Guides and Bibliographies

The foreign office list and diplomatic and consular yearbook.  London.
Law School  |  Harvard Depository    |  123 900   (1926-1965 (incomplete))
Widener  |  Br 54.3  (1859-1965 (incomplete))
HOLLIS Record
HathiTrust Version, 1878, 1901-1917 (incomplete)

Foreign Office Lists usually contain (contents vary):

  • lists of consuls,
  • list of embassies,
  • legations and consulates,
  • consular districts,
  • departmental regulations,
  • FO deaths,
  • brief service histories for FO officials,
  • chronological lists of higher ranking FO officials,
  • list of foreign embassies, legations, and consulates in the British dominions.

Guide Foreign and Commonwealth correspondence and records from 1782

Foreign Office Confidential Prints (1827-1914) index over 10,000 items.

Records of the Cabinet, Foreign Office, Treasury and other records, by  Anne Thurston. London: Stationery Office, 1998, 565 p. (British documents on the end of empire. [Series C], Sources for colonial studies in the Public Record Office ; v. 2 )
Widener | WID-LC | DA10 .B754 1995x vol. 2
Documents (Lamont) | Br Doc 6.15 vol. 2
Widener | Harvard Depository | DA10 .B754 1995x vol. 2

Never complain, never explain: records of the Foreign Office and State Paper Office 1500-c.1960, by Louise Atherton. London: PRO Publications, 1994, 189 p.
Widener | Harvard Depository

British foreign policy, 1918-1945: a guide to research and research materials, By Sidney Aster. Rev. ed. Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, 1991.
LOCATION: Widener: WID-LC DA578.Z99 A87 1991x

Document Collections

Foreign Office - The Online Books Page

British and foreign state papers. Great Britain. Foreign Office, 1841-1977. v.1-170 (1812/1814-1967/1968)
HOLLIS Records with link to LLMC
HathiTrust Full Text   vol 1-137 (1934) only

Confidential Prints

From late 1820s, the Colonial Office and the Foreign Office made printed copies of most significant  documents for distribution, as needed to Parliament, the Cabinet Office and to FO and CO officials in London and abroad. Appeared in several regional series and Misc. series.

List of Foreign Office Records. Lists and indexes. Supplementary  series.vol. 13. Great Britain. Public Record Office. New York, Kraus Reprint Corp., 1964-   HOLLIS Record  HathiTrust Full Text (No.1 -14) Kraus Reprint  HathiTrust Full Text (No.1 -16; incomplete) Kraus Reprint
–vol. 23: Confidential Print. Numerical Series, 1829-1915

Browse National Archives Catalogue for Confidential Print

  • Harvard E-Resources: Africa, 1834-1966  --  Middle East (includes Egypt)  --  North America, 1824-1961 (including the Caribbean)  --  Latin America, 1833-1969
  • CRL holdings
  • HOLLIS Records:
  • Many prints for other regions and general prints are available in the enormous print British documents on Foreign Affairs: Reports and Papers from the Foreign Office Confidential Print. Harvard only has two series:
    • British documents on foreign affairs : reports and papers from the Foreign Office confidential print. Part IV, From 1946 through 1950. Series M, International organizations, commonwealth affairs, and general. 6 v. HOLLIS Record
    • British documents on foreign affairs--reports and papers from the Foreign Office confidential print. Part I, from the mid-nineteenth century to the First World War. Series A, Russia, 1859-1914. 6 v.  HOLLIS Record
    • British documents on foreign affairs. Reports and papers from the Foreign Office confidential print. Part IV, From 1946 through 1950. Series E, Asia   HathiTrust, vol. 1-11; Internet Archive Full Text (Volume 7: Burma, Ceylon, India and Pakistan, October 1947—December 1948);
    • Other volumes available via Interlibrary Loan. WorldCat record listing the four Parts and the Series within each Part
  • Internet Archive offers some Foreign Office Confidential Prints

  • Foreign Office Confidential Print, largely microfilm, available in Harvard Library. Many on areas not covered by the four online databases , above. For detailed contents: National Archives Catalogue: Foreign Office  --  Colonial Office
    HOLLIS Records

    • Microfilm held by other libraries is generally available via Interlibrary Loan. Find the proper record in WorldCat by searching, e.g. for "Foreign Office":" Confidential Print" "Russia and Soviet Union" or by searching Foreign Office 418
      Foreign Office: Confidential Print Russia and Soviet Union

