Recent Legislative History
GPO Access
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/index.html
Core Documents of Democracy - Open access to current and historical government documents. Includes:
Congressional Bills - 103rd Congress(1993/94) – 110th Congress (2007/08)
Congressional Committee Prints - Same time frame
Congressional Directory – 110th Congress (2007/08);104th (1995/96) – 109th Congress(2005/06)
Congressional Documents - 104th Congress (1995/6)- 110th Congress(2007/08)
Senate, House & Treaty Documents
Congressional Hearings – 105th Congress(1997/8) – 110th Congress(2007/08)
Congressional Record – 1994 forward
Congressional Record Index – 1983 forward
History of Bills – 1983 forward
Congressional Reports (Senate, House & Executive Reports) – 104th Congress forward
Code of Federal Regulations – 1996 forward
Economic Indicators – 1995 forward
History of Bills – 1983 forward
US Code – 104th Congress forward
US Constitution
Thomas Legislative Information on the Internet
http://thomas.loc.gov/
Includes:
Bill text
Congressional Record Text
Bill Summary & Status
Congressional Record Index
Constitution
Legislative Histories
Western Carolina University - Links to federal documents in the legislative process.
Government Agencies Preserving Historical Information
The National Archives
http://www.archives.gov/
Includes:
Online Exhibit Hall
Charters of Freedom
Presidential Library System
American Memory
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
Includes:
A collection of documents, photography, sound bites and motion picture clips presenting a picture of American life down through the years. Visitors to the website may also search by: collection finder, search box, broad topics, time, place or Library Division, example - Prints and Photographs
Smithsonian Institution
http://www.si.edu/
Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture
http://anacostia.si.edu/
National Museum of American History
http://americanhistory.si.edu/
National Museum of the American Indian
http://www.nmai.si.edu/
Government Agencies Including Historical Data
National Agricultural Statistics Service
http://www.nass.usda.gov/index.asp
Includes:
NASS historic Data
Social Security History
http://www.ssa.gov/history/
The history of Social Security is outlined on this site, included are: photographs, oral history interviews and presidents' statements on Social Security.
U.S. Army Heritage & Education Center
http://www.carlisle.army.mil/ahec/
Documents of Democracy
Basic Readings in U.S. Democracy
http://usinfo.org/docs/democracy/demo.htm
This site from the United States Information Agency presents a collection of historical documents including court decisions, legislative acts, poems and letters. Some documents are full-text, for others there is a summary only of the significance of the document in U.S. history.
Thomas Historical Documents
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/histdoxmainpg.html
Historical Documents includes:
Early Congressional Documents (273)
Declaration of Independence – full-text
Federalist Papers – full-text
The US Constitution
Thomas Jefferson Papers 1774-1873
US Congress Documents 1774-1873
U.S. Historical Documents
http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/
University of Oklahoma presents documents ranging from the Magna Carta to President George W. Bush's Inaugural address of 2001. Sources are divided by time frame.
Avalon Project at the Yale Law School
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm
Includes:
Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy
Access by Author, Title, Subject, Time Frame, Major Document Collections. Also has a search box which allows keyword searching across collections. Impressive collection of full-text documents covering pre- eighteenth century through the twentieth century.
A Century of Law Making for a New Nation
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lawhome.html
Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention
Journals of the Continental Congress
Full-text of the 34 volumes; access through a detailed table of contents for each volume and an index; includes a "Turn to Image Box" which moves to desired page number.
Elliot's Debates
Debates in the several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, in full-text.
Farrand's Record
Full-text discussions of the Constitutional Convention.
Statutes and Documents
Bills and Resolutions
Beginning with the 6th Congress for the House, and 6th for the Senate, plus bills for the 18th-42nd Congress.
Statutes at Large
17 volumes, covers laws of the 1st-42nd Congress, 1789-1873.
Access through: Statues at Large Browse List/ click on volume number/ Move forward page by page to table of contents/ Type desired page number in "Turn to image____" box; full-text.
U.S. Serial Set
Selected volumes: 23rd Congress1834/35, 56th Congress 1899/1900, 58th Congress 1904/05.
Journals of Congress
House Journal 1789/1873
Senate Journal 1789/1873
Senate Executive Journal 1789/1873
Relating to functions of confirming presidential nominees and consenting to the making of treaties.
Maclay's Journal
Diary which William Maclay kept for virtually every day of the first 3 sessions of Congress (1789/91).
Debates of Congress
Annals of Congress
Covers the 1st Congress through the 1st session of the 18th Congress; published after debate using primarily newspaper accounts.
Register of Debates
Congressional debates 18th 25th Congress
Congressional Globe
Congressional debates 23rd -42nd Congress
Presidents of the United States
http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/
Internet Public Library - Biographies of Presidents of the U.S., historical documents, audio and video films and much more. Includes speeches made by George W. Bush during his campaign for president.
Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States
http://www.bartleby.com/124/
Read the inaugural address delivered by the first and every President of the United States, George Washington to George W. Bush.
Primary Source Materials of American History, Time Frames & Subjects
Time Frames
The American Colonist's Library
http://home.wi.rr.com/rickgardiner/primarysources.htm
This is a treasury of primary source documents pertaining to early American history - full-text documents arranged by time frame and then by subject.
Making of America (Cornell University)
http://moa.cit.cornell.edu/moa/
Making of America (University of Michigan)
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moagrp/
* A Cooperative effort between Cornell University and the University of Michigan, MOA features just over 900,000 pages of digitized primary source materials, primarily from the 19th century, consisting of monographs and serials. Each university's collection is different.
