Finding Archives by Subject
Specific subject headings are used in library catalogs/WorldCat to describe primary source documents that have been collected and published. Here's a useful guide from the University of Michigan.
Finding English Language Archives
- CalisphereDigitized archives by UC campuses and other important libraries, archives, and museums throughout the state.
- Online Archive of CaliforniaPrimary resource collections maintained by more than 200 contributing institutions including libraries, special collections, archives, historical societies, and museums throughout California and collections maintained by UC campuses.
UCSB Archives
UCSB's Special Research Collections include many unique China related collections, such as:
English Language Archives
- China and the Modern WorldPrimary sources from libraries and archives across the world, including the Second Historical Archives of China and the British Library.
- East Indian CompanyPrimary source documents from the India Office Records held by the British Library.
- Empire Online This link opens in a new windowA collection of original documents relating to Empire Studies from 1492 - 2007 sourced from libraries and archives around the world.
- Foreign Broadcast Information Service Daily Report (FBIS) This link opens in a new windowFBIS Daily Report has been the United States' principal historical record of political open source intelligence for more than half a century from all countries outside the US.
- Foreign Office Files for China This link opens in a new windowBritish Foreign Office files regarding China, Hong Kong and Taiwan between 1949 and 1980, including diplomatic dispatches, letters, newspaper cuttings, maps, reports of court cases, biographies, summaries of events, and a variety of other materials.
1919-1929: Kuomintang, CCP and the Third International
1930-1937: The Long March, civil war in China and the Manchurian Crisis
1938-1948: Open Door, Japanese war and the seeds of communist victory
1949-1956: The Communist revolution
1957-1966: The Great Leap Forward
1967-1980: The Cultural Revolution - Socialism on Film: The Cold War and International PropagandaA collection of international documentary, newsreel and feature films reveals the world as seen by Soviet, Chinese, Vietnamese, East European, and Latin American filmmakers.
- China, America and The Pacific This link opens in a new windowExplores the cultural and trading relationships that emerged between America, China and the Pacific region between the 18th and 20th centuries. Manuscript sources, rare printed texts, visual images, objects and maps document this fascinating history.
- China: Culture and Society This link opens in a new windowSpanning three centuries (c1750-1929), this resource makes available pamphlets from Cornell University Library’s Charles W. Wason Collection on East Asia. It also features secondary resources, including scholarly essays, an interactive chronology, mini guides, and editors’ choices from the collection.
- China: Trade, Politics & Culture This link opens in a new windowThis collection provides original source material detailing China's interaction with the West from 1793 to the Nixon visits to China in 1972-74.
- Ethnomusicology: Global Field Recordings This link opens in a new windowProduced in collaboration with the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive – a world centre for the study of Ethnomusicology – the content within this collection gives access to the cultural and social lives of the source communities represented within the recordings, allowing users a unique insight into the musical traditions of these communities. This collection therefore allows for the study of cultural identity, social norms, religion and ritual, and gender roles, as well as many other themes.
Chinese Language Archives
- China and the Modern WorldPrimary sources from libraries and archives across the world, including the Second Historical Archives of China and the British Library.
- Shanghai Archives Information Network 上海市档案信息网Need to register and then go to 数字档案公共查阅平台.
- The archives of the Grand Secretariat 內閣大庫檔案Select "免費使用."
- Bibliothèque Numérique Asiatique/Asian Digital LibraryIncludes books, periodicals, archives, dissertations, films, and soundtracks from the resources available both in the personal libraries of scholars, on public institutional sites, individual sites, document and archival funds or even on commercial sites.
- National Palace Museum Online 國立故宮博物院典藏資料庫Some databases need registration. 故宮文物月刊、學術季刊資料庫, 器物典藏資料檢索系統、書畫典藏資料檢索系統、先秦銅器紋飾資料檢索系統、善本古籍全文影像資料庫、家族譜牒文獻資料庫、一史館藏活計作名索引、清一史館藏清代滿文硃批奏摺彙編目錄、同人輯清史書目、清代文獻檔冊全文影像資料庫、清代檔案人名權威資料查詢、輕工奏摺檔台灣史料目錄、清代宮中檔奏摺及軍機處檔摺件全文影像資料庫、大清國史人物列傳及史館檔傳包傳稿全文影像資料庫、明清與圖全文影像資料庫。
- Zhenben Full Text DiscoveryZhenben Discovery indexes more than 700,000 Chinese public documents and digitized collections developed by higher education and research institutions. Examples include government documents published by Chinese central government and ministries, Chinese rare books from China Academic Digital Associative Library, Si ku quan shu from Japan Kanseki Repository, Overseas Chinese Archives digitized by the State Library New South Wales, historical newspapers from East View Global Press Archive, and digitized maps from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.