History of Governmental Institutions
Sources in the Blume Library and on the Web

Gov. Info Home > Guides > History > Govt. Institutions

In the Library

Congress • The Presidency • Specific Presidents • Executive Agencies
On the Web: Congress • The Presidency • Executive Agencies • Supreme Court

(NOTE: Call numbers given after each title are in the Main Floor Federal Documents Collection, unless preceded by a REF or FIRST or THIRD FLOOR designation.)
Congress

Congressional Record and antecedents.
The floor debates of Congress now published as the Congressional Record have had various titles through history, and the Library's holdings of this material are in varying formats. For a listing, see this section of our guide to Congress.
Cumulative Index of Congressional Committee Hearings. (Y 1.3:H 35/2/959/supp.3,5-7).
Volumes in the Academic Library cover the years 1967-71 and 1975-80. Volumes for other years (prior to 1980) can be found in other local libraries. Information given is brief: only date, bill number and Senate Library information (not Superintendent of Documents Classification number). There is also a list of Committee Prints.
Historical Almanac of the U.S. Senate. (Y 1.1/2:13947).1989.
Chronology of important events relating to the Senate. Includes many photographs and other illustrations, and an index.
Index to the Journals of the Continental Congress. (GS 4.2:C 76/2/774-89). 1976.
Index to the Papers of the Continental Congress. (GS 4.2:C 76/3/774-789). 1978. Indexes journals and other papers at the National Archives by person, place and subject. Volume 5 of the Papers index is a chronological listing.
Letters of Delegates to Congress. (LC 1.34: ).
Includes all documents written by delegates to Congress bearing directly on their work during 1774-89.
The Senate, 1789-1989: Addresses on the History of the U.S. Senate. (Y 1.1/2:13723).
By Robert Byrd. A compilation of Byrd's addresses, delivered on the Senate floor from 1981-87. Extensive notes, a short bibliography and a detailed index are included.

Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, 1774-1989. Y 1.1/2:13849. Listings by Congress, with brief biographical information. (this directory is available online in different versions; see below)

(For additional information on Congress and Congressional publications, see the guide: Congress, Legislation, etc.

Executive Branch Agencies

Individual agencies, and even sub-agencies and facilities such as laboratories, bases and research centers, often publish self-histories. Some examples are: First 100 Years of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (L 2.3:2235); Donovan and the CIA (PrEx 3.10:D 71); Dreams, hopes, realities : NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center : the first forty years (NAS 1.21:4312). Consult the Government Documents Index or the Online Catalog for particular agency histories. Combine "HISTORY" with keywords from the agency's name in performing an advanced keyword search.

We have collections of annual reports from some agencies back to the early 1960's or from the establishment of the agency, if more recently. Note that since the 1990's most of these annual reports have been received in microfiche. Some annual reports are more ceremonial than substantive, but some provide material and data of historical interest. We have substantial holdings (some even previous to the 1960's) of annual reports for the following agencies (with classification numbers):
Attorney General: J 1.1:   Securities & Exchange Comm.: SE 1.1:
Fed. Communications Comm.: CC 1.1:   Small Business Adm.: SBA 1.1:
Federal Reserve Board: FR 1.1:   Smithsonian Inst.: SI 1.1:
Labor Dept.: L 1.1:   Treasury Dept.: T 1.1:
Library of Congress: LC 1.1:   Internal Revenue Service: T 22.1:
Labor Relations Board: LR 1.1:   Veterans Adm.: VA 1.1:

The Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress (described above) includes a comprehensive listing of major executive officers from 1789 to the present.

  The Presidency

Presidential documents are classified PR in the Documents stacks, with a number following the PR designating the presidency. For example, publications from Jimmy Carter's presidency are classified PR 39.... An important recurring series within the Presidential publications, the Economic Report of the President, is classified PR xx.9: , where "xx" is the number of the presidency. Again, the Economic Reports issued while Carter was President are classified PR 39.9: (year). (Note: Economic Reports are available online from 1996 up to the present.)

Another section of publications related to the Presidency is classified PREX. These are publications issued by various more-or-less permanent offices under direct control of the White House. These are some of the most important and their classification numbers:

  • Bioethics Advisory Commission (PREX 1.19: )
  • Central Intelligence Agency (PREX 3. )
  • Council on Environmental Quality (PREX 14. )
  • Drug Control Policy Office (PREX 26. )
  • Managment and Budget Office (PREX 2. )
  • Trade Representative (PREX 9. )

Some miscellaneous publications, such as speeches and one-time reports, are classified in PREX 1.2: . Admittedly, there occasionally seems to be little logic behind the decision to place a commission's report in PR or PREX. For this reason, browsing the stacks alone should not be substituted for a search of the Online Catalog when looking for Presidential publications. All paper format Presidential publications appear in the Catalog.

