Yale University Library Research Guides: Yale Special Collections Guide to Collections on American Diplomacy: Home

Researching American Diplomacy: The Basics

Most archival and primary source material concerning the diplomacy of the United States will be found either in State Department records, presidential records, or the personal papers of diplomats.

These records and personal papers are mostly found in government and university archives but a substantial number are accessible online or as printed publications or microforms.

Standard Resources

Foreign Relations of the United States series

Originally a print publication, this State Department series gathers together the most important official records documenting the foreign relations and diplomacy of the United States.

Foreign Relations of the United States, 1861-1960
University of Wisconsin Digital Collections
Foreign Relations of the United States, 1945-1980
U.S. State Department Office of the Historian

Diplomacy Before 1861

Declassified Documents

CIA Electronic Reading Room
Declassified CIA documents.
Digital National Security Archive
FOIArchive
A joint project of History Lab and Columbia University Libraries, FOIArchive is an aggregated open access database and platform consisting of over 4.6 million declassified documents. In addition to this current web search interface, FOIArchive is also accessible through the “U.S. Government Information” portal of Columbia University Libraries’ online catalog and through an open API.
U.S. Declassified Documents Online (Gale Primary Documents)
U.S. Declassified Documents Online.
Formerly known as Declassified Documents Reference System
U.S. State Department Virtual Reading Room
Information about declassified U.S. State Department Records and information about how to submit a FOIA request.
Wilson Center Digital Archive
The Digital Archive contains once-secret documents from governments all across the globe, uncovering new sources and providing fresh insights into the history of international relations and diplomacy. The Digital Archive is overseen by the Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program.

Research Guides

NARA Foreign Policy Research Guide
This guide from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) offers further assistance with State Department and other federal records.

U.S. Foreign Service Publications

Foreign Service Journal Archive
Published by the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) beginning in 1919, the Foreign Service Journal includes news and updates of the U.S. foreign service community serving at posts throughout the world

League of Nations Archives

Total Access to the League of Nations Archives: Between 2017 and 2022, with the support of a generous grant from a private Genevan foundation, the United Nations Library Geneva, Institutional Memory Section (IMS), launched a massive five-year project to digitize the entire League of Nations Archives, estimated to contain some 15 million pages of content. This project, called the Total Digital Access to the League of Nations Archives Project (LONTAD), will allow for the comprehensive study of this rich and unique collection and will help illuminate the diplomacy of the interwar period.

Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Oral Histories

Association for Diplomatic Studies: Since 1986, the Foreign Affairs Oral History Program of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST) has recorded more than 2600 interviews with former participants in the U.S. foreign affairs process. Collectively, these oral histories span over 80 years. About 60 new interviews are added annually. The series also contains some significant oral histories dealing with American diplomacy, which were provided by universities and presidential libraries.

The oral history collection has become one of the largest in the country on any subject and the most significant collection on foreign affairs.

U.S. Secretaries of State Personal Papers at Yale

Yale University Library has major personal papers collections for five individuals who have served as secretary of state available for research at Manuscripts and Archives:

William M. Evarts (1877-1881)

Henry L. Stimson (1929-1933)

Dean Acheson (1949-1953)

Henry A. Kissinger (1973-1977)

Cyrus Vance (1977-1980)

This section of the guide offers an introduction to these collections and additional resources for research on these individuals and their diplomacy.

Secretary of State William M. Evarts (1877-1881)

Evarts Family Papers (MS 200)

The Evarts Family papers include papers from William M. Evarts who served as Rutherford B. Hayes’ secretary of state from 1877 to 1881.

Most of the letters dating from the years when Evarts served as secretary of state relate to political patronage or appointments to the military academies although Evarts' personal correspondence does contain a handful of unofficial communications from men in the diplomatic and consular service.

There are papers and correspondence related to the International Monetary Conference held in Paris in 1881, to which William M. Evarts was a delegate. They include general instructions to the United States delegation on behalf of President Garfield from James G. Blaine, copies of telegrams and dispatches, as well as letters.

