Russian map indicating weapons installations during the cold war

Cold War

Overview

Collections are from US secretaries of state, individual activists and propagandists, and many émigré groups involved in the ideological struggle. Important subsets are collections relating to “citizen diplomacy,” in which individuals and organizations acted to defuse international tensions, particularly the danger of nuclear conflict; records of organizations on the front lines, such as the Free Europe Committee (later RFE/RL), involved in broadcasting and other activities aiming to penetrate the Iron Curtain; and papers relating to the role of the Third World in the confrontation.

RFE/RL Corporate Records

US radio broadcasting organization targeting the Soviet bloc

RFE/RL Broadcast Records

US radio broadcasting organization targeting the Soviet bloc

Conference On Cold War Broadcasting Impact Proceedings

Conference on the impact of Western broadcasting during the Cold War

BBC World Service Radio Broadcast Recordings

Recordings of radio broadcasts to Vietnam, 1963–2002

Sig Mickelson Papers

President of RFE/RL, 1975–78

Ferdinand Peroutka Papers

Chief, Czechoslovak Desk, RFE

Arch Puddington Collection

Wrote Broadcasting Freedom: The Cold War Triumph of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty

Grigore Constantinescu Papers

Served in the Comitetul National Roman, the Romanian government in exile

Ivo D. Duchacek Papers

Editor in chief of the Voice of America Czechoslovak service

Henry Mayers Papers

Chairman of the Cold War Council

Karl H. Von Wiegand Papers

Hearst newspaper foreign correspondent, 1917–61

Elbridge Durbrow Papers

US diplomat in the Soviet Union, 1946–48

Christopher Temple Emmet Papers

Chairman of the American Friends of the Captive Nations

Francis Underhill Macy Papers

Involved in nongovernmental exchange programs for US and Soviet citizens

Barbara Dekovner-mayer Papers

Organized Friends Assisting Friends, a US/Russian cooperative program

Center For Civil Society International Records

Private US organization promoting contact with voluntary organizations abroad

Committee On The Present Danger Records

Private US organization promoting a strong national security policy

Institute For Soviet American Relations Records

Private US organization promoting US/Soviet cultural relations

Forum For U.S.-Soviet Dialogue Records

Private US organization promoting educational exchanges with Soviet citizens

Explore

Date (field_news_date)
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Book covers related to RFE/RL collections
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Three Recent Books on the Cold War Feature Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Corporate Records Held at the Hoover Institution Library & Archives

Voice of the Silenced Peoples in the Global Cold War (2021), Under the Radar (2022), Cold War Radio (2022)

February 17, 2023
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Jamie Fly, president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty visiting Hoover Tower gallery stands next to RFE/FL microphone
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President of RFE/RL visits the Hoover Institution Library & Archives

Jamie Fly, president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) visited Hoover to discuss new initiatives to increase public awareness and stimulate research based on Hoover’s holdings of the RFE/RL Broadcast and Corporate Records and related papers.

December 19, 2022
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Cold War Archives Workshop Planned for October 2021

The Blinken Open Society Archives of Central European University (Budapest), Hungary, has announced a fall workshop for scholars of Cold War of the Cold War and users of Radio Free Europe archival materials.

February 26, 2021
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Library & Archives Project Publishes Cold War Radio Research Guide

The document provides information about publicly available collections materials (sound recordings, archival papers, photographs, publications) created by broadcasters during the years 1947-1991.

August 17, 2018
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Hoover Archives Staff and Scholars Discuss Cold War Broadcasting at Recent Library Of Congress Conference

The Cold War Communication Project (CWCP), an outgrowth of the Library of Congress Radio Preservation Task Force and the Hoover Institution Library and Archives, organized and sponsored two panels at the Woodrow Wilson Center and another at the Library of Congress November 2-3, 2017.

November 30, 2017
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Hoover Summer Intern Jackson Dalman Explores The History Of Cold War Radio

Georgetown University undergraduate Jackson Dalman describes working on the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty collection as a summer intern at Hoover Archives.

August 31, 2017
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Hoover Partnering With The Library Of Congress’ Radio Preservation Task Force For Its Cold War Communication Project

Hoover is partnering with the Library of Congress, the U.S. National Archives and the Wilson Center to create a network of core institutions about which a Cold War Communication Project will be based.

February 22, 2017
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Research By Silas Palmer Fellow Samuel Clowes Huneke Explores The Sexual Politics Of Cold War Berlin

Research by Silas Palmer fellow Samuel Clowes Huneke charts the path that gay identity took in Germany, and Berlin specifically, from 1945 to the present. His project aims to expose the vital role of the gay community in shaping postwar German society and its continuing relevance to German culture and identity. 

September 27, 2016
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Hoover Archives Visiting Fellow Explores Cold War Clashes Between Socialists And Islamists

Timothy Nunan, a Freigeist Fellow at the Freie Universität Berlin and recent Hoover Library & Archives research fellow describes his work on the encounter of the Soviet Union and socialists with Sunni and Shi’a Islamist movements during the Cold War.

July 27, 2016
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