Reference Sources
• Almanac of American Politics
Chicago: University of Chicago; National Journal Group.
Biennial
Baker Berry JK6 .A4 (Latest Ed. in Ref)
-- Congressional Biographies
-- Voting Records
-- District Profiles
-- Interest Group Ratings
• United States. Congress
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-
-- Brief biographical statements.
• CQ Almanac Online
Congressional Quarterly
Part of the CQ Electronic Library
Annual summary of legislation, pointing to relevant bills, reports, and amendments. Includes key votes, roll call votes and vote studies.
• Directory of Congressional Voting Scores and Interest Group Ratings / J. Michael Sharp.
4th ed/
Washington, D.C. : CQ Press, c2006.
2v.
Baker Berry Ref. JK1051 .S555 2006
• Encyclopedia of the American Legislative System : Studies of the principal structures, processes, and policies of congress and State Legislatures since the colonial era / Joel H. Silbey, editor in chief.
New York, N.Y. : Ch. Scribner's Sons
3v.
Baker Berry JF501 .E53 1994
An older source but still useful for background information about the Congress.
• The Encyclopedia of the United States Congress / edited by Donald C. Bacon, Roger H. Davidson, Morton Keller.
New York : Simon & Schuster, c1995
4v.
Baker Berry Ref. JK1067 .E63 1995
Covers Congress as an institution, major legislation and legislators, constitutional powers, and rules and regulations.
• Politics in America
Congressional Quarterly
Part of the CQ Electronic Library
-- District Map
-- State/District statistics
-- Interpretive statement about House or Senate member.
• U.S. Senate
Virtual Reference Desk
A clearinghouse of Senate information on the Web and guides to resources in libraries and archives.
-- Biographies
-- Directories
-- International Relations
-- Treaties
-- Vetoes
-- Votes
more...
Oxford Reference Online
Oxford Reference Online brings together language and subject reference works from one of the world's biggest reference publishers into a single cross-searchable resource.
Congressional Research Service
Congressional Reserach Service Reports (University of North Texas)
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) researches topics at the request of Congress. CRS produces reports that run from essay to book length, and often serve as important studies on a subject.
Open CRS provides citizens access to CRS Reports already in the public domain and encourages Congress to provide public access to all CRS Reports.
Congressional Research Service Reports (Federation of American Scientists/FAS)
The Congressional Research Service, a congressional support agency, does not make its publications directly available to the public online. The FAS collection of CRS reports indexed below primarily addresses national security, foreign policy and related topics. These reports are provided without CRS authorization as a public service.
Congressional Reserach Service Reports (CRS) and Issue Briefs (U.S. Dept. of State)
A selection of CRS reports from 1999 to date.
Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports (Archive-It.org)
"This collection [website] attempts to bring all CRS Reports together in one place."
U. S. Government Accountability Office
Government Accountability Office (GAO)
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. Often called the "congressional watchdog," GAO investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars.
The website links to full text of GAO reports going back to the 1940s.
Legislative Histories
Legislative Histories
Actions taken by Congress on a particular bill or area of legislation result in the creation of documents, i.e. a Bill, Hearings, Reports and Documents, debates, etc.
Tracing those actions and compiling a list of relevant documents constitutes a legislative history.
ProQuest Congressional Publications
1969 to present
U.S. Federal Legislative History Library (Hein Online)
Legislative Histories of Selected U.S. Laws on the Internet (Law Librarians' Society of washington, D.C.)
United States Code Congressional and Administrative News /USCCAN (in print)
St. Paul, Minn., West Publ. Co
Storage K43 78th,2d sess.- 1944-
Baker Berry Ref K43 110th, 1st sess.- 2006 -
USCCAN contains legislative histories from the 80th Congress, 2nd Sess. (1948) to date.
Johnson, Nancy P.
Sources of compiled legislative histories : a bibliography of government documents, periodical articles, and books, 1st Congress-110th Congress / compiled by Nancy P. Johnson.
2nd ed
Buffalo, N.Y. : William S. Hein & Co., 2012.
Baker Berry Ref. KF42.2 2012
NOTE: The 1st Ed. of this title covering the 1st-108th Congresses is ONLINE
Other Sources
To create a legislative history for an Act not included in the sources above search the sources for Bills, Hearins, etc. included on this web page.
Federal Legislative History Sources.
Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.
A useful site for identifying public andd subscription based sources.
NOTE: the subscription based sources MAY NOT be available at Dartmouth.
Congressional Documents, 1774 - 1875
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Douments and Debates, 1774-1875
This Library of Congress website contains online records of:
* The Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention
* Journals of Congress
* Debates of Congress
* Statutes and Documents
Congressional Documents
Bills and Resolutions
* Bills of all versions of legislation introduced from the 101st Congress (1989-1990) forward.
THOMAS
"In the spirit of Thomas Jeffereson, legislative information from the Library of Congress."
Open About THOMAS for content details.
Many documents are available in full text.
* Bills, Resolutions - 101st (1989-1990) through current Congress
* 103rd Congress (1993-1994) to date.
* Bills - 103rd (1993-94) Congress forward.
* History of Bills - Volume 129 (1983) forward.
Hearings
* Congressional Indexes, 1789 to date, and Indexes to Unpublished Hearings Through 1980
* Hearing transcripts and submitted testimony from 1824 to date. (full text)
CIS Index to Unpublished US House of Representatives Committee Hearings, 1833-1936 (print)
Bethesda, MD, U.S.A. Congressional Information Service, c1988
2 v.
Baker Berry Ref. Z1223.Z7 C55
CIS index to Unpublished U.S. Senate Committee Hearings : 18th Congress-88th Congress, 1823-1964 (print)
Bethesda, Md. : Congressional Information Service, 1986
5v.