Subjects
African-American History
American Slave Narratives (University of Virginia)
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/wpa/wpahome.html
* Former slaves tell about their lives before emancipation in this collection of transcripts of WPA interviews.
The Civil Rights Oral History Bibliography (University of Southern Mississippi)
http://www.usm.edu/crdp/html/bibliography.shtml
* Lists oral history interviews with both active and passive witnesses to the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi. Some full-text transcripts are available.
Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project (Stanford University)
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/mlkpapers/
* Official web site for the Martin Luther King Papers provides visitors with the text of a few of his notable sermons.
Census
Historical United States Census Data Browser (University of Virginia)
http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus/
Decennial Census Reports from 1790-1970, user friendly.
Civil War
Documenting the American South: The Southern Homefront (UNC - Chapel Hill)
http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/topics.html
* Concentrates on the home front in the Confederate states, highlighting education, politics, and personal relationships through documents, business papers, letters and diaries.
Images of Battle: Selected Civil War Letters from the Southern Historical Collection (UNC - Chapel Hill)
http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/exhibits/civilwar/index.html
* Twelve letters from both Union and Confederate soldiers describing the horrors of combat highlight this on-line exhibit of documents from the Southern History Collection.
Civil War Women (Duke University)
http://library.duke.edu/specialcollections/bingham/guides/cwdocs.html
* Letters written by Rose O'Neal Greenhow, a Confederate spy, and diaries and letters written by ordinary women describing the home from in the South during the Civil War are featured on this site.
Cold War
Cold War Documents (Mount Holyoke College)
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/coldwar.htm
* A chronological list of major war documents relating to United States foreign policy.
The Cuban Missile Crisis (National Security Archive)
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/
* The events that led the United States and the Soviet Union to the brink of unclear war are traces in the original documents on this site.
Nuclear History
http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/nsa/NC/nuchis.html
Nuclear history at the National Security Archive. * Declassified documents make up the majority of sources on this web site.
Regional History
Documenting the American South (UNC-Chapel Hill)
http://docsouth.unc.edu/index.html
* The history, literature, and culture of the American South is the focus of this web site presenting documents from colonial times to the early 20th century
Long Island History (Newsday)
http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/
* Documents, oral histories, first person family stories, sound bites, and video clips all tell the story of Long Island's history from the time Native Americans occupied to the present.
Southeastern Native American Documents, 1730-1842
http://neptune3.galib.uga.edu/ssp/cgi-bin/ftaccess.cgi?_id=7f000001&dbs=ZLNA
Western History Resources
http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/westweb/
Catherine Lavender, Department of History, College of Staten Island, City University of New York.
Vietnam
Vietnam War Documents (Mount Holyoke College)
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/vietnam.htm
* This site presents documents pertaining to America's role in the Viet Nam war, gathered from various sources.
Vietnam War Internet Project
http://www.vwip.org/index.php
* Links, photographs, and documents examine the combat experience of American troops in Vietnam.
The Wars for Vietnam (Vassar College)
http://vietnam.vassar.edu/
* This site has a limited document collection pertaining to America's longest and most divisive foreign war.
World War I
World War I Documents
http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Main_Page
* Contents rage from the text of official documents of the nations involved in the war to individual soldiers' personal recollections. This site is a must stopover for anyone interested in the Great War.
World War II
A People at War
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/a_people_at_war/a_people_at_war.html
* The lives of Americans during World War II is the focus of this online exhibit that uses original documents and photographs as examples
Hyperwar
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/
A hypertext history of the Second World War. Contains battle and squadron unclassified documents.
Battle of Britain
http://www.battleofbritain.net/contents-index.html
* Original documents plot the German attack and the British defense plans in this crucial battle in the skies over England in 1940.
Camp Harmony
http://www.lib.washington.edu/exhibits/harmony/exhibit/index.html
* The lives of interned Japanese-Americans are portrayed on this site with letters, photographs, and other materials.
International Relations
The British War Blue Book
http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/bb/bb-preface.html
The French Yellow Book
http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/fyb/fyb-preface.html
* Through the text of the original documents, these "colored" books trace the diplomatic maneuvers leading up to the start of World War II in Europe in September 1939.
Nazi-Soviet Relations
http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/nsr/nsr-preface.html
Documents from the Archives of the German Foreign Office, this site houses diplomatic papers tracing the German double-cross of the Soviets in 1941.
Roosevelt Speeches on International Relations
http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/7-2-188/188title.html
* Texts of Roosevelt's speeches on foreign policy.
Words of peace, Words of War
http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/index.html
* Texts of treaties negotiated before, during and after World War II.
Resources
Person
A special thank you to Stephen Findlay for the generous use of his annotated bibliography of historical resources on the web.
Books on Government Websites
Andriot, Laurie, Internet Blue Pages: the guide to federal government web sites. Medford, NJ : CyberAge Books, c2000.
Sagalyn, Raphael, The great American web book: a citizen's guide to the treasures of the U.S. government on the World Wide Web. New York: Times Business, c1996.
Trinkle, Dennis, & Merriman, Scott, The history highway 2000:a guide to Internet resources. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, c2000.
Books on Historical Government Publications
Aimone, Alan C., & Barbara A., A user's guide to the official records of the American Civil War. Shippensburg, PA : White Mane Pub. Co., c1993
Boyd, Anne, United States Government publications. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1952.
Schmeckebier, Lawrence F. & Eastin, Roy. B., Government publications and their use. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1961.
(Page created by Nancy Kolenbrander, Documents Librarian & Interim Assoc. Library Director)