  • British intelligence and policy on Persia (Iran), c. 1900-1949: India Office political and secret files and confidential print. Leiden, The Netherlands : IDC Publishers, 2004. 515 microfiches + 1 printed guide (23 p.)
    fiche 1-96. Persia-Iran: Gazetteers and handbooks, 1906-1948 -- fiche 97-406. Persia-Iran: Internal and external affairs, 1904-1949 -- fiche 407-432. Persia-Iran: Who's who compilations, 1909-1947 -- fiche 433-466. Persia-Iran: Military reports, 1900-1940 -- fiche 467-515. Persia-Iran: Routes, 1908-1942.
    HOLLIS Record
    Online Guide

Peace Handbooks. Prepared under the direction of the historical section of the Foreign Office (UK), these are handbooks on numerous countries (including colonial possessions) worldwide describing the situation at the time of the Paris Peace Conference (1919-20).  A few cover topics or regions (Zionism, Question of the Scheldt, Portuguese possessions).   HOLLIS Records

Great Britain. Foreign Office. British and foreign state papers. v.1-170 (1812/1814-1967/1968)
Law School | Rare | 55 2
Documents (Lamont) | Harvard Depository | Br Doc 9000.520

Some volumes in
Heinonline World Treaty Library (1912-1968)
LLMC (1812-1927; Indexes through 1921)
Google Books
HathiTrust
--Includes treaties, diplomatic correspondence, foreign constitutions and laws pertaining mainly to international relations but with some information on British internal affairs, such as budget. Each volume covers one year.
Indexes:
vols. 1-63 (1373-1873) in v.64
vols. 65-92 (1873-1900) in v.93
vols. 94-114 (1900-1921) in v.115
vols. 116-137 (1922-1934) in v.138
vols. 139-164 (1935-1960) in v.165
vols. 165-169 (1961-1968) in v.170

Three series of documents have been published by the Foreign Office

  • British Documents on the Origins of the War 1898-1914
  • Documents on British Foreign Policy 1919-1939
  • Documents on British Policy Overseas

List of volumes in each series. More information on these three series

British documents on the origins of the war, 1898-1914, ed. by G.P. Gooch and Harold Temperley. Great Britain. Foreign Office. London : H.M.S.O., 1926-1938. 11 v. in 13
HOLLIS Record

Documents on British foreign policy, 1919-1939. London, H.M. Stationery Off., 1946-1986. 65 v.
--First series. 1919-1925 (27 v.)
--Series 1A. 1925-1930 (7 v.
--Second series. 1930-1938 (21 v.)
--Third series. 1938-1939 (10 v.)
--Index to 3rd ser. in 3rd ser., v. 10.
HOLLIS Record
Internet Archive Full Text

Documents on British policy overseas, edited by Rohan Butler and M.E. Pelly, assisted by H.J. Yasamee. London : H.M.S.O., 1984-<2020>.
HOLLIS Record with brief contents

Great Britain: foreign policy and the span of empire, 1689-1971; a documentary history, ed. by Joel H. Wiener. NY: Chelsea House Publishers, 1972, 4 v.
Law School | Harvard Depository | 54 1178
Widener | Br 440.172.12
Internet Archive Full Text (Vols, 1,3,4 only)
--Volumes 1 and 2 deal with foreign policy.

British foreign policy in the Second World War, ed. by E. L Woodward. London: H. M. Stationery Off., 1962, 592 p.
Link to HOLLIS record
- Widener | HB 453.129
- Lamont | D750 .W6

British foreign policy in the Second World War, by Sir Llewellyn Woodward. London, H.M.S.O., 1970-
Link to HOLLIS record
- Widener | HB 453.129.5
- Law School | Harvard Depository | 76g 4082

Foreign Office and predecessors: Political and Other Departments: Supplements to General Correspondence before 1906 (F.O. 97). Microfilm.
Document numbers: F.O. 97/1; 97/614 (1793; 1872-1901)
HOLLIS Record http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/013567950/catalog

Asia: official British documents, 1945-65, on CD-ROM: selected documents from the end of World War II to Vietnam, ed. by Michael David Kandiah, Gillian Staerck, and Christopher Staerck. 6 computer optical discs. London; NY: Routledge; London: Public Record Office, 1999.
Location : Documents (Lamont) CD-ROM Doc DS518.4 .A85 1999x