Baker Berry Ref. Z1223.Z7 C56
CIS index to Unpublished US Senate Committee Hearings : 89th Congress--90th Congress, 1965-1968 (print)
Bethesda, MD, U.S.A. : Congressional Information Service, c1989
Baker Berry Ref. Z1223.Z7 C562 1989
Text of hearings: Jones Media Micro fiche 1655f
Reports and Documents
* House & Senate Reports (1819-present)
* House & Senate Documents (1817-present)
Full text: Congressional documents from the 104th Congress forward.
* Full text of House & Senate Reports and Documents beginning in 1817.
** This is an ongoing project. Additions are made to the collection on a regular basis.
THOMAS
"In the spirit of Thomas Jeffereson, legislative information from the Library of Congress."
Open About THOMAS for content details.
Many documents are available in full text.
* Comnmittee Reports (104th (1995) through the current Congress
United States Congressional Serial Set. (in print)
Washington : U.S. G.P.O.,
Began with: No. 1, with the 15th Congress, 1st session, 1817.
Baker-Berry J80 .U5
FDsys
Congressional Reports 104th Congress (1995-1996) to date.
Congressional Documents 99th Congress (1985-1986) to date [102nd Cong., 1991-92 is missing as of 12/28/10]
Committee Prints
* Committee Prints and Micellaneous Publications from 1830 forward
(A selective collection of Committee Prints. Prints here may be available in full text.
GPO Access contains a limited number of committee prints arranged by Congressional committee.
* 105th Congress (1997-1998) forward
Congressional Information Service.
CIS US congressional committee prints index : from the earliest publications through 1969. (print)
Washington, D.C. : Congressional Information Service, 1980
5 v
Baker Berry Ref. Z1223.Z7 C49
*** The Dartmouth College Library does not own this collection of prints. Once identified the prints must be acquired from other libraries via interlibrary loan.
Congressional Record
ProQuest Congressional allows for full text searching and display of the following:
* Congressional Record (1873-1997)
* Congressional Globe (1833-1873)
* Register of Debates (1824-1837)
* Annals of Congress (1789-1824)
* Congressional Record 101st Congress (1989) through current Congress.
* Congressional Record Index Current Congress through 104th Congress; cumulative for each session; published every 2 weeks.
Vol. 140, 1994 to date.
United States. Congress.
Congressional record; Proceedings and debates of the Congress. (in print)
Baker Berry J11 .R5 43rd-94th,97th1sts.- 1873-1976,1981-
Jones Media Micro fiche 1012-F 95th session- 1977-
House and Senate Journals
House of Representatives
American Memory. Library of Congress.
1789-1875
United States Congressional Serial Set.
Readex Corp.
15th Congress (Dec. 1, 1817 - Mar. 3, 1819) - 96th Congress, Second Session (1980)
** To locate Journals for a specific Congress consult this UC Berkeley guide to the Journals of Congress.
Find the SERIAL SET VOLUME NUMBER in the Berkeley guide and search for it in this database.
United States Congressional Serial Set. (in print)
Washington : U.S. G.P.O.
1817-1952
15th Congress (Dec. 1, 1817 - Mar. 3, 1819) - 82nd Congress (Jan. 3, 1951 - July 7, 1952)
Baker Berry J80 .U5
** To locate Journals for a specific Congress consult this UC Berkeley guide to the Journals of Congress.
United States. Congress. House.
Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States. (in print)
Washington : U.S. G.P.O.
Baker Berry J80 .U52 83rd congress House- 1953- (Earlier v. shelved with: United States congressional serial set)
GPO Access
1991-1999
Senate
American Memory. Library of Congress.
1789-1875
United States Congressional Serial Set.
Readex Corp.
15th Congress (Dec. 1, 1817 - Mar. 3, 1819) - 82nd Congress (Jan. 3, 1951 - July 7, 1952)
** To locate Journals for a specific Congress consult this UC Berkeley guide to the Journals of Congress.
Find the SERIAL SET VOLUME NUMBER in the Berkeley guide and search for it in this database.
United States Congressional Serial Set. (in print)
Washington : U.S. G.P.O.
15th Congress (Dec. 1, 1817 - Mar. 3, 1819) - 82nd Congress (Jan. 3, 1951 - July 7, 1952)
Baker Berry J80 .U5
** To locate Journals for a specific Congress consult this UC Berkeley guide to the Journals of Congress.
United States. Congress. Senate.
Journal of the Senate of the United States of America. (in print)
Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O.,
Baker Berry J80 .U52 83rd congress Senate- 1953- (Earlier v. shelved with: United States congressional serial set)
Senate Executive Journal
American Memory. Library of Congress.
1789-1875
Public Laws
Hein Online
United States Statutes at Large / compiled, edited, and indexed by authority of Congress under the direction of the Secretary of State.
1789 to 3 years ago.
* Public Laws from the 100th Congress (1988) forward.
* Public Laws (93rd (1973) through current Congress. The text of Public Laws is available from the 104th Congress to the present; the text of Enrolled (final) versions of legislation is available from the 101st Congress to the present.)
United States. Laws, etc.
United States statutes at large. (in print)
Washington, Published by Authority of Law Under the Direction of the Administrator of General Services by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Record Service. For Sale by the Supt. of Docs. U.S.G.P.O. U.S. Govt. Print. Off. [etc.]
Baker Berry KF50 .A25 v.1- 1789-1845-
United States code congressional and administrative news (in print)
St. Paul, Minn., West Publ. Co
Storage K43 78th,2d sess.- 109th, 2nd Sess (1944- 2006)
Baker Berry Ref K43 110th, 1st sess.- 2007 -
Contains the text of Public Laws beginning in 1948.