Primary Sources: Records of the US Department of State for Panama & Brazil

image of document from resourcesThe Library has recently acquired online access to these government documents:

Panama: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1950-1963
Documents in this collection trace U.S.-Panamanian relations during the Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy administrations. Issues relating to shipping and the significance of the Panama Canal during the Cold War include: “Panama Stymies Use of Her Flag in Vietminh Trade … A parallel situation exists in the trade with Red China” (September 1955); and “Ships Enroute to U.S. from Soviet or Satellite Ports” (October 1957). A letter to U.S. Ambassador Julian F. Harrington details “the possibility that the Conference on the Law of the Sea in 1960 would result in a general acceptance by the United States of a six-mile breadth of territorial sea” (April 1960). Other documents chart day-to-day aspects of the economy: a report on sugar production with tables on sugar production and consumption (June 1950); and an announcement by the Panamá Canal Company of a contract award for native lumber (August 1952).

Brazil: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1960-1963
This archive focuses on Brazil in the early 1960s. Sample documents include a report from Recife on the cultivation and export of pineapples, “especially in the states of Pernambuco and Paraíba,” as “an increasing source of foreign exchange for the Northeast.” A November 1962 memorandum details the issuance of 40 billion cruzeiros in new currency “to meet runs on commercial banks during the political crisis, gradually flowing back to the Bank of Brazil following the return of normal conditions.” The collection covers the period following the resignation from the presidency of Janio Quadros in 1961 and the succession of Vice President Joao Goulart, whose years in office were marked by high inflation, economic stagnation, and the increasing influence of radical political elements. The armed forces, alarmed by these developments, staged a coup on March 31, 1964, during the administration of U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson.


Primary sources: Records of Syria, 1918-1973

Cover - Records of Syria The Library has acquired an electronic version of the 15 volume set Records of Syria, 1918-1973. This work is a selection, by Cambridge Archive Editions, of British diplomatic despatches and includes 12,000 pages of original research carried out at the National Archives in London. The resource is browsable and searchable and up to 50 pages at a time can be downloaded as a PDF document.

Some of the topics addressed in the documents include:

  • Issues arising from the proposed Sykes–Picot Agreement, 1916
  • The seizure of Damascus from the Turks in 1918
  • Arab Government and King Feisal
  • French occupation, 1920
  • The French Mandate and the struggle for self-government
  • Druze rebellion 1925/26
  • Proposed Franco-Syrian Treaty, 1936, and the failure of the French to ratify it
  • The Vichy administration overthrown, 1941
  • The Free French and General de Gaulle
  • The French imprison the Syrian Government, 1943
  • Bombardment of Damascus and the final break with the French
  • Independence in 1946 and the ensuing political instability
  • Michel Aflaq, Salah al-Din Bitar and the creation of the Ba’th party
  • Antun Sa’ada, executed in 1949, and the Parti Populaire Syrien
  • Reactions to the war with Israel, 1948, including the coup bringing Colonel Husni Zaim to power
  • The rise of the Ba’th Party and union with Egypt in 1958
  • Communism and relations with Russia
  • The Arab–Israeli War, 1967
  • The struggle for power between the Ba’th and the progressives 1968–1971
  • The final coup d’état which brought Hafiz al-Asad to power

Primary Sources: Confidential Print: North America, 1824-1961

 

Beginning in the 1820s, the Confidential Print series was a selection of key correspondence, orders, policy documents, treaty texts, and memoranda from Great Britain’s Foreign Office and Colonial Office distributed internally to the Monarchy, Cabinet, members of Parliament, and within their organizations. Confidential Print: North America sheds light on controversies surrounding slavery, the treatment of Canadian indigenous peoples, uprisings against colonial rule, labor unrest in the United states, Nazi and fascist activities in Latin America, and much more. The record groups included in this series of Confidential Print are:

CO 880 War and Colonial Department and Colonial Office: Confidential Print North America, 1939-1914

CO 884 War and Colonial Department and Colonial Office: West Indies, Confidential Print 1826-1961

FO 414 Foreign Office: Confidential Print North America, 1824-1941

FO 461 Foreign Office: Confidential Print America, 1942-1956

FO 462 Foreign Office: Confidential Print United States of America, 1947-1956

More details about the contents of these record groups can be found in the Nature & Scope page of the site.


