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
Hoover Hosts Annual Summer Workshop on Modern China and Taiwan
The annual Hoover Institution Workshop on Modern China and Taiwan took place from July 28–August 1, 2025. The workshop featured experts who explored the Hoover Library & Archives’ historic holdings on China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
News
Hoover Preserves Rare, Reformatted Footage Of The First Atomic Bombings
Now available through the Library & Archives' Digital Collections portal in higher resolution, this film serves as both vital scientific evidence and a profound visual testimony on the 80th Anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
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Hoover Makes Available The Newly Processed Papers Of Nancy’s Reagan’s White House Astrologer
The departure and landing times of Air Force One, the appropriate days for debates, and favorable times for summits with Gorbachev. Move over, Simon Says, and make way for what Joan Says. Explore how an astrologer's direction steered presidential travel, public appearances, and meetings.
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Hoover Acquires Sándor Kopácsi Papers
Containing personal writings, correspondence, interviews, reports, and photographs, this collection is an essential resource for studying Hungary’s political history, including the 1956 revolution and its aftermath.
More Historic Materials on Contemporary Taiwan Come to Hoover
Two new collections provide valuable insights into the history of Taiwan from the 1970s to the 2010s.
News
Newly Cataloged Library Materials Spring 2025
'Rebels' with a cause (and choir), scandalous children's coloring books, a beautifully illustrated Bohemia, and First World War photograph reproductions gifted by the Yugoslav Royal Consulate are among this spring's featured library materials. Reserve a seat in the Reading Room to explore them in-person.
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.
