LibGuides: History 498A: Queer History USA: Government Documents

Government Documents and the Library

Due to the historically decentralized nature of the government in the United States, there is no single source for locating government documents, and the organization and accessibility of these documents are idiosyncratic, depending on the level and place of government you are researching (e.g. federal, state, county, township, municipal).

Even within the same level of government, the publication, retention, and organization of documents will vary by branch of government (legislative, judicial, executive), and even within the same branch (e.g. executive) you will find variances between agencies, and between the same agency at different periods of time.

Unpublished Federal documents are acquired, organized, and stored by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The NARA, as the name suggests, is an archive, and organizes documents, like other archives, by provenance. In the case of the NARA, provenance generally means originating agency.

Published Federal documents are distributed to libraries through the Federal Depository Library Program, and can be identified using the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications and also through library catalogs.

For more help finding government documents, contact the Government Information librarian, Sanga Sung.

Below are digital collections of both published and unpublished documents:

Legislative (Federal)

American State Papers
U.S. congressional materials, 1789 through 1838. Generally regarded as the unofficial predecessor to the United States Congressional Serial Set, though the two overlap chronologically somewhat.
United States Bills and Laws, 1789-present
All public and private bills and resolutions of the United States Congress. Previously called "Digital U.S. Bills and Resolutions". Part of ProQuest Congressional. Navigate to "Advanced Search" and select file "Bills and Laws".
United States Congressional Hearings Digital Collection, 1824-present
Both the published and unpublished hearings, which includes transcripts of spoken testimony, written statements of witnesses, reports, exhibits, correspondence, or other material submitted by interested parties. Hearings are held by Congressional committees as a way of collecting the information needed to inform decision making. Part of ProQuest Congressional. Navigate to "Advanced Search" and select the file "Hearings".

more... less...

Hearings are held by Congressional committees as a way of collecting the information needed to inform decision making. In addition to transcripts of verbal testimony, hearings may contain written statements of witnesses, reports, exhibits, correspondence, or other material submitted by interested parties. In this collection, you can search full text, by witness name, or by subject headings (e.g. "Radical Politics", "Students for a Democratic Society", "Public Demonstrations", "Communist Parties"
United States Congressional Record and Its Predecessors Permanent Digital Collection, 1789-present
In ProQuest Congressional (for best results, choose the "Congressional Record Only" search tab). The Congressional Record, which began publication in 1873, is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. Its predecessors were the Annals of Congress (1789-1824), the Register of Debates (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873). The Hein Online Congressional Documents Library has a slightly more-extensive collection: the Journals of the Continental Congress (1774-1789), the Annals of the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1825-1837), the Congressional Globe (1833-1873), the Congressional Record (1873-present), and the Congressional Record Daily (1980-present, updated daily). Part of ProQuest Congressional: navigate to "Advanced Search" and select the file "Congressional Record".
United States Congressional Research
Part of ProQuest Congressional. Combines two separate files: CRS Reports, 1916-present; and Committee Prints, 1830-present. CRS Reports are produced by the Congressional Research Service, an official arm of the United States Congress, in response to requests from Congress. Committee Prints are studies and reports produced for specific Congressional committees. Both CRS Reports and Committee Prints are used to support Congressmen and Congresswomen in their legislative work. Part of ProQuest Congressional. Navigate to "Advanced Search" and select file "CRS Reports".
United States Congressional Serial Set
A collection of Congressional "Reports" and "Documents". A Congressional Report is an official report to the House of Representatives or the Senate, issued by a House or Senate committee, usually related to legislation about to be considered by Congress. Congressional Documents, on the other hand, are typically reports to Congress by Executive Branch departments, but can also include documents received by Congress from other sources. Congress began publishing the Serial Set in 1817. The predecessor to the Serial Set was the National State Papers of the United States, also known as the American State Papers. The American State Papers cover the years 1789-1817, and then were published alongside the Serial Set until 1838. The Serial Set and the American State Papers are also available through ProQuest Congressional. ProQuest Congressional's version of the Serial Set includes the most recent volumes, whereas the version linked above (Readex) ends with the volumes for the 96th Congress in 1980.

more... less...

To access the Serial Set in ProQuest Congressional, select the "House and Senate Documents/Reports" file in the Advanced Search Content selection box. (Last checked 4/9/2021)

Executive (Federal)

Executive Branch Documents, 1789-1939
Issued in two modules, the first module covers United States Executive Branch publications from 1789 to 1932 (not already printed in the U.S. Serial Set). The second module extends coverage to 1939. Part of ProQuest Congressional. Navigate to "Advanced Search" and select file "Executive Branch".

more... less...

