Skip to content

Primary Sources on Microfilm

Identifying microform collections

Microform collections are included in the UW Libraries Search. Search using the keywords that best describe your topic. Limit the Resource Type to “Microform”.

Several other guides will help you to find microform collections:

    Primary Source Microfilm’s Guides

    Available to search now are such collections as American Fiction, History of Women, Sabin, Western Books on Asia and many, many more. New guides are being added weekly.

    Users may search either a guide to a single collection or search across all collections. Users can perform a full-text search or choose a fielded one by title, author, publishing information or subject. In the case of International Population Census Publications and City Directories of the United States, searches can be performed by region, country, state or city.

    Microform collections available online

    LockAmerican Periodicals Series Online, 1740-1900
    Consists of digitized reproductions of more than 1,100 eighteenth and nineteenth century newspapers and periodicals in the original microfilm reproduction series, American periodical series, I, II, and III. When completed in 2003, this database will have more than 7,000,000 pages of full text periodicals.

    College Sources Online:
    Features over 9,000 college catalogs in their original formats. Includes 2-year, 4-year, graduate and professional schools.

    Congressional Resources
    Selected Congressional Materials Available on the Internet and in the UW Libraries.

    LockDigital National Security Archive:
    Contains over 43,000 of the “most important” declassified documents regarding critical U.S. policy decisions.

    LockEarly American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800

    LockEarly English Books
    Reproduces works listed in Pollard & Redgrave’s Short-title catalogue, Wing’s Short title catalogue, and Thomason tracts

    LockEighteenth Century Collections Online

    LockForeign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS)
    An index to the Daily Reports published by FBIS. Read more information about our FBIS collection.

    Human Relations Area Files (HRAF):

    Testing and Assessment Information:
    The Tests in Microfiche set is available in the Microform & Newspaper Collections (call number M-3211). Access to Tests in Microfiche is unrestricted.

    U.S. Congressional Serial Set
    Reproduces the bound, sequentially numbered volumes of all the reports, documents, and journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

    Primary Sources on Microfilm at UW by Topic

    Selected list of major (generally at least 10 reels) microfiche and microfilm sets of primary sources. Most of these sets are collections of unpublished manuscript material. Large sets that have been individually cataloged (e.g., Early English Books, German Baroque Literature) have not been included. All material can be found in the Microform and Newspaper Collections on the ground floor of Suzzallo Library unless noted otherwise.

    Labor | Native Americans & the West | Women | African Americans | Civil & Human Rights | American Politics, Politicians & Presidents |US National Security | US International Affairs – Vietnam | US International Affairs – Asia | US International Affairs – Eastern Europe | US International Affairs – Western Europe | US International Affairs – Middle East | US International Affairs – Latin American & Africa | British Politics, Government & Foreign Affairs | World War II | Soviet Union | Missions & Missionaries | History of Science | Cinema | Miscellaneous – Europe | Miscellaneous – Asia | Miscellaneous – Americas

     

     

    Labor

    Title Reels Call No. Guide
    American Federation of Labor and the Unions: National and International Union Records from the Samuel Gompers Era, 1877-1937 149 reels A6683 printed guide
    American Labor Unions Constitutions and Proceedings: Part I, 1836-1974 197 reels A5081 printed guide
    The Green Rising, 1910-1977: A supplement to the Southern Tenant Farmers Union Papers 17 reels A6612 printed guide
    Guide to the Alaska Packers Association Records, 1891-1970 microfiche M1327 printed guide
    Records of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, 1895-1992

    • Part 1: Records of the BSCP, 1925-1969
    • Part 2: Records of the Ladies Auxiliary of the BSCP, 1931-1968
    • Part 3: Records of the BSCP relations with the Pullman Company, 1925-1968
    50 reels A9702 printed guides
    Southern Tenant Farmers Union Papers, 1934-1970 17 reels A6612 printed guide

    Native Americans & the West

    Title Reels Call No. Guide
    John Collier Papers, 1922-1968 59 reels A6833 printed guide
    Papers of John Peabody Harrington in the Smithsonian Institution, 1907-1957

