Doing Research On-Line

Thanks to digital technology, it is now possible to conduct primary source research from your computer. You may read on-line digitized documents , view on-line photographs , search the Library's many indexes and finding aids , and listen to the President's voice .

The FDR Library houses 17,000,000 pages of documents, 150,000 photographs, thousands of hours of recorded speeches, hundreds of motion pictures and videos, numerous oral history texts, as well as a fine collection of secondary sources and other historical materials. The Library is now engaged in an effort to digitize key elements of this massive collection and to make them available to the researcher via the Internet.

Indexes and Finding Aids
The 17,000,000 pages of documents exist primarily in 385 collections of papers or manuscripts. Each of these is described by an index or finding aid that provides basic information about the collection. You may consult the finding aids by performing a Keyword Search , by selecting one of the groupings of p apers listed below, or by Browsing the comprehensive alphabetical listing of the entire manuscripts collection. You may also view the indexes to the Library's substantial collection of Federal Government Records as well as the indexes to its extensive collection of Oral History Transcripts.

Digitized Documents Available On-Line
The most utilized collection of papers in the FDR Library is the President's Secretary's File, or PSF. The PSF, which makes up a portion of the Papers of Franklin Roosevelt listed above, contains approximately 150,000 pages of documents, including incoming and outgoing correspondence, memoranda, newspaper clippings and other printed material dating from 1933 to 1945. The PSF is arranged alphabetically by correspondent or subject, and is divided into five series:

The Safe Files
The Confidential Files
The Diplomatic Files
The Departmental Files
The Subject Files

Portions of the PSF have been digitized and made searchable to the document item level. The first batch of PSF documents to be digitized are those 6000 pages kept locked in FDR's White House safe that were known as the Safe Files . We have also digitized those portions of the Diplomatic Files pertaining to U.S.-Vatican relations during World War II, approximately 1,000 pages entitled the Vatican Files , as well as the German Diplomatic Files , which contain over 2,000 docum ents concerning U.S. relations with Germany in the 1930s and 40s, and the British Diplomatic Files , which contain over 3,000 documents on Anglo-American relations. These 9,000 pages can be viewed in original and text format. We have provided both a text and an original version so as to make it possible for the researcher to check the veracity of each document, to make it easier to read hand-written material, and because we hope to make the entire collection keyword searchable at a later date. If you discover a discrepancy between the original and text version of any particular document we ask that you please notify us immediately by email so that we may make the necessary corrections.

Citing On-Line Materials
Before you begin your on-line examination of these documents, please take a moment to review the FDR Library Guide to Citing On-Line Material .

Roosevelt Genealogy
View Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt's ancestors and descendents.

On-Line Photographs
The Library contains approximately 150,000 still photographs, a portion of which available on-line , and are copyright free:

1000 FDR/ER photos
500 Great Depression and New Deal photos
500 WWII photos

The Sound, Film, and Video Collection
The Library holds a substantial collection of sound recordings, motion pictures, and videos of the Roosevelt era. A select few of these materials are available on-line . However, it is possible to view the index to the Sound, Film, and Video Collection over the Internet.

Roosevelt Era Collections in Other Repositories
Although Franklin Roosevelt wished that all papers and records detailing the history of his administration would be housed at the FDRL, this did not happen. The records of the federal government agencies that administered the New Deal and WWII are housed at the National Archives ad Records Administration . A selection of documents from these records are available on-line through the Archival Research Catalog (ARC) . The FDR Library has assembled and digitized the indexes or finding aids to many Roosevelt era collections of papers, which are housed in other Libraries and Institutions. Click here to view and search these Roosevelt Era Collections in Other Repositories .

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