By David Langbart
This is the fourth post in a four-part series about conducting research in the records of agencies specifically responsible for U.S. foreign relations. It is derived from information on the NARA web pages devoted to that topic. Please visit Part I, Part II, and Part III.
To assist with preparing for a research visit and orient you to the records, the National Archives has prepared a set of web pages. There, you will find an explanation of the records of the Department of State and related foreign affairs agencies, including those of a temporary nature established during World War I and World War II and the more permanent agencies created during the Cold War. You will also find links to filing manuals and other finding aids to the records, more detailed reference papers, and other information, as well as links to web pages describing agencies and records outside the foreign affairs community.
The foreign affairs pages are arranged as follows:
- Department of State
- Central Files
- Decentralized Files
- Foreign Service Posts
- Specialized Files
- International Conferences, Commissions, and Expositions
- Boundary and Claims Commissions and Arbitrations
- Interdepartmental and Intradepartmental Committees
- World War I Special Agencies
- Committee on Public Information
- War Trade Board
- American Commission to Negotiate Peace
- World War II and Aftermath Records
- Foreign Economic Administration
- Office of War Information
- Office of Inter-American Affairs
- American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Historic Monuments in War Areas
- Philippine War Damage Commission
- Displaced Persons Commission
- Cold War Agencies
- Agency for International Development
- U.S. Information Agency
- U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
- Overseas Private Investment Corporation
- U.S. High Commissioner for Germany
- U.S. Foreign Assistance Agencies, 1947-1961
- Trade and Development Agency
- Peace Corps
- Genealogical Records
- Department of State Publications and Websites
- Other Agencies Relating to Foreign Affairs