Here are some important series of Presidential documents, both within the PR classification and elsewhere:

Budgets. (PREX 2.8: ; Y 1.1/7: )
We receive two copies of the Budgets as proposed by the President. The copy shelved at PREX 2.8 is the one that is permanently retained. Various supplementary volumes are also shelved at PREX 2.8: or PREX 2.8/xx: . Keep in mind that these documents are the proposed budgets only; they do not reflect funds that were actually spent in different areas. Budgets back to 1996 are available online from GPO Access. Starting with 2010's budget, they are also available in their new F(ederal)D(igital)S(ystem), which provides a more robust and flexible searching capability.
Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the U.S. (Y 1.1/2:13914). 1989.
Gives addresses of presidents from Washington through Bush. A brief historical note, and picture, precede each text.
Index to Presidential Papers. (LC 4.7: ).
Indexes collections of papers in the Library of Congress; includes 23 presidents, Calvin Coolidge being the most recent.
Presidential Vetoes. (Y 1.3:S.PUB.102-12; 105-22).
Lists vetoes chronologically; gives bill numbers and references to veto messages and other related material. There is a subject index. Senate Publication 102-12 covers vetoes from 1789-1988. The latest update publication is 105-22, which covers 1989-1996.
Public Papers of the Presidents. (THIRD FLOOR--J 82).
Texts of documents from administrations of Hoover to the present (Franklin Roosevelt excepted). The University of California, Santa Barbara's American Presidency Project offers digital versions of many of the papers for Presidents since Hoover (including Roosevelt). The University of Michigan's Digital Library also offers digitized copies.
Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents. (FIRST FLOOR--PERIODICALS; 1965-2000).
Texts of documents which are later compiled into the Public Papers series. The Library no longer receives this title in paper but it is available online through FDSys for 1993 to the present, under its new title—Compilation of Presidential Documents—which reflects the fact that in an electronic environment, the database is updated continually.

Specific Presidents

Kennedy Assassination materials.

Presidential Impeachment materials.

On the Web

Congress

House Journal, Senate Journal. These sites, parts of the Library of Congress' American Memory project, provide access to the text of the Journals, which cover floor proceedings, from 1789-1875. You can browse by date or search by keyword. Page images of the Journals may be viewed as well. The Senate Executive Journal, also available from American Memory from 1789-1875, is a separate record of the Senate's business relating to its functions of confirming presidential nominees and consenting to the making of treaties.

Congressional Record antecedents. The floor debates of Congress now published as the Congressional Record have had various titles through history. American Memory makes them available online through 1875:

Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention. American Memory makes available the text of broadsides from this period which include extracts of the journals of Congress, resolutions, proclamations, committee reports, treaties, and early printed versions of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress 1774 to the Present. Congress provides a searchable version of the Directory listed above. You may search by name, title and state. Information is a brief, "vita"-style biography. GPO provides a PDF edition, with the capability of viewing/downloading individual sections of the volume.

The CQ Press Political Reference Suite (available on-campus and off-campus to St. Mary's students/faculty only) has a lot of information about Congress and politics in general, in text and data form, with some non-current data and documents. Look particularly at their Historic Documents Series.

Executive Agencies

In order to find information pertaining to an agency's history, look for the following sorts of links from agency homepages: "About Us," "About the Agency," "History," "Archives." Some examples:

  • "NOAA History" is an attractive and informative website accessed from the main page of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under an "About NOAA" navigation bar.
  • "History of the National Park Service" is found under the "Info Zone" link on the agency's main page.
  • "FEMA History" is under "About FEMA" on the main page of the Federal Emergency Management Administration.

The Library has made access to an extensive collection of government records, most of which are agency reports and decisions, available through the Online Catalog. The collection is provided by the Law Library Microform Consortium and is housed at the University of Michigan.

The Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress (described above) includes a comprehensive listing of major executive officers from 1789 to the present.

Supreme Court. The Senate Judiciary Committee has made transcripts of hearings for Supreme Court nominees from 1971 to the present available through GPO Access.

 The Presidency

Presidential Documents Guide. This page at the National Archives site provides browsing and searching capabilities in various collections of Executive Orders, Proclamations and other Presidential documents.

Inaugural Addresses (from Avalon Project). This digitization project of the Yale Law School makes the text of all Presidental Inauguration addresses available. The database is searchable, or you can pick a specific president's address to view.

Presidential Directives and Where to Find Them. The Library of Congress offers this page with references primarily to printed sources available at the Library. There is one major compilation of directives online, maintained by the Federation of American Scientists, which is linked from this page.

Presidential Libraries. Presidential Libraries are combination archives/museums with exhibits open to the public. This index page at the National Archives provides general information on Presidential materials, as well as links to the web pages of the specific libraries. In addition to providing information for researchers wishing to use their archives onsite, the web pages often have online exhibitions of materials, photo gallerys, audio files, and other information. The following are the Presidential libraries (links are to the individual library's websites):

Richard M. Nixon does not have a Library, but there is a Nixon Presidential Materials office at the National Archives which administers his papers. Some of the results of their work is available online.

The Miller Center on Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, provides a fine reference site: The American President, with a wealth of information about both the office and the men. Valuable details such as lists of staff and cabinet members are supplemented by links to audio and video of speeches (for recent presidents)and lectures, links to speech transcripts, short scholarly essays on aspects of the presidencies, and detailed timelines. Another site of interest, The American Presidency Project, has a large archive of Presidential documents, including the Public Papers, available for searching or browsing.

Many new sites featuring online content relating to Presidential history have been developed recently:

The University of Oregon Library has this guide to Presidential Papers, Speeches and Executive Orders, which lists all currently available compendia (holdings information is for their library only) as well as links to online sources of this material.

Government Information on the Web Subject Index

In addition to the major government websites described above, headings listed below might lead you to useful information in these specific areas:
Agencies   Impeachment   Officials/Officers of Government
Congress   Judicial Branch   President/Vice-President/Executive Branch
Courts   Obama, Barack   Supreme Court