LibGuides: U.S. Congress: Congressional Serial Set

What is the Serial Set?

The U.S. Serial Set include Congressional House & Senate Documents and Reports beginning in 1817. Prior publications appeared in it's predecessor publication, the American State Papers (ASP). Many publications from federal agencies on a wide range of topics were also published as Congressional documents.

American State Papers are included in the ProQuest U.S. Serial Set database subscription. Some other sites where you may locate materials in the ASP are:

American State Papers in the HathiTrust
American State Papers from the American Memory Project, Library of Congress, 1789-1838 (39 volumes)

The Serial Set includes various non-governmental publications, such as the annual reports of the Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts of America, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. It also includes the proceedings of the national convention of the American Legion along with the proceedings of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) conventions. These reports and proceedings were included as Congressional Documents.

One place you may always receive help with any government information research is Government Information Online (GIO) where librarians across the United States will assist you.

Library Resources for Administrative History: Congressional Serial Set (National Archives)
Overview of the U.S. Congressional Serial Set and Schedule of Volumes, 1970 to Current (Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C.)
Provides a schedule of volumes, overview of the contents, plus a history of the publication.
U.S. Congressional Serial Set: What It Is and Its History (GPO)

Committee Reports & Documents

House and Senate Reports from congressional committees provide the findings of their hearings and deliberations,
including recommendations to the House or Senate as a whole.

House and Senate Documents include:

Presidential messages proposing new legislation or vetoing passed legislation
Annual or special reports from executive agencies
Some reports on congressional committee activities (usually published as committee prints)
Some congressional committee special studies (usually published as committee prints)

House & Senate Reports & Documents are distributed in the Serial Se t.

Beginning in 1964, House & Senate Reports & Documents were made available in the U.S. Government Publications microfiche collections. Depository libraries like the Brooks Library began collecting these microfiche collections as an effort to reduce the space. Below is a breakdown of the collections in our fiche collection.

CIS (Congressional Information Service) microfiche & indexes began in 1969.
U.S. Documents Microfiche (97th Congress, 1981-present)
- Senate Treaty Documents, Y 1.1/4:
U.S. Documents Microfiche (100th Congress, 1987-present)
- Senate Documents, Y 1.1/3:
- Senate Reports, Y 1.1/5:
- Senate Executive Documents, Y 1.1/6:
- House Documents, Y 1.1/7:
- House Reports, Y 1.1/8:

1995-present are available online starting with the 104th Congress through the GPO's repository, GovInfo.gov, which allows you to browse by documents in alphabetical order or by subject collection or by committee or author or by date in addition to the regular search box features.