    • v. 1: Native American History, Language, and Culture of Alaska/Northwest Coast
    • v. 9: A Guide to the Correspondence
    47 reels A6952 printed guide
    Papers of the St. Louis fur trade

    • pt. 1. The Chouteau collection, 1752-1925
    • pt. 3. Robert Campbell Family collection
    70 reels A8549 printed guide
    Papers of the Society of American Indians, 1906-1946 10 reels A8210 printed guide
    Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Central Classified Files, 1907-1939

    • Series A. Indian delegations to Washington
    • Series B. Indian customs and social relations
    • Series C. Indian health and medical affairs, pt. 1
    77 reels A13214 printed guide
    Moravian mission records among the North American Indians 40 reels A8387 printed guide
    Iroquois Indians: A Documentary History of the Diplomacy of the Six Nations and Their League 50 reels A7384 guide
    American Indian Correspondence. The Presbyterian Historical Society Collection of Missionaries’ Letters, 1833-1893. 35 reels A8384 printed guide
    American Fur Company. Papers 37 reels A203 printed guide
    The American West: overland journeys, 1841-1880 microfiche M3244 printed guide
    Letters received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1881 86 reels A1783 printed guide
    The Oregon Province archives of the Society of Jesus: Alaska Mission Collection 42 reels A7034 printed guide
    The Oregon Province archives of the Society of Jesus Indian language collection: the Pacific Northwest tribes 21 reels A8141 printed guide
    The Oregon Province archives of the Society of Jesus Indian language collection: The Alaska native languages 28 reels A8140 printed guide
    George Bird Grinnell papers 47 reels A9929 printed guide
    The Sheldon Jackson collection, 1835-1909 41 reels A9845 printed guide
    Records of the Washington Superintendency of Indian Affairs, 1853-74 63 reels A171 printed guide

    Women

    Title Reels Call No. Guide
    Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching papers, 1930-1942 8 reels A10382 printed guide
    Committee of Fifteen 17 reels A9760 printed guide
    Campaign for Women’s Suffrage, 1895-1920 31 reels A9598 printed guide
    Margaret Sanger Papers, 1879-1966 101 reels A9492 printed guide
    The papers of Margaret Sanger 145 reels A9572 printed guide
    Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony 45 reels A8589 printed guide
    Papers of the League of Women Voters 64 reels A9667 printed guide
    Records of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, 1895-1992 41 reels A9701 Pt 1 guide
    Pt 2 guide
    American Association of University Women archives, 1881-1976 158 reels A7234 printed guide
    Women and Health Collection 14 reels A6004 printed guide
    Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, 1919-1959 97 reels A8464 printed guide
    Women’s Studies Manuscript Collections from the Schlesinger Libraries, Radcliffe College. Series 1: Women’s Suffrage 141 reels A8637 printed guide
    British birth control material at the British Library of Political and Economic Sciences 10 reels A7029 printed guide
    National American Woman Suffrage Association Records 73 reels A8635 printed guide
    Colonial discourses. Series one, Women, travel, and empire, 1660-1914. Part 1, Early travel accounts by women and women’s experiences in India, Africa, Australasia, and Canada 25 reels A9921 printed guide
    Women advising women

    • pt. 1. Early women’s journals, c1700-1832, from the Bodleian Library, Oxford
    • pt. 2. Advice books, manuals, almancas, and journals , c1625-1837 from the Bodleian Library, Oxford
    • pt. 3-4. The Lady’s Magazine, 1770-1832
    • pt. 5. Women’s writing and advice, c1450-1720
    91 reels A8451 printed guide
    The Women at work collection, from the Imperial War Museum, Lambeth, London:

    • pt. 1. The army, Belgium, and benevolent organizations
    • pt. 2. The British Red Cross, colonies, decorations and honours, and education
    • pt. 3 Employment
    • pt. 4. Food files, France, India, Italy, Roumania, Switzerland, and local records files
    • pt. 5. Munitions I-VII files; prisoners I-IV; relief funds I-II; Russia files; Serbia files; suffrage & politics I-III; U.S.A. files; volunteer corps; welfare files; W.R.A.F. files; W.R.N.S. files
    91 reels A9740 printed guide