The correspondence of William Maxwell Evarts includes letters from Chester A. Arthur, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Theodore Roosevelt. Cyrus W. Field wrote to Evarts in 1867 about the trans-Atlantic cable and about the feasibility of a trans-Pacific cable in 1880. One segment of correspondence dates from William Maxwell Evarts' diplomatic mission to London and Paris in 1863-1864.

Related Archival Collections Beyond Yale

William M. Evarts Papers (Library of Congress)
Another major collection of Evarts’ personal papers which contains much material related to his service as secretary of state.

Related Online Sources

Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, with the Annual Message of the President
The 1877-1881 editions publish diplomatic correspondence and other State Department records from Evarts' tenure as secretary of state.

Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson (1929-1933)

Henry Lewis Stimson Papers (MS 465)

The papers consist of correspondence, letter books, speeches, articles, letters to the editor, statements prepared for presentation to Congress and substantial subject files with clippings, printed matter, reports, memoranda and photographs related to Henry Stimson's various public offices. While the official records of Stimson's service (as Secretary of War under President Taft, Secretary of State under Herbert Hoover and as Secretary of War in the cabinets of Presidents Roosevelt and Truman) are all in the National Archives, the substantial correspondence, as well as other papers, in this collection provide important records of his activities as a private citizen and in office and on special missions. His work in Latin America in helping to settle a dispute between Chile and Peru in 1926, and as the United States representative seeking to bring an end to a civil war in Nicaragua in 1927 is shown in the papers with first-hand reports and background material.

His service as Secretary of State under Hoover (1929-1933) is particularly well documented with memoranda of conversations with foreign diplomatic representatives, and briefing books presenting background information on foreign affairs for the period. Of major importance are Stimson's diaries which span the years 1904-1945, covering the entire period of his public career and provide almost daily, detailed accounts of his activities while he served as secretary of state. The diaries also provide a detail account of Stimson’s service as governor general of the Philippines (1928-1929) and references to the early stages of the development of the atom bomb.

Related Archival Collections Beyond Yale

Herbert Hoover Presidential Library
Find presidential records related to Stimson's service as secretary of state here.

Related Online Sources

Foreign Relations of the United States
The annual volumes of this series for the years 1929-1933 contain State Department and other government records concerning Stimson's tenure as secretary of state.

Secretary of State Dean Acheson (1949-1953)

Dean Acheson Papers (MS 1087)

The papers include correspondence, writings, speeches, memoranda, and photographs, documenting Dean Acheson's life after leaving the U.S. State Department in 1953. The correspondence and memoranda contain Acheson's views on many contemporary issues in American foreign policy such as Korea, the Middle East, NATO, Germany, the war in Vietnam, and Rhodesia and South Africa.

The papers also include Acheson's later reflections on his years in public life and assessments of the U.S. government under the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations. Acheson's numerous correspondents include personal friends, American and foreign government officials, journalists, and a wide range of other persons in public life. The papers also include manuscripts, notes, and reviews for several of Acheson's books.

Related Archival Collections Beyond Yale

Harry S. Truman Presidential Library
The Truman Library has presidential records related to Acheson's service as secretary of state including a substantial collection of Acheson's personal papers which document his service in the Roosevelt and Truman administrations.

Related Online Sources

Foreign Relations of the United States
The annual volumes of this series for the years 1949-1953 contain State Department and other government records concerning Acheson's tenure as secretary of state.

Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger (1973-1977)

Henry A. Kissinger Papers, Parts I-III

Kissinger donated his personal papers to both Yale University and the Library of Congress resulting in a collection divided into three distinct parts. Parts II and III have been digitized in their entirety, but some access restrictions apply. Parts II and III can be accessed here.

Part I

The first part of the Kissinger papers document his life from 1957 to 1982 and consists largely of copies of records from his government service. Kissinger donated this collection to the Library of Congress. Contact their Manuscript Division for further assistance with Part I. Part I contains the most significant concentration of papers on Kissinger’s official diplomacy, but these papers are still undergoing declassification review by the federal government and are not available for research.

