The first step in finding primary sources is knowing where to look. Here are some useful repositories for study at the War College. If there is something you're trying to locate, but can't find, please reach out to the NWC Archivists at archives@usnwc.edu - we're always happy to help!
Naval War College Archives & Special Collections
Discover items in our collections by using the finding aids, registers, and inventories in this database. These finding aids may differ in format or level of detail, but they are all intended to help you find the material you need, similar to a book's index.
Some finding aids contain links to digitized versions of documents or images, but in most instances you must make an appointment to view these non-circulating collections in the Archives’ Reading Room.
RIAMCO (R.I. Archival and Manuscripts Collections Online)
A consortium of Rhode Island repositories where members can post finding aids. Researchers come to this one site to see collections relative to their research from 25 institutions across RI (and New England). NWC currently has 23 finding aids available to view here.
Newport Historical Society
NHs' collections span from colonial Newport to the present, including photographs and more than 1,500 linear feet of manuscript materials, including merchants’ records from the 18th to the 20th centuries, church records for fourteen congregations, log books for dozens of ships, family papers for hundreds of Newporters, an extensive African-American history collection, town and city records, and a unique collection of diaries and journals.
Rhode Island Historical Society
RIHS is the fourth-oldest state historical society in the United States. It has the largest and most broadly significant historical collections in existence relating to Rhode Island.
These collections include 25,000 museum objects, over 100,000 printed books, 110,000 photographs, 3,400 sound recordings (including oral histories and music), 9 million feet of moving picture film, over 1,100 manuscript collections (measuring over 7,000 linear feet), 3,400 maps, 20,000 prints, 16,000 pieces of ephemera, 15,000 architectural drawings, and several smaller, miscellaneous categories of historical holdings
Brown University
The Brown Library system holds more than 500 named collections which are distinguished by their specialized subject matter, age, uniqueness, or value. For digitized collections, see the Brown Digital Repository.
Providence Public Library
Thanks to a century and a half of collecting, the Library is home to tens of thousands of historic books, manuscripts, photographs, ephemera, maps and other artifacts representing more than 4,000 years of human history and culture from around the world.
Veterans History Project (Library of Congress)
Includes thousands of personal narratives including oral history interviews and original manuscript material, such as memoirs, letters, diaries, artwork, and photographs.
Naval Historical Foundation Oral History Program
Over two hundred oral histories that preserve the history of the Military Service and offer valuable insights into the history and practices of the Navy.
Naval History Project at Columbia University
This project, conducted with the cooperation of the Director of Naval History (Navy Department), covers many phases of modern naval history: training, procurement, logistics, ordnance, naval aviation, submarines, scientific development, salvage, and intelligence. Operational strategy and tactics during World War I and World War II are analyzed in detail.
Oral Histories at National Museum of the Pacific War
Captures the stories of over 4,100 veterans.
U.S. Coast Guard Oral History Interviews & Memoir Program
United States Naval Academy
The Special Collections & Archives Department (SC&A) of Nimitz Library contains rare books, manuscripts, photographs, and other documents, as well as the official records (archives) of USNA.
U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office
The Historian's Office maintains the Coast Guard Heritage Asset Collection of art and artifacts and the Archive, holding original art, objects, photographs, oral histories, and documents from the creation of the Service to today.
U.S. Army Heritage & Education Center
For research into the U.S. Army and its operating environment.
ArchiveGrid
Includes over 5 million records describing archival materials, bringing together information about historical documents, personal papers, family histories, and more. With over 1,000 different archival institutions represented, ArchiveGrid helps researchers looking for primary source materials held in archives, libraries, museums and historical societies.
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
NARA maintains permament federal records and historical documents of the U.S. government. NARA also oversees Presidential Libraries beginning with President Hoover. To find copies of NARA federal records or information about records and their historical context, you will have to look in several places. The link above provides a list of NARA’s databases, online guides, publications, and exhibits. Some of the ones we like:
National Archives Catalog
NARA Search by Topic
Search by Federal Agency
NARA record groups
Hoover Institution at Stanford
Collections in their library and archives document war, revolution, and peace and social, political, and economic change throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.
The Wargaming and Crisis Simulation Inititative collection
The Hoover Institution’s Wargaming and Crisis Simulation Initiative collection is a publicly accessible digital repository of wargaming data housed within the Hoover Library & Archives. The collection features scholar-designed wargames, unclassified and declassified government wargames, and think tank or industry wargames.
Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC)
Holdings date from the post-WWII period to the present with a focus on the official records that document the operational history of the U.S. Navy.
Library of Congress finding aids
The Naval Historical Foundation Collection is maintained here and includes materials spanning from the end of the American Revolution to WWII and the modern era. Many of these collections deal with issues of trade, ship design, naval operations, and diplomacy at sea. .
Mystic Seaport Museum
With more than two million objects, the Collections Research Center (CRC) at Mystic Seaport houses one of the premier maritime collections in the United States. Subjects of the collection include, but are not limited to ships (passenger ships, merchant marine, ocean liners, Coast Guard, naval, and pleasure), immigration, yachting, voyages, women at sea, crew lists, whaling, exploration, and discovery.
Objects, photos, vessels and ship plans
Books, microfilm, ship registers
Manuscript collection finding aids
New Bedford Whaling Museum
Anchored in the story of New Bedford’s whaling industry, the New Bedford Whaling Museum documents and shares the diverse stories of this vibrant maritime region and its people, both bygone and current.
Research Resources
Collections Search
The Nicholson Whaling Collection at Providence Public Library
One of the nation’s most important resources for whaling research. At the heart of the collection is the world’s second largest collection of whaling logbooks, recording more than 1,000 voyages. Within their pages, the logbooks hold records of whales captured and lost; accounts of shipwrecks, mutinies and other nautical misfortunes; poetry and paintings made by crewmembers in their spare time; and a wealth of data for researchers.
HathiTrust Digital Library
Founded as a not-for-profit collaborative of academic and research libraries, HathiTrust now preserves 18+ million digitized items in the HathiTrust Digital Library. They offer reading access to the fullest extent allowable by U.S. and international copyright law, text and data mining tools for the entire corpus, and other emerging services based on the combined collection.
Hathi touts its book collections - many rare and unique volumes can be found here, but records also feature in their collections.
Internet Archive
A non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.
Digital Public Library of America
DPLA makes millions of materials from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions across the country available to all in a one-stop discovery experience.