Collections
The Hoover Institution Library & Archives holds more than one million volumes and over 6,000 archival collections that document war, revolution, and peace and social, political, and economic change that shaped our world in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Search Our Collections
Our collections contain rare and unique library materials and archives that include posters, photographs, texts, sound recordings, moving images, and art and memorabilia.
Documenting war, revolution, and peace, along with political, social, and economic change in the modern era, our collections come from across the globe and in many formats and languages. Search and discover rare materials from all political persuasions which highlight a spectrum of voices and experiences that shaped the 20th and 21st centuries. Personal papers form the bulk of our collections, however we also have extensive photographica, digital records, rare publications, and other formats spanning roughly 30 miles of shelving and evergrowing terabytes of data.
Collecting Areas
Our curators oversee and actively acquire collections which currently originate from 171 countries.
Featured News
News
Newly Cataloged Library Materials November 2023
From the Spanish American War to present-day Russia, these newly cataloged library materials span over a century and highlight unique and rare titles that will entice you to view them in the reading room.
News
Marking The 20th Anniversary Of The Fall Of Saddam Hussein’s Regime
The two-day conference, “A Decade of Research Using Archives of Ba‘thist Iraq: What We Now Know,” was hosted by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives on August 17–18, 2023, which marked the 20th anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
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Dynamic Poster Designs Now Online
The Library & Archives launches an online exhibition as a companion to Dynamic Design: Transforming Posters at Hoover and enriches their Digital Collections with the featured posters.
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Hoover Institution Acquires Photo Album Of US Corporate Executive’s Visit To Europe And The USSR In 1963
The Hoover Institution Library & Archives has acquired a photo album presented to Norman Buckle Obbard, who was a United States businessman and participant in the Time news tour of Europe in November 1963.
Press
Diaries Of Chiang Kai-Shek And Chiang Ching-Kuo Return To Taiwan, Copies Remain At The Hoover Institution Library & Archives
After almost two decades on deposit for scholarly research at the Hoover Institution Library & Archives, the handwritten diaries of the Republic of China (Taiwan)’s former president Chiang Kai-shek (1887—1975) and his son and successor Chiang Ching-kuo (1910—1988) returned to Taiwan this week.
News
Hoover Institution Acquires the Papers of George Synnerberg
The Hoover Institution Library & Archives has acquired the papers of George Synnerberg, who was a Russian Imperial Army officer and trade representative of Swedish-Finnish origin. The numerous documents and photographs that form this archival collection reflect his fascinating life story.
Featured Collections
Japan and Japanese Diaspora Collections
These collections focus on social, political, and economic change from the Meiji (1868–1911) to post–World War II reconstruction (1945–52) periods in Japan and overseas Japanese communities.
Ukraine Collections
Covering the emergence and development of Ukraine as an independent state since 1991, as well as earlier periods.
Chiang Kai-shek & Chiang Ching-kuo Diaries
The Hoover Institution has been helping preserve the handwritten diaries of Chiang Kai-shek and his son Chiang Ching-kuo since Chiang family members deposited them at Hoover in 2005.
Policies & Practices
We continue to advance Herbert Hoover’s mission by fulfilling our strategic priorities of acquiring important historical collections on war, revolution, and peace. Our collections deal in subjects that encompass a broad range of human experiences. Policies and practices are in place to ensure that materials are cared for and made available for their ongoing use. Learn more about collection donations, description, digitization, preservation practices, and potentially harmful language and visual materials.