Part II

Part II is a large collection that primarily concerns Kissinger’s career before and after his service in the Nixon and Ford administrations. There is some material in Part II that concerns the period 1969-1976, but it is usually of a more personal nature.

Part III

With only a few exceptions, the Part III papers concern Kissinger’s career after he stepped down as secretary of state.

Related Archival Collections Beyond Yale

Richard Nixon Presidential Library
The library has numerous collections documenting Kissinger’s diplomacy including the Kissinger Office Files, from his work as national security advisor, and the White House tapes, available online, which provide recordings of many of Kissinger’s discussions of foreign policy with President Nixon.

If planning to conduct archival research with Nixon presidential records, it is useful to know that up until 2010, the Nixon presidential materials had been located at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, and so citations of these records prior to this time will reference College Park. All of the Nixon presidential materials are now available at the library in Yorba Linda, California.
Gerald Ford Presidential Library
The National Security Adviser’s Files and other collections provide extensive documentation of Kissinger’s work in the Ford administration. A small but growing portion of the Ford Library's collections are available digitally through its website and some of these are Kissinger related.
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
Several sets of Kissinger State Department records less frequently cited in the scholarly literature can be found at NARA through their catalog, searching by Kissinger's name. Also in the NARA catalog, you can find the Director’s Files of Winston Lord, Policy Planning Staff which have been used by the scholarly literature in documenting Kissinger’s diplomacy. See Jussi Hanhimäki, The Flawed Architect: Henry Kissinger and American Foreign Policy (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Related Online Collections

Foreign Relations of the United States
The best starting point for documents on Kissinger's diplomacy during the years he served as national security advisor and secretary of state (1969-1977).
State Department Electronic Telegrams, 1973-1977
All available State Department telegrams for the years 1973 to 1977 can be accessed online through the National Archives' Access to Archival Databases (AAD) web interface. Browse "Diplomatic Records" under the "Wars/ International Relations" category to find the telegrams most easily.

Kissinger Telephone Conversation Transcripts (Telcons)

Kissinger’s staff produced approximately 15,000 transcripts of telephone conversations he had while in office from 1969 to 1976.

Digital National Security Archive
State Department Virtual Reading Room
The telcons from 1973 to 1976 when Kissinger was secretary of state are available to anyone through this State Department website.

Secretary of State Cyrus Vance (1977-1980)

Cyrus R. and Grace Sloan Vance Papers (MS 1664)

The Cyrus Vance papers document his professional and personal activities during and after his service in government with the Department of Defense and from 1977 to 1980 as secretary of state.

Of particular significance for the study of American diplomacy are background materials, correspondence, position papers, and handwritten meeting notes relating to: SALT II arms control negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union; the 1978 Camp David summit and Middle East peace accords signed between Egypt and Israel; diplomatic relations with the Far East, especially China; and negotiations to release the American hostages in Iran.

There are also handwritten notes and other materials on the foreign policy priorities of the Carter administration as it transitioned into office. Proposals, reports, handwritten notes, and correspondence provide insight into the dispute between Greece and Turkey over Cyprus in 1967 and the Paris Peace Talks on Vietnam in 1968. Grace Sloane Vance’s papers document her trip with First Lady Rosalynn Carter to Latin America in 1977.

Related Archival Collections Beyond Yale

Jimmy Carter Presidential Library
The Carter Library is the best resource for presidential records concerning Vance’s work as secretary of state.
State Department
One collection of Vance’s papers is still in the possession of the State Department and is only available through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request: the Office of the Secretary, Personal Files of Secretary Cyrus Vance, Lot 80D135.
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
One collection of Vance's papers remains classified at NARA and is only available through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request: the Office of the Secretariat Staff (S/S) Files, Records of Secretary of State Cyrus Vance,1977-1980, Lot 84D241

Related Online Collections

Foreign Relations of the United States
Only a few volumes from this series have been completed so far for Vance's years as secretary of state (1977-1980).