Primary Sources: Confidential U.S. State Department Central Files, 1960-1969, Africa and the Middle East

Foreign service memo

The Library has acquired the online resource Confidential U.S. State Department Central Files, 1960-1969, Africa and the Middle East, which includes U.S. State Department Central Files that have not been microfilmed by the National Archives or distributed by other publishers. It contains a wide range of sensitive materials from U.S. diplomats in foreign countries: reports on political, military, and socioeconomic matters; interviews and minutes of meetings with foreign government officials; important letters, instructions, and cables sent and received by U.S. diplomatic personnel; and reports and translations from foreign journals and newspapers.

The Africa files cover the brutal civil war between Biafra and Nigeria in the late 1960s, the 1964 Rivonia trial of Nelson Mandela and seven leaders of the African National Congress, violent protest against the South African government coupled with police crackdowns on the resistance, the troubled relationship between the U.S. and the apartheid regime, and the first years of independence in Ghana and the Congo. The files on Egypt offer considerable detail on the Egyptian political structure which was dominated by Gamal Abdel Nasser in the 1960s. Political issues are also covered in extensive detail in the files on Iran, Iraq, and Israel. Documents on Iran follow Ali Amin’s tenure as prime minister and his succession by Asadollah Alam. In Israel, State Department personnel tracked developments in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament), the political fortunes of important members of the Israeli government, and the fragile security situation faced by Israel. The countries covered in this module are: Biafra/Nigeria; Congo; Egypt; Ghana; South Africa; Iran; Iraq; Israel; Lebanon; Palestine; Saudi Arabia; the Persian Gulf States (Aden, Bahrein, Kuwait, Muscat & Oman, Qatar, Trucial Sheiks); and Yemen.


Primary Sources: Foreign Office Files for the Middle East (updated)

The Library now has all three modules of the online resource Foreign Office Files for the Middle East, which include 1971-1974: The 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Oil Crisis; 1975-1978: The Lebanese Civil War and the Camp David Accords; and 1979-1981: The Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War.

The content is sourced from the British Government records at the UK National Archives. The following Foreign and Commonwealth Office file classes are included in their entirety:

CO 935/1-25            Middle East General, 1920-1956
FO 402/1-33            Afghanistan, 1922-1957
FO 406/1-84            Eastern Affairs (Middle East), 1812-1946
FO 407/1-237          Egypt/Sudan, 1839-1958
FO 416/1-113          Persia, 1899-1957
FO 423/1-70            Suez Canal, 1859-1947
FO 424/1-297          Turkey, 1841-1957
FO 437/1-9              Jordan, 1949-1957
FO 464/1-12            Arabia, 1947-1957
FO 481/1-17            Iraq, 1947-1969
FO 484/1-11            Lebanon, 1947-1957
FO 487/1-11            Middle East General, 1947-1957
FO 492/1-11            Israel/Palestine, 1947-1957
FO 501/1-10            Syria, 1947-1956

Selections from the Prime Minister’s Office files (PREM) and Defence Intelligence files (DEFE) are also included.


Primary Sources: Foreign Office Files for the Middle East

The Library has acquired the first module of the online resource Foreign Office Files for the Middle East, which covers 1971-1974: The 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Oil Crisis. Two additional modules, 1975-1978: The Lebanese Civil War and the Camp David Accords and 1979-1981: The Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War will be added by early 2017.

The content is sourced from the British Government records at the UK National Archives. The following Foreign and Commonwealth Office file classes are included in their entirety:

  • FCO 8/1552-4276, The Arabian and Middle East Department
  • FCO 9/1353-3353, The Southern European Department
  • FCO 17/1374-1798, The Eastern Department
  • FCO 39/768-1282, The North and East African Department
  • FCO 67/427-808, The Commodities and Oil Department
  • FCO 93/4-2658, The Near East and North Africa Department

Selections from the Prime Minister’s Office files (PREM) and Defence Intelligence files (DEFE) are also included.