    African-Americans

    Title Reels Call No. Guide
    Papers of the NAACP (incomplete set) 383 reels A8473 printed guide
    The East St. Louis race riot of 1917 8 reels A9922 guide
    Microfilm edition of the papers of the Maryland State Colonization 31 reels A4868 printed guide
    Records of ante-bellum southern plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War

    • ser. A. Selections from the South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina
    • ser. C Selections from holdings of the Library of Congress
    • ser. F. Selections from the Manuscript Department, Duke University Library
    148 reels A9699 Ser A guide
    Ser C guide
    Ser F, pts. 1-2 guide
    Ser F, pt. 3 guide
    Ser F, pt. 4 guide
    Paul Robeson Collection 9 reels A8411 printed guide

    Civil and Human Rights

    Title Reels Call No. Guide
    Gay Rights Movement: Gay Activists Alliance, 1969-1981 21 reels A9675 printed guide and online
    Gay Rights Movement: Mattachine Society of New York, Inc. 1955-1987 24 reels A9664 printed guide and online
    Human rights documents microfiche M-1885 printed guide
    J.Edgar Hoover Official and Confidential File 17 reels A8569 guide
    U.S. Military Intelligence Reports: Surveillance of Radicals in the U.S., 1917-1941 34 reels A8286 printed guide

    American Politics, Politicians, & Presidents

    Title Reels Call No. Guide
    Diaries of Henry Lewis Stimson 9 reels A7814 printed guide
    Adams papers 608 reels A1404 printed guide
    Grover Cleveland papers 164 reels A1141 printed guide
    Papers of Eugene Debs, 1834-1945 21 reels A7132 printed guide
    Papers of the Nixon White House microfiche M2771 printed guide
    Calvin Coolidge Papers 190 reels A5187 printed guide
    William McKinley papers 98 reels A5118 printed guide
    Theodore Roosevelt Papers 486 reels A5086 printed guide
    William Howard Taft Papers 658 reels A5049 printed guide
    Woodrow Wilson Papers 540 reels A5209 printed guide
    The Wallace Papers 67 reels A5875 printed guide
    U.S. executive branch documents, 1910-1932 microfiche M-3218 printed guide

    U.S. National Security

    Title Reels Call No. Guide
    Documents of the National Security Council reels A6617 guide
    The U.S. intelligence community: organization, operations, and management, 1947-1989 microfiche M-3027 printed guide and CD-ROM
    Military uses of space, 1946 [i.e. 1945]-1991 microfiche M-3036 printed guide and CD-ROM
    Nuclear non-proliferation, 1945-1991 microfiche M-3030 printed guide and CD-ROM
    Presidential directives on national security from Truman to Clinton microfiche M-3037 printed guide

    U.S. International Affairs – Vietnam

    Title Reels Call No. Guide
    Confidential U.S. State Department Central Files. Indochina: Internal Affairs, 1950-1954 44 reels A8454 printed guide
    Confidential U.S. State Department Central Files. Indochina: Internal Affairs, 1945-1949 10 reels A8455 printed guide
    Confidential U.S. State Department Central Files. Indochina: Internal and Foreign Affairs, 1955-1959 54 reels A8456 printed guide
    Echols Collection: selections on the Vietnam War microfiche M-3130 printed guide
    The Peers inquiry of the massacre at My Lai 12 reels A9612 guide
    Transcripts and files of the Paris peace talks on Vietnam, 1968-1973 12 reels A8270 printed guide

    U.S. International Affairs – Asia

    Title Reels Call No. Guide
    Records of the Department of State relating to internal affairs of China, 1910-1929 227 reels A1241 printed guide
    Despatches from United States consuls in Amoy, 1844-1906 15 reels A957 printed guide
    Despatches from United States consuls in Canton, 1790-1906 20 reels A958 printed guide
    Despatches from United States consuls in Foochow, 1849-1906 10 reels A960 printed guide
    Despatches from United States consuls in Hong Kong, 1844-1906 21 reels A963 printed guide
    Despatches from United States consuls in Kanagawa, 1861-1897 21 reels A972 printed guide
    Despatches from United States ministers to Korea, 1883-1905 21 reels A966 printed guide
    Despatches from United States ministers to Japan 82 reels A951 printed guide
    Despatches from United States consuls in Shanghai, 1847-1906 53 reels A969 printed guide
    Despatches from United States ministers to China, 1843-1906 130 reels A950 printed guide
    Confidential U.S. diplomatic post records: Japan

