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
Press
Tranche Of 800+ Audio Tapes, Including Conversations With Nazis, Digitized And Available For Research At Hoover
In commemoration of the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s surrender in May 1945, the Hoover Institution Library & Archives has released more than 800 digitized audio recordings and transcripts of conversations relating to 20th century conflict – most notably, undercover conversations with high-ranking Nazis who had fled to South America.
News
Hoover Acquires David A. Korn Collection
Learn more about the life and legacy of David A. Korn, former Foreign Service Officer and diplomat (1930-2022) whose career intersected with pivotal moments in Middle Eastern history.
News
Hoover Acquires Personal Papers Of Lin Sen, The Longest-Serving Head Of State Of Nationalist China
A political biography and a welcome addition to the Library & Archive’s rich archival holdings on twentieth-century China, highlighting the shifts in leadership and challenges between nationalist and communist forces during that time.
News
Hoover Acquires Fedor Postnikov Photo Album
This new acquisition captures the foundations and history of the Russian Far East through photographs featuring new construction and architectural landmarks.
Press
Gerd Heidemann Collection Open for Research at Hoover
The Hoover Institution Library & Archives has acquired the collection of Gerd Heidemann (1931-2024), an investigative reporter and photojournalist who accumulated an expansive trove of materials that document major world events, war, and dictatorship in the twentieth century.
News
Hoover Acquires Papers of Tang Hon Cheung
This collection, an epitome of Chinese immigration to the United States, features rarely seen photos documenting the Tang family and Nationalist Chinese pilots who received training in Arizona, along with family correspondence and historical papers.
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.
