Primary Sources
Confidential Print: Middle East, 1839-1969
British diplomatic correspondence about affairs in the region, now made public
U.S. Declassified Documents Online
A comprehensive compilation of declassified documents from the executive branch. The types of materials include intelligence studies, policy papers, diplomatic correspondence, cabinet meeting minutes, briefing materials, and domestic surveillance and military reports. The majority of the documents are presidential records. Using the Advanced Search, you can search for a specific country as a subject.
Afghanistan and the U.S., 1945-1963: Records of the U.S. State Department Central Classified Files
The Cyprus Crisis of 1967
These two collections in Gale's Archives Unbound site gather official U.S. documents including reports, letters, interviews, and translations from foreign journals and newspapers.
Digital National Security Archive
The Archive has become the world's largest non-governmental library of declassified documents from the U.S. government. Its 22 core collections provide more than 43,000 of the most important declassified documents that led to key policy decisions in the post-World War II era. In the Advanced Search, you can limit your search to one or more of the collections (Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, etc.)
Leisure, Travel, and Mass Culture: The History of Tourism -- use the Interactive World Map to find documents related to particular countries
Nineteenth Century Collections Online -- In the Advanced Search, enter a keyword such as Arab in the Document Title, and limit the "Searchable Archives" choice to "Maps and Travel Literature." The results will include travel accounts by American and European travellers.
North American Women's Letters and Diaries -- browse by "Place Discussed" to find personal accounts of travels in Afghanistan, Syria, and other countries
Travel Diary of Mary Adams Abbott (India and the Middle East), 1924-1925
TIMEA (Travelers in the Middle East Archive)
For suggestions on finding literary works related to U.S.-Middle East topics, see Topics in Cultural Geographies.