    • pt. 1. Japan, 1914-1918
    • pt. 2. Japan, 1919-1929
    • pt. 3, sec. A. Japan, 1930-1935.
    • pt. 3. sec. B. Japan, 1936-1941.
    142 reels East Asia G1260 printed guide
    Confidential U.S. State Department central files. India: internal affairs, 1945-1949 23 reels A8182 printed guide
    The Philippines: U.S. policy during the Marcos years, 1965-1986 microfiche M-3034 printed guide and CD-ROM
    Records of the Department of State relating to political relations between the United States and Siam, 1910-1929 18 reels A9548 printed guide

    U.S. International Affairs – Eastern Europe

    Title Reels Call No. Guide
    Confidential U.S. diplomatic post records: Russia and the Soviet Union 145 reels A6989 printed guide
    The Soviet estimate: U.S. analysis of the Soviet Union, 1947-1991 microfiche M-3039 printed guide
    Records of the U.S. Department of State relating to the internal affairs of Bulgaria, 1945-1949 9 reels A8560 printed guide
    Records of the U.S. Department of State relating to the internal affairs of Hungary, 1945-1949 20 reels A8567 printed guide
    Records of the U.S. Department of State relating to the internal affairs of Czechoslovakia, 1945-1949 17 reels A8565 printed guide
    Records of the U.S. Department of State relating to the internal affairs of Poland, 1945-1949 23 reels A8552 printed guide
    Records of the U.S. Department of State relating to the internal affairs of Romania, 1945-1949 14 reels A8568 printed guide
    Records of the U.S. Department of State relating to the internal affairs of Yugoslavia, 1945-1949 18 reels A8564 printed guide

    U.S. International Affairs – Western Europe

    Title Reels Call No. Guide
    Records of the U.S. Department of State relating to the internal affairs of Austria, 1945-1949 16 reels A8563 printed guide
    Records of the U.S. Department of State relating to the internal affairs of Finland, 1945-1949 8 reels A8561 printed guide
    Despatches from United States ministers to France 1789-1869 67 reels A1784 printed guide
    Confidential U.S. State Department central files. France, 1945-1949: internal affairs 68 reels A10015 printed guide
    Confidential U.S. State Department central files. France, internal affairs, 1950-1954 25 reels A10019 printed guide
    Despatches from United States Ministers to Great Britain, 1791-1906 200 reels A1786 printed guide
    Despatches from United States ministers to the German states and Germany, 1799-1906 106 reels A1785 printed guide
    The Berlin crisis, 1958-1962 microfiche M-3028 printed guide
    Records of the U.S. Department of State relating to the internal affairs of Greece, 1945-1949 53 reels A8566 printed guide
    Confidential U.S. State Department central files: Spain, internal affairs, 1930-1939 88 reels A10016 printed guide
    The John F. Kennedy national security files. Western Europe: national security files, 1961-1963 10 reels A10013 printed guide
    The Lyndon B. Johnson national security files. Western Europe: national security files, 1963-1969 10 reels A10014 printed guide

    U.S. International Affairs – Middle East

    Title Reels Call No. Guide
    Afghanistan: the making of U.S. policy, 1973-1990 microfiche M-3035 printed guide and CD-ROM
    Iraqgate: Saddam Hussein, U.S. policy and the prelude to the Persian Gulf War (1980-1994) microfiche M-3038 printed guide
    Iran: the making of U.S. policy, 1977-1980 microfiche M-3031 printed guide and CD-ROM
    The Iran-Contra affair: the making of a scandal, 1983-1988 microfiche M-3029 printed guide and CD-ROM