Other U.S. Diplomats' Personal Papers at Yale

George Jacob Abbot Papers (MS 28)
Abbot was Daniel Webster’s private secretary during Webster’s second term as Secretary of State (1850-1852). Abbot also served as United States consul at Bradford and Sheffield, England, from 1864 to 1870, and as consul in Goderich and Windsor, Canada, from 1877 to 1879. The papers include correspondence written during his diplomatic service in England and Canada as well as materials related to Webster’s work as Secretary of State.
Gordon Auchincloss Papers (MS 580)
The papers consist of correspondence, a diary, memoranda, and printed material largely relating to Gordon Auchincloss’s position in 1917 as assistant counselor in the State Department, and to his position as secretary to Edward M. House at the armistice negotiations and the Paris Peace Conference. The diary touches upon foreign affairs beyond World War I including U.S. relations with Argentina, Great Britain, Mexico, Poland, and Russia.
Beer Family Papers (MS 73)
The papers contain a small amount of correspondence concerning Richard Cameron Beer’s work in the United States Consular Service. Between 1917 and 1925, he was posted as vice consul to Nassau, Ottawa, Havana, Budapest, and several places in Great Britain.
William Henry Bishop Papers (MS 83)
Consular papers and diaries document Bishop’s service as United States consul in Genoa and Palermo, Italy, from 1903 to 1910.
Chester Bowles Papers (MS 628)
Extensive correspondence and other materials document Bowles’ political career and wide experience in American foreign. The papers cover his two terms as United States ambassador to India (1951-1953, 1963-1969), his service as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (1961), his work as the President’s Special Representative and Adviser on African, Asian, and Latin American Affairs (1961-1962), and his role as a prominent foreign policy advisor to the Democratic party. The papers document richly Bowles’ involvement in international economic development policies.
L. Paul Bremer III Papers (MS 2123)
The collection documents the career of L. Paul Bremer III in the United States State Department and his work in the private sector. The bulk of material in the collection centers on Bremer's tenure as administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq from May 2003 until June 2004. This material includes subject files, correspondence with his family, contemporaneous notes, speeches, and his daily schedules while in Iraq. Material related to the writing of his 2006 memoir, My Year in Iraq, is also part of the collection. Additional material including editorials, interviews, working papers, and notes provide insight into United States foreign relations during the final decade of the Cold War and the global war on terrorism.
John and Preston Brown Papers (MS 105)
Letters from James Brown were written from Paris (1823-1833) when he was United States ambassador to France.
William Hepburn Buckler Papers (MS 654)
The bulk of the papers, including correspondence, notes, and memoranda, relate to Buckler’s work as a member of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace in Paris, 1918-1919. However, a portion of his correspondence and a number of political reports document his service as Secretary to the American Legation in Madrid from 1907 to 1909 and as Special Agent at the U.S. Embassy in London from 1914 to 1918. In the latter position, he regularly corresponded with Edward House.
William C. Bullitt Papers (MS 112)
These extensive papers document William Bullitt’s career as a diplomat in the Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt administrations. His numerous positions included Assistant Secretary of State (1917-1918), attaché to the American Commission to Negotiate the Peace (1918-1919), the first U.S. ambassador to the USSR (1933-1936), and ambassador to France (1936-1940). As ambassador to France, he wrote regular reports to Roosevelt on conditions in France and around Europe during the outbreak of World War II. The papers also document Bullitt’s secret mission to Russia in 1919 that he undertook with instructions from Secretary of State Robert Lansing to investigate conditions there.
Paul C. Daniels Papers (MS 1903)
The papers document Daniels’ career from 1927 to 1953 as a Foreign Service Officer and diplomat specializing in Latin American affairs. His papers also concern the Antarctic Treaty and his role as special advisor on Antarctica to the State Department from 1957 to 1959.
