Historical Documentation Center
About the
Archive
Preserving the intricate history of the Vietnam War through digitized primary sources, scholarly translations, and unmediated access to the historical record.
12,482
Documents
342,910
Digitized Pages
~1,000
Translations
14
Source Archives
“The archive aims to preserve historical truth through raw documentation and unbiased translation.”
Why We Exist
The Mission
The Archive of the Vietnam War was established with a singular purpose: to provide researchers, historians, and the public with unmediated access to primary source documents regarding the Vietnam War. By focusing on the translation of captured NVA and VC documents, US military records, intelligence summaries, and diplomatic cables, the archive offers a holistic view of the conflict’s strategic and tactical landscape.
Our mission extends beyond mere archiving. We strive for historical transparency, ensuring that researchers, scholars, and family members of veterans can access original records that document events as recorded by participants on all sides of the conflict — unfiltered and unedited.
Unmediated Access
Direct access to original documents — no editorial filter, no interpretation layer. The source material speaks for itself.
Academic Discoverability
Full-text search, faceted filtering, and SEO-optimized metadata make materials findable by researchers worldwide.
Preservation First
Digital preservation ensures these irreplaceable documents survive beyond the physical originals, accessible to future generations.
What We Hold
The Collection
What began as one historian’s personal research trove — notes from the National Archives, gifts from contacts in the intelligence community, and files recovered from South Vietnamese military sources — grew into a massive undertaking. In 2025, the digitization of raw paper copies and translations began.
Physical Sources
5,000+
Physical Documents
Original documents including captured enemy papers, intelligence summaries, after-action reports, and diplomatic cables from personal archives and institutional collections.
The Translation Project
500K
Words Translated
Approximately 1,000 translations by Merle Pribbenow, a former CIA linguist, converting Vietnamese Communist Party documents into English.
US Government Records
240+
Ambassador Cables
Ambassador Martin back-channel cables, MACV intelligence summaries, after-action reports, and declassified materials from the National Archives.
Digital Infrastructure
100%
Full-Text Searchable
Every document is OCR-processed, indexed, and searchable. Faceted filtering by era, unit, document type, and source archive.
What Makes Us Different
Key Features
Multi-Perspective Sources
Documents from American, South Vietnamese, North Vietnamese, and Soviet archives — presenting the conflict from all sides.
Professional Translations
Vietnamese Communist Party documents translated by Merle Pribbenow, a retired CIA linguist with decades of expertise.
Institutional Partnerships
Materials sourced from the National Archives (NARA), LBJ Presidential Library, Texas Tech Vietnam Center, and private collections.