    U.S. International Affairs – Africa & Latin America

    Title Reels Call No. Guide
    The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 microfiche M-3032 printed guide and CD-ROM
    El Salvador: the making of U.S. policy, 1977-1984 microfiche M-3025 printed guide and CD-ROM
    Nicaragua: the making of U.S. policy, 1978-1990 microfiche M-3026 printed guide and CD-ROM
    El Salvador: war, peace, and human rights, 1980-1994 microfiche M-3273 printed guide
    South Africa: the making of U.S. policy, 1962-1989 microfiche M-3033 printed guide and CD-ROM

    British Politics, Government, & Foreign Affairs

    Title Reels Call No. Guide
    American papers in the House of Lords Records Office: a microfilm edition with printed calendar and index 39 reels A7345 printed guide
    Confidential British Foreign Office political correspondence: Palestine, 1947-1948 46 reels A8533 printed guide
    Confidential British Foreign Office political correspondence: Palestine and Transjordan, 1940-1946 35 reels A8532 printed guide
    British Foreign Office-United States correspondence, [1930-1948] 382 A7351 printed guide
    The Archives of the British Labour Party microfiche M-531
    M-892
    printed guide
    British foreign office, Russia correspondence 986 reels A7369 printed guide

    World War II

    Title Reels Call No. Guide
    Records of Headquarters, German Army High Command: Oberkommando des Heeres 26 reels A1779 printed guide
    Records of the Reich Leader of the SS and Chief of the German Police (Reichsfuhrer SS und Chef der Deutschen Polizei) 10 reels A3596 printed guide
    Records of the Reich Ministry of Economics (Reichswirtschaftsministerium) 15 reels A1780 printed guide
    German Foreign Ministry archives, 1867-1920 23 reels A3743 printed guide
    Records of Headquarters, German Armed Forces High Command [microform] : Oberkommando der Wehrmacht/OKW) 117 reels A1757 printed guide
    Records of the National Socialist-German Labor Party (NSDAP) 25 reels A1781 printed guide
    Japanese American evacuation and resettlement records, 1930-1974 150 reels A10096 printed guide and online
    Papers of the U.S. Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians 35 reels A7378 printed guide
    Records of the War Relocation Authority, 1942-1946: Field Documentation 115 reels A9912 printed guide and online

    Soviet Union

    Title Reels Call No. Guide
    Records of the All-Union Communist Party, Smolensk District, 1917-41 68 reels A8421 printed guide
    Archives of the Soviet Communist Party and Soviet State 25 reels A9640 printed guide
    The GULAG press, 1920-1937 microfiche M-3347 printed guide
    Department for Relations with Foreign Communist Parties (International Department of the Central Committee), 1953-1957 126 reels A10092 printed guide
    The General Department of the Central Committee, 1953-1966 = Obshchii otdel TSK KPSS, 1953-1966 gody 117 reels A10062 printed guide
    Plenums of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1941-1990 181 reels and microfiche A10093 and M-3396 printed guide

    Missions & Missionaries

    Title Reels Call No. Guide
    Archival records from the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel 27 reels A8212 printed guide
    Church Missionary Society archive. Section II, Missions to women.

    • pt. 1. Society for Promoting Female Education (FES) in China, India and the East, 1834-1899
    • pt. 2. India’s women and China’s daughters, 1880-1939 and Looking east at India’s women and China’s daughters, 1940-1957
    • pt. 3. Homes of the east, 1910-1948 (including Torchbearer from 1914), Daybreak, 1889, 1893-1894 and 1906-1909, and The Indian female evangelist, 1872-1880. 1896; Preaching and healing, 1900-1906
    • pt. 4. The Indian female evangelist, 1881-1893, continued as The Zenana: or, Woman’s work in India, 1893-1935, continued as The Zenana: Women’s work in India and Pakistan, 1936-1956 from Interserve, London
    • pt. 5. Minutes of the Zenana, Bible and Medical Mission, 1865-1937 and the Annual reports of the Indian Female Normal School and Instruction Society, 1863-1879 from Interserve, London
    58 reels A9924 printed guide
    Church Missionary Society archive. Section IV, Africa Missions