John William Davis Papers (MS 170)
Williams’ papers include diaries and correspondence concerning his ambassadorship to Great Britain from 1918 to 1921.
Carolyn Davidson Hill Diary and Family Papers (MS 2122)
Carolyn Davidson Hill worked as a clerk for the United States State Department at several posts in Africa and Asia during World War II. After the war, Hill was posted to Chongqing, China, where she served from 1945-1946, followed by a posting in Beijing. Her final State Department assignment was in Shanghai, where she worked for the American Consulate General from 1946-1948. The collection includes the diary Hill kept during the Battle of Shanghai in 1949. The diary, photographs, and related material document the experiences of Hill, her husband Horace "Hod" Hill, and other workers at the Caltex Oil Terminal outside of Shanghai as the Nationalist and Communist forces engaged in intense fighting. .
Edward Mandell House Papers (MS 466)
One of America’s greatest diplomats, Edward House served as Woodrow Wilson’s chief negotiator in Europe (1917-1919) and as chief deputy for Wilson at the Paris Peace Conference. His major achievements were participating in the drafting of Wilson’s Fourteen Points and the Covenant of the League of Nations; and securing an armistice based on American ideals. His extensive diaries (1912-1926) are remarkable for their frank assessments of personalities and projects of the era. [diaries available online] Materials relating to the Paris Peace Conference include minutes of meetings of the Supreme Council and memoranda from various countries presenting claims. Correspondence includes letters to and from Woodrow Wilson and other American and foreign politicians.
Humphreys-Marvin-Olmsted Collection (MS 857)
The papers of David Humphreys deals with his labors in Europe as an agent of the United States government (1790-1801), both as commissioner for Algerian affairs empowered to negotiate peace with Algiers and arrange ransom for American prisoners, and as minister plenipotentiary to Spain charged with maintaining peaceful relations with Spain and her American colonies. Also included in this collection are the papers of George William Erving, who was chargé d’affaires in Madrid (1804-1809) during Humphreys’ tenure.
Robert P. Joyce Papers (MS 1901)
Memoirs and other writings document Joyce’s career in the Foreign Service from 1928 to 1962. There is also a small amount of correspondence with Paul Nitze, expert on U.S. foreign policy.
Arthur Bliss Lane Papers (MS 5)
Bliss’ papers contain extensive official and personal correspondence and other materials concerning his diplomatic career from 1916 to 1947. Initially serving in posts in Italy, Poland, United Kingdom, France, and Switzerland, he returned to work in the State Department (1923-1925) before serving in Mexico and Nicaragua until 1937. Lane served as minister to Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, Yugoslavia, and Costa Rica, and then as ambassador to Columbia (1942-1944) and Poland (1944-1947).
Robert Abercrombie Lovett Papers (MS 1617)
Consisting mostly of personal correspondence and writings, Lovett’s papers date primarily from periods of his adult life when he was not serving in government. The correspondence includes many exchanges with scholars doing research on World War II and the Truman administration. Lovett served in the Truman administration as under secretary of state from 1947 to 1949 and held a number of other senior governmental posts including assistant secretary of war for air (1941-1945), deputy secretary of defense (1950-1951), and secretary of defense (1951-1953).
Donald Lyman Papers (GEN MSS 2122)
This collection contains diary entries, memos, calendars, and other papers created by, or related to, Donald Lyman. Materials also include a sixty-five page diary documenting Lyman's work in Mexico as Special Assistant to U. S. Ambassador John Gavin and Acting Deputy Chief of Mission from 1981-1984.
David Hunter Miller Papers (MS 825)
Correspondence and memoranda related to the work of David Miller and Gordon Auchincloss (who were law partners) as special representatives of the State Department from 1917 to 1918. Their task was to gather information about commercial and financial activities based in the United States that might benefit Germany and her allies.
John Flournoy Montgomery Papers (MS 353)
The papers consist of correspondence from 1933 to 1939 documenting Montgomery’s role as ambassador to Hungary. Included are letters from prominent Hungarians and members of the U.S. diplomatic corps.
