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Primary Sources: U.S. Politics and Government

Let's start at the very beginning. A very good place to start.

U.S. Politics and Government

-The American Presidency Project

The American Presidency Project is an online resource that has consolidated presidential papers and other various documents related to the presidents.

-The Central Intelligence Agency’s Library

The CIA’s Library offers users access to millions of pages of current unclassified publications, reports, statistics, maps, and more.

-The FBI Vault – Electronic Reading Room

The Vault is an electronic library consisting of FBI documents that have been made available through FOIA requests. The vault can be searched by keywords or browsed by category.

-Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room

The Central Intelligence Agency's Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room consists of CIA documents that have been made available through FOIA requests.

-Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the nation’s first established cultural institution and the largest library in the world, with millions of items including books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collections.

-National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA)

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) website showcases a number of multimedia including images and videos.

-The National Archives and Records Administration Catalog

The National Archives Catalog is the main portal to search NARA’s collections. The catalog currently contains archival descriptions for 85% of the holdings of the National Archives, authority files, and over 2 million digitized records.

-National Park Service (NPS)

The National Park Service Focus Digital Access Management System manages the NPS’ digital media—including photographs, drawings, documents, audio, video, maps, and GIS images.

-National Security Archive

The National Security Archive promotes open government and offers users a wealth of declassified U.S. documents. 

-Oyez

Oyez is a multimedia archive offers the public complete access to all of the Supreme Court of the United States’ audio from October 1955 to the present. Oyez also offers transcripts, searchable audio, case summaries, and opinions.

-The United States Census Bureau

The U.S. Census Bureau’s mission is to “serve as the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy.” Users can search and browse important topics related to economics, demographics, healthcare, geography, education, etc.

-US Government Publishing Office

“GPO’s Federal Digital System (FDsys) provides free online access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.” Documents include public laws, bills, prints, hearings, and congressional reports.