    • pt. 3. Nigeria – Yoruba mission, 1880-1934
    • pt. 9. Nigeria – Yoruba mission, 1880-1934
    • pt. 12. West Africa (Sierra Leone) mission, 1881-1934
    • pt. 13. West Africa (Sierra Leone) mission, 1935-1949 and Nigeria missions, 1935-1949
    139 reels A9892 printed guide
    Africa through western eyes: manuscript records of traders, travellers, soldiers, missionaries and diplomats in Africa 15 reels A9834 printed guide
    Papers of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions

    • Unit 1, Letters to domestic and foreign correspondents, 1834-1919
    • Unit 2, Letters from Missionaries to Africa, 1834-1919
    • Unit 4, Missions to Asia, 1812-1919
    261 reels A7028 printed guide & online
    The Alaskan Russian Church archives: records, 1733-1938 376 reels A8220 printed guide

    History of Science

    Title Reels Call No. Guide
    The history of science and technology. Series 2, The papers of Sir Joseph Banks, 1743-1820 51 reels A8641 printed guide
    Letters and papers of Robert Boyle: from the archives of the Royal Society 16 reels A8422 printed guide
    Collections from the Royal Society: Journal Books of Scientific Meetings, 1660-1800 18 reels A8665 reel index

    Cinema

    Title Reels Call No. Guide
    D.W. Griffith Papers, 1897-1954 36 reels A9794 printed guide
    The Will Hays Papers, 1879-1954 78 reels A9793 printed guide
    Moskovskaia kinostudiia “Mosfilm” (1938-1945) 12 reels A9949 printed guide
    Assotsiatsiia rabotnikov revoliutsionnoi kinematografii (ARRK) (1923-1932) 14 reels A9948 printed guide

    Miscellaneous – Europe

    Title Reels Call No. Guide
    Austrian Habsburg history: printed sources 16th-19th centuries microfiche M-2826 printed guide
    Documents relating to Bosnia-Hercegovina 24 reels A2232 printed guide
    The British Archives of the International Brigade to Spain in the Civil War, 1936-1939 microfiche M-3175 printed guide
    Anglo-Saxon manuscripts in microfiche facsimile microfiche M-3416 printed guide

    Miscellaneous – Asia

    Title Reels Call No. Guide
    China through western eyes: manuscript records of traders, travellers, missionaries and diplomats, 1792-1942 47 reels A9723 printed guide
    Shanghai municipal police file 67 reels East Asia G1305 printed guide
    East meets West: original records of Western traders, travellers, missionaries, and diplomats to 1852 22 reels A9783 printed guide
    Indian political intelligence files microfiche M-3276 printed guide
    Political pamphlets from the Indian subcontinent microfiche M-2280 printed guide
    Publications Proscribed by the Government of India 35 reels A7820 printed guide
    Communist Party of Indonesia: P.K.I. documents and serials, 1952-1965 microfiche M-2835 printed guide
    Indonesian nationalist movement: manuscripts and printed sources microfiche M-2836 printed guide
    Javanese language manuscripts of Surakarta, Central Java 278 reels A8671 printed guide

    Miscellaneous – Americas

    Title Reels Call No. Guide
    American Radicalism Collection 236 reels Tacoma TAC-459 printed guide available in Microform Newspapers
    The Tudway of Wells Antiguan estate papers, 1689-1907 30 reels A10060 printed guide
    Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Series A, Subject correspondence files

    • pt. 1. Asian immigration and exclusion, 1906-1913
    • pt. 2. Mexican immigration, 1906-1930
    • pt. 3. Ellis Island, 1900-1933
    • pt. 5. Prostitution and “white slavery,” 1902-1933
    72 reels A8555 Pt 1 guide
    Pt 2 guide
    Pt 3 guide
    Pt 5 guide
    The immigrant in America

    • Unit 1. Norwegians: reels 1-28. Danes: reels 29-37
    • Unit 2. Finns: reels 38-56. Irish: reels 57-71. Scotch-Irish: reels 72-73. Scots: reels 74-75,
    • Unit 6. Italians: reels 184-197. Swedes: reels 198-207
    77 reels A9697 printed guide and online
    The Ferrar papers, 1590-1790, in Magdalene College, Cambridge 14 reels A8408 printed guide
    The James Jerome Hill Papers 54 reels A8025 printed guide