John Hall Paxton Papers (MS 629)
The papers consist of correspondence, writings, photographs, and printed materials of Paxton, a U.S. foreign service officer. They reflect primarily Paxton’s service in China from 1925 to 1949 although there is a small amount of material concerning his posting as Consul to Isfahan, Iran (1951-1953). His papers include reports of Chinese economic and political conditions, memoranda on Nanking and the Nationalist takeover in 1927; an account of the U.S.S. Panay incident in 1937, to which he was an eyewitness; a record of his internment in Nanking by the Japanese in 1942; and articles and letters on his dramatic escape from China in 1949.
Piatt Family Papers (MS 1038)
The papers include correspondence from John James Piatt, who served as the U.S. Consul in Cork, Ireland, from 1882 to 1893.
Edwards Pierrepont Papers (MS 400)
A small amount of correspondence concern the years (1876-1877) that Pierrepont served as U.S. minister to Great Britain.
Frank Lyon Polk Papers (MS 656)
The bulk of the material relates to Polk’s Department of State service and includes correspondence with political figures, letterpress copybooks (1915-1917), and diaries (1915-1920). Materials relating to the American Commission to Negotiate Peace and the League of Nations are also included. Polk served as State Department counselor (1915-1919), acting secretary of state (1918-1919), and under secretary of state (1919-1920).
Joseph Verner Reed (1937-) Papers (MS 1964)
The papers consist of correspondence, scrapbooks, speeches, topical files and photographs. They primarily document Reed's service as ambassador to Morocco (1981-1985) and his tenure as special assistant to David Rockefeller at Chase Manhattan Bank, which includes materials documenting Rockefeller's role in gaining permission for the exiled Shah of Iran to undergo medical treatment in the United States in 1980.
Ogden Rogers Reid Papers (MS 755)
Correspondence and subject files document Reid’s appointment as ambassador to Israel in 1959 and his service there until 1961.
James Rockwell Sheffield Papers (MS 446)
The papers include correspondence, scrapbooks, and a 79-page memoir documenting Sheffield’s service as ambassador to Mexico from 1924 to 1927. As ambassador, Sheffield responded to the Calles government’s nationalization of American property, and his correspondence reflects his staunch defense of American property rights.
Albert William Sherer, Jr. Papers (MS 1487)
The papers include the notebooks Sherer kept as ambassador to the Republic of Guinea (1970-1972) and numerous files concerning the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Helsinki Accords to which he was the chief of the U.S. delegation (1974-1975). Sherer was a career foreign service officer and his papers document to a lesser degree other posts he held including ambassador to Togo (1967-1970), Equatorial Guinea (1968-1970), and Czechoslovakia (1972-1975).
Ravi D. Goel collection on Philip Dodson Sprouse (MS 2114)
The collection consists of correspondence related to United States Ambassador to Cambodia Philip Dodson Sprouse, including letters from former Secretary of State Dean Acheson and General George C. Marshall. Also includes letters from diplomatic colleagues and family, reactions to Sprouse's death, photographs of Sprouse, and research and biographical material relating to Sprouse compiled by Ravi D. Goel.
James Watson Webb Papers (MS 683)
A substantial portion of the correspondence in these papers documents Webb’s service as U.S. Minister to Brazil during the Civil War.
John Hay and Betsy Cushing Whitney Family Papers (MS 1938)
Speeches, photographs, and correspondence document John Hay Whitney’s service as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1961.
Samuel Wells Williams Family Papers (MS 547)
The bulk of the correspondence among these papers relates to Samuel W. Williams, missionary, diplomat, and Sinologue. The period between 1845 and 1855 has extensive correspondence with missionaries and with James Dwight Dana and Matthew C. Perry, whom William accompanied on his mission to open Japan and on his return visit in 1854. William’s letters to friends and family comment on progress made and their reception in Japan. A journal Williams kept also documents the Perry expedition. In 1856, Williams became secretary and interpreter to the American Legation in China and many of the letters refer to Chinese problems of the following 20 years.