Political Research Associates (PRA) maintains an extensive free specialized library of primary and secondary materials that is open to the public through advanced reservation of the available seating for researchers.

The library reading room is comfortable, well-lit, and temperature-controlled at 72 degrees.

The collection contains over one half million items, including 5,000 books, 1,121 sample serials, 120 archived serials, and 480,000 documents on antidemocratic, authoritarian, and other oppressive movements and trends in the United States.

The file cabinets contain vertical files with direct mail appeals, clippings, pamphlets, and flyers.

In addition there are hundreds of videotapes and audiotapes with the equipment for viewing and listening by individuals or small study groups. Some of our serials run in full sets back to the early 1980s.

As PRA strives to adhere to the rigorous standards of social science research, we use the library to inform and fact-check our own work. PRA staff regularly access the files to answer information inquiries, and visiting researchers hunt down important documentation which is often not available elsewhere. 

Those we have hosted include community activists researching hate crimes; labor activists investigating anti-union campaigns; students looking into anti-democratic movements and trends; researchers and writers needing to fact-check and strengthen their work; and legal professionals preparing for civil rights and civil liberties cases.

Photocopies can be made from the collection for a small fee that starts at ten cents per page and declines as the volume increases to five cents per page. PRA does insist that researchers observe the applicable copyright laws.

Political Research Associates is an independent, nonprofit, research center, based on progressive values, that serves as a national resource for information on antidemocratic, authoritarian, and other oppressive movements and trends.  PRA is committed to advancing an open, democratic, and pluralistic society by providing useful, accurate, and reliable research and analysis to activists, journalists, educators, policymakers, and the public at large.