Introduction
The International Relations collections in the Institute of Historical Research predominantly focus on sources relating to the major European powers and the United States over the last two hundred years, although the library does endeavour to collect sources from earlier periods where possible. The material held by the library is of considerable breadth, and includes journals, autobiographies and edited correspondence, alongside the extensive runs of official diplomatic papers relating to Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States amongst others.
The collection (under classmark IR) has been broken up thematically and then divided either chronologically or geographically, depending on the nature of the sources. There are also accompanying materials including bibliographies and library catalogues to compliment the rest of the collection. Following this, there is a classmark dedicated to international treaties followed by the main sections on diplomatic history. These have been divided into four chronological groups: pre-1870, 1870-1919, 1919-1945 and post-1945. Within these time frames are collections of diplomatic papers, autobiographies, memoirs, speeches, alongside complimentary secondary sources.
Highlights from the Collections
Guides to Sources
- American foreign relations since 1600: a guide to the literature
- Los archivos de la Unión Europea: qué son y cómo se tratan
- Bibliographie zum Westfälischen Frieden
- British foreign policy, 1918-1945: a guide to research and research materials
- German foreign policy, 1918-1945: a guide to current research
- Guide to the archives of intergovernmental organizations
- Indo-Russian relations, 1917-1947: select archives of the former Soviet Union: an inventory
- Italian foreign policy, 1918-1945: a guide to research and research materials
- Never complain, never explain: records of the Foreign Office and State Papers Office, 1500-c.1960
- Soviet foreign policy, 1918-1945: a guide to research and research materials
- Turkish foreign policy bibliography: sources in English, French and German, 1919-2001
Treaties and International Law
Treaties
- Acta Pacis Westphalicae
- Arabian treaties, 1600-1960
- Charter of the United Nations and statute of the International Court of Justice
- Encyclopedia of historical treaties and alliances: from ancient times to World War I
- Les grands traités du règne de Louis XIV
- Hertslet's commercial treaties: a collection of treaties and conventions between Great Britain and foreign powers, and the laws, decrees, orders of council, &c., concerning the same, so far as they relate to commerce and navigation, slavery, extradition, nationality, copyrights, postal matters, &c. and to the privileges and interests of the subjects of the high contracting parties
- The major international treaties of the twentieth century: a history and guide with texts
- Répertoire des traités de paix, de commerce, d'alliance, etc.: conventions et autres conclus entre toutes les puissances du globe, principalement depuis la Paix de Westphalie jusqu'à nous jours
- Tratados y convenciones vigentes entre los Estados unidos mexicanos y otros países
- Treaties between the empire of China and foreign powers: together with regulations for the conduct of foreign trade, conventions, agreements, regulations, etc.
- Treaties, conventions, etc. between China and foreign states
- The treaties of peace, 1919-1923
- The treaty of Versailles and after: annotations of the text of the treaty
International Law
- Digest of international law
- A general treatise of the dominion of the sea
- International documents: a collection of international conventions and declarations of a law-making kind
- Texts of the peace conferences at the Hague, 1899 and 1907
- A treatise on international law
- The two Hague conferences and their contribution to international law
Diplomatic Papers and Letters
- Akten zur auswärtigen Politik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
- The Balkan crisis (Part 1), (Part 2), (Part 3)
- The Churchill-Eisenhower correspondence, 1953-1955
- I documenti diplomatici italiani (1861-1870), (1870-1896), (1896-1907), (1908-1914), (1914-1918), (1918-1922), (1922-1935), (1935-1939), (1939-1943), (1943-1948), (1948-1953)
- Documents diplomatiques français (1871-1914), (1914-1919), (1920-1932), (1932-1935), (1936-1939), (1939-1940), (1944-1954), (Depuis 1954)
- Documents on British policy overseas (volumes are catalogued separately). Titles include:
- Documents on the foreign policy of Israel
- Dokumenty vneshnei politiki SSSP
- Foreign relations of the United States (volumes are catalogued separately). Titles include:
- India-China relations, 1947-2000: a documentary study
- Iraq, 1990-2006: a diplomatic history through documents
Speeches, Diaries, Memoirs and Autobiographies
- Briand: sa vie, son oeuvre, avec son journal et de nombreux documents inédits
- Die Deutschen und ihre Nachbarn
- Gustav Stresemann: his diaries, letters and papers
- Madam Secretary: a memoir (by Madeleine Albright)
- The secret memoirs of Count Tadasu Hayashi
- Speeches on foreign affairs: 1904-1914 (by Edward Grey)
- West meets East: an English diplomat in the Ottoman Empire and Persia, 1890-1918: the unfinished autobiography of Sir Charles Marling
- The White House years (by Henry Kissinger)
Case Study - The European Union
- Aprire l'Italia all'aria d'Europa: il diario europeo (1950-1951)
- Un destin d'Européen: de l'utopie à l'espérance
- Dictionnaire historique de l'Europe Unie
- Documents on European Union
- Europe: a concise encyclopedia of the European Union from Aachen to Zollverein
- From rejection to referendum 1963-1975
- Geschichte der europäischen Integration bis 1989
- Guide to the archives of member states' foreign ministries and European Union institutions
- Ireland through European eyes: Western Europe, the EEC and Ireland, 1945-1973
- Mémoires (Jean Monnet)
- Moored to the continent? Britain and European integration
- Pioneers of European integration and peace, 1945-1963: a brief history with documents
- The rise and fall of a national strategy
- Roy Jenkins and the European Commission presidency, 1976-1980: at the heart of Europe
- The Schuman plan, the Council of Europe and Western European integration, May 1950-December 1952
European Union in other IHR Collections
Online Resources
Please note that access to the majority of these resources is available onsite at the IHR, or offsite for staff and students of the IHR only.
Theses
The library has an extensive collection of University of London PhD and MPhil history theses from the early twentieth century to the twenty-first century. Some titles relevant to the history of international relations include:
- British diplomacy and the recognition of Louis Napoleon
- The French diplomatic service 1799-1814
- The influence of diplomatic precedents and tradition: the Northern Department and Soviet representation 1921-1927
- The influence of Madagascar on international relations (1878-1904)
- International relations on the south east coast of Africa, 1796-1856
- Issues of Anglo-Persian diplomatic relations, 1921-1933
- The Northern threat: Anglo-Russian diplomatic relations 1716-1727
Other Collections
Within the IHR Wohl Library
Browse collection guides to find material relevant to your particular area of interest. Other collections that may be relevant include:
Other libraries, archives, organisations
Further Help
Contact us if you would like help on finding or using our collections, or if you have any comments or suggestions about the content of this guide. We are happy to help.
You can also book a tour or training session.
