Research Guides: World War One: World War I Archival Collections

Introduction to Primary Source Collections On This Page

The following resource collections were created by governments, libraries, cultural institutions, and academics and contain extensive primary source material on World War I. Be cautious because there is some secondary source interpretative material included here as well. Pay attention to who created the source you are viewing and when it was created.

First World War Portal This link opens in a new window
The First World War portal includes personal collections and printed materials, military files, artwork, and audio-visual files that highlight the experiences of soldiers, civilians and governments on both sides of The Great War.

Library of Congress of the United States

A Guide to World War I Materials
The digital collections of the Library of Congress contain a wide variety of material related to World War I, including photographs, documents, newspapers, films, sheet music, and sound recordings. This guide compiles links to World War I resources throughout the Library of Congress Web site. In addition, this guide provides links to external Web sites focusing on World War I and a bibliography containing selections for both general and younger readers.

International Committee of the Red Cross

Prisoners of the First World War ICRC Historical Archives
The belligerent countries involved provided lists of prisoners to the ICRC, which created an index card for each prisoner and detainee. There are over five million prisoner of war records available in this collection.