Module 1 includes publications issued by the following Executive Branch departments: Agriculture Department; American Republics Bureau; Civil Service Commission; District of Columbia; Fish Commission; Freedman's Savings and Trust Company; Geographic Board; Government Printing Office; General Supply Committee; Navy Department; War Department; Interior Department; Justice Department; Labor Department; Interstate Commerce Commission; Library of Congress; State Department; National Academy of Sciences; National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers; Post Office Department; President of United States; Smithsonian Institution; Treasury Department; Commerce and Labor Department; and Labor Department. Module 2 includes publications from Treasury Department; Smithsonian Institution; Tariff Commission; Veterans Administration; Veterans Bureau; Vocational Education Board; Commerce Department; War Department; War Trade Board; Interior Department; Justice Department; Labor Department; General Accounting Office; Government Printing Office; Interstate Commerce Commission; Agriculture Department; American Republics Bureau; Civil Service Commission; Navy Department; Library of Congress; Mediation Board; National Academy of Sciences; National Capital Park and Planning Commission; National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers; Post Office Department; State Department; Pan American Union; Pan American Sanitary Bureau; Public Buildings and Public Parks of the National Capital; Personnel Classification Board; Philippine Government; President of United States; Postal Savings System; Reserve Bank Organization Committee; Radio Commission; Railroad Labor Board; and Shipping Board. All documents are indexed and are searchable by publication title, issuing agency, subject heading, and SuDoc classification code. A PDF facsimile of each document accompanies its index record, and users can also search these PDFs, though search precision and recall are lower for the PDFs than for the index records. Access the database through the ProQuest Congressional Advanced Search.
Executive Orders and Presidential Proclamations, 1789-present
Executive orders and proclamations are legal instruments, and as such carry the force of law. Part of ProQuest Congressional. Navigate to "Advanced Search" and select file "Presidential Materials".
American Presidency Project
A selected collection of the most important documents from collections of presidential papers. Includes: Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Washington through Taft; the Public Papers of the Presidents, Hoover to Obama; the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Carter through George W. Bush; the Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents, Obama. Project of the University of California, Santa Barbara.
United States Census Enumeration Forms, 1790-1940
The Census enumeration forms are used to conduct the Decennial Census. In theory, they identify every resident of every household in the country, along with information about each resident. Information recorded changes from census to census, but usually includes each resident's relationship to the head of household, the date of birth, the person's country of origin, the person's occupation, gender, marital status, whether or not the person owns his or her own home, and other information. Because so much personal information is included on these forms, they are not made publicly available until 72 years after it was collected. Thus, the most recently available enumeration forms are from the 16th Census of the United States (1940). Part of HeritageQuest.
FBI Records: The Vault
A large collection of the files and records most recently requested by Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Examples: Weather Underground, Black Panther Party, Dorothy Day, Mississippi Burning, Elijah Muhammad, and more. Suspected communists and socialists were frequently investigated.
Federal Response to Radicalism in the 1960s
TRIAL. Digitized from the following microfilm sets: COINTELPRO: The Counterintelligence Program of the FBI; FBI File on Abbie Hoffman; FBI file on the Black Panther Party, North Carolina; FBI File on Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers; FBI File on the Fire Bombing and Shooting at Kent State University; FBI Files on Malcolm X; FBI File: MIBURN (Mississippi Burning); FBI File on Muslim Mosque, Inc.; FBI File on the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU); FBI File on the Students for a Democratic Society and the Weatherman Underground Organization; FBI File on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; and FBI Investigation File on Communist Infiltration of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Part of Archives Unbound.
Federal Surveillance of African Americans, 1920-1984
TRIAL. Digitized from the microfilm sets FBI File on A. Philip Randolph; FBI File on Adam Clayton Powell; COINTELPRO: Black Nationalist Hate Groups; FBI File on the Atlanta Child Murders (ATKID); FBI File on the Black Panther Party, North Carolina; FBI File on the Committee for Public Justice; FBI file on Elijah Muhammad; FBI File on the Highlander Folk School; FBI File on the KKK Murder of Viola Liuzzo; FBI File on Malcolm X; FBI File: MIBURN (Mississippi Burning); FBI File on the Moorish Science Temple of America; FBI File on the Murder of Lemuel Penn; FBI File on Muslim Mosque, Inc.; FBI File on the NAACP; FBI File on the National Negro Congress; FBI File on the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU); FBI File on Paul Robeson; FBI File on the Reverend Jesse Jackson; FBI File on Roy Wilkins; FBI File on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; FBI File on Thurgood Marshall; FBI File on W.E.B. Du Bois; FBI Investigation File on Communist Infiltration of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; FBI Surveillance File: Malcolm X; and FBI Investigation File on Marcus Garvey. Part of Archives Unbound.

Judicial

Making of Modern Law: Trials, 1600-1926
Unofficially published accounts of trials; official trial documents, briefs and arguments; and official records of legislative proceedings, administrative proceedings and arbitrations that document Anglo-American trials, with coverage of the British Empire. Digitized from the collections at Harvard University, Yale University, and the Bar of the City of New York.
Making of Modern Law: U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978
Almost 150,000 Supreme Court cases are featured, the majority consisting of those for which the Court did not give a full opinion. Digitized from the holdings of the Jenkins Memorial Law Library, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the the Library of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.

Other Collections

LLMC (Law Library Microform Consortium) Digital Library
Historical record of statutory, administrative, and case law for U.S. federal government, states, and territories.
Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources, 1620-1926
Published records of the American colonies, documents published by state constitutional conventions, state codes, city charters, law dictionaries, digests and more.
U.S. Declassified Documents Online
Covers the years immediately following World War II to the present. Documents on major foreign and domestic events, including the Cold War, Vietnam, foreign policy shifts, the civil rights movement, and others. Former title: Declassified Documents Reference System. Part of Gale Primary Sources.
ProQuest Congressional
Comprises 14 separate files: Legislative Histories, 1969-Present; Bills and Laws, 1789-Present; Vote Reports, 1987-Present; Committee Prints and Miscellaneous Publications, 1817-Present; Congressional Record Bound Edition and Its Predecessors, 1789-Present; Congressional Record Daily Edition, 1985-Present; Congressional Research Service Reports, 1916-2014; Congressional Hearings, 1824-Present; House and Senate Documents, 1817-Present; House and Senate Reports, 1817-Present; Congressional Serial Set, 1789-2011; Serial Set Maps, 1789-Present; Executive Branch Documents, 1789-1939; and Executive Orders and Presidential Proclamations, 1789-Present.