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Compendium of Open Access Resources on Southeast Asia

International Studies

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National Archives & Records Administration

The National Archives & Records Administration (NARA) is one of the single largest archives in the world. As of 2020, NARA provides public access to 115 million pages of documents. The archives are searchable in a variety of ways, such as a simple keyword search (e.g. Thailand, World War II, Sarit Thanarat, etc). Searches can also be conducted using a broad Record Group Cluster search. Record groups correspond to the specific federal agency that produced, or came into possession of the document(s) in question. Researchers can also conduct a more directed search by focusing on specific record groups (RG), for example: 

  • RG 59-Department of State records
  • RG 84-Foreign Service Posts
  • RG 263-Central Intelligence Agency
  • RG 576-Director of National Intelligence
  • RG 226-Office of Strategic Services
  • RG 472-U.S. Forces in Southeast Asia, 1950-1975 

Students and faculty at Ohio University may also want to explore U.S. Declassified Documents Online and Digital National Security Archives.

Southeast Asia Visions

Southeast Asia Visions is a collection of European travel accounts of pre-modern Southeast Asia from Cornell University Library's John M. Echols Collection. The site provides online access to more than 350 books written in English and French.