well as throughout types and genres of texts.

Border and migration studies online This link opens in a new window
" A collection that explores and provides historical background on more than thirty key worldwide border areas, including: U.S. and Mexico; the European Union; Afghanistan; Israel; Turkey; The Congo; Argentina; China; Thailand; and others. Featuring at completion 100,000 pages of text, 175 hours of video, and 1,000 images, the collection is organized around fundamental themes associated with border and migration issues."
Cold War : Global perspectives on East-West tensions, 1945-1991 This link opens in a new window
A searchable digital archive that covers the conflict that drove global politics from the end of World War II to the early 1990s. The news and analysis comes from reports gathered every day between the early 1940s and 1996 by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service, a U.S. government organization that became part of the CIA . These include translated and English-language radio and television broadcasts (transcripts), newspapers, periodicals and government documents.
Confidential print. Africa, 1834-1966. This link opens in a new window
Provides electronic access to the United Kingdom's Colonial, Dominion and Foreign Offices' confidential correspondence relating to Africa between 1834 and 1966. This resource provides a searchable collection of scores of official documents and maps covering almost the entire period of European conquest and colonisation of Africa (with the exception of Egypt).
Immigrations, migrations and refugees : global perspectives, 1941-1996 This link opens in a new window
A searchable digital archive that covers all aspects of 20th-century human migration. The news and analysis comes from reports gathered every day between the early 1940s and 1996 by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service, a U.S. government organization that became part of the CIA . These include translated and English-language radio and television broadcasts (transcripts), newspapers, periodicals and government documents.