Historical Research

Overview of Historical Research

In 1963 Western Michigan University was designated a depository for publications of the United States Government. Depository status entitled the library to receive, on permanent deposit, publications of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the federal government.

In addition to depository publications, Waldo Library has four large microfiche collections creating a comprehensive collection of United States Government publications. Scholars interested in history and political science as well as agriculture, business, education and almost any other subject will find much of interest in these collections.

All of these collections are available in the Government Documents Department on the second floor of Waldo Library. Microfiche readers as well as reader/printers are also available on this floor. In order to make paper copies from the microfiche a Copy Card will be necessary. Cards are available for purchase at the Copy Center, which is also located on the second floor of Waldo Library.

It is important to note that the documents contained in these microfiche collections are not accessible through WestCat, the library's online catalog. Special indexes to the collections need to be used. The indexes are available in the Documents Department on the second floor of Waldo Library.

There is also an index to most of these materials available on the Web remotely to students, faculty, and staff of Western Michigan University and in the library. It is called simply (External) Congressional and is a service of LexisNexis. (When you get to the LexisNexis home page, click on Congressional in the left hand column. Congressional indexes the publications of the Legislative branch of the government but NOT the Executive branch materials.

Staff is available to assist you in the Documents Department. We would also be pleased to provide instruction sessions to classes and groups. Please contact Michael McDonnell to arrange for a session or to request further information. (269) 387-5208 or michael.mcdonnell@wmich.edu

Serial Set

The Serial Set contains documents ordered printed by Congress. Today the set contains the reports on legislation of the various congressional committees, commemorative publications, budget and financial documents and the reports of special, Congressionally appointed, boards. In the past, Congress reprinted many documents in the Serial Set that originated in executive agencies. Reports of expeditions of discovery and exploration, accounts of military expeditions and wars, and treaty documents also appear in the Serial Set.

Sometimes called the Congressional Edition, the name Serial Set is derived from the fact that each volume in the set is given a sequential number. The microfiche collection contains volumes 1 through 12880 covering the years 1789 to 1969. The first 38 volumes of the Serial Set are also known as the American State Papers.

The microfiche collection is accompanied by indexes providing access to the documents by subject and by document number. A separate index by bill number allows for speedy access to legislation reported on by committees and subcommittees of both houses. There is also a 14 volume index to the maps which appeared in the Serial Set that allows unprecedented access to this type of material.

Later volumes of the Serial Set are available in paper in the Documents Department. These volumes are indexed in the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications and the CIS Index. Both of these indexes are available in the Documents Department. Since 1976 the Serial Set is indexed in the GPO Monthly Catalog in FirstSearch as well as (External) Congressional .

Congressional Hearings

Much of the work of Congress does not take place in the House and Senate chambers. A lot is accomplished by committees. When a subject is being discussed or a bill is being considered, it is first done at the committee or subcommittee level. In order to make a more informed decision on the item in question, the committee will bring in experts in the field and question them. These sessions are called hearings.

The microfiche collection of hearings now available in the library's collection covers the years 1833 through 1964. The depository collection contains most of the hearings after 1964. The accompanying indexes, along with the online (External) Congressional database, cover the years 1833 to 1969. Later hearings are indexed in the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Documents and the CIS Index. Both of these indexes are available in the Documents Department. Since 1976 hearings are also indexed in the GPO Monthly Catalog on FirstSearch.

In addition to a subject and organizations index, there is a separate index to personal names that includes references to all witnesses who appeared before the committees. Indexes by title, bill number, report and document numbers and Superintendent of Documents classification number are also available.

Separate collections of "unpublished" House and Senate hearings are available and indexed in (External) Congressional .

Executive Branch Documents 1789 - 1909

One of the first attempts at cataloging the vast number of government publications was the Checklist of U.S. Public Documents, 1789-1909 published in 1911. The Congressional Information Service, a much respected publisher of indexes to government information and the publisher of all four of these historical collections, took on the task of locating and microfilming as many of the documents indexed by the 1909 Checklist as it could find.

The result of this undertaking is a massive set of fiche. The collection contains general publications, reports, annual reports, circulars and periodicals, rules and administrative decisions, books in series, and catalogs. Excluded from this collection are most maps, as well as a number of esoteric documents such as forms. The collection is indexed by subject, name, series or report number, and Superintendent of Documents Classification Number.

If the document being indexed appears in the Serial Set, the indexes to this collection refers the user to the microfiche in the Serial Set collection.

Executive Branch Documents 1910 - 1932

After the success of the 1909 Checklist collection, the Congressional Information Service decided to extend the collection of executive branch publications to 1932. Waldo Library has subscribed to the complete collection. This collection is still being produced, and the following departments have been completed:

Commerce, Interior, Interstate Commerce Commission, Justice, Labor, Smithsonian Institution, Treasury, Tariff Commission, Veterans Administration, Veterans Bureau, Vocational Education Board, War Department and the War Trade Board.

This microfiche collection is indexed by subject, name, series or report number, and Superintendent of Documents Classification Number.

Web Resources

(External) A Century of Lawmaking For a New Nation US Congressional Documents and Debates 1774-1873 Part of the Library of Congress's American Memory project, this site includes materials from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, the various "journals" of the House and Senate, copies of bills from the 13th through 42nd congresses, full text of the Annals of Congress, the Register of Debates, and the Congressional Globe, as well as copies of Statutes at Large and the US Serial Set.

A Descriptive Catalog of the Government Publications of the United States 1774-1881 available in Series V in (External) 19th Century Masterfile provides an index to documents from the first one-hundred years of the federal government. The database in Poole's Plus is a keyword version of the index in the back of the printed edition of Benjamin Perley Poole's A Descriptive Catalogue of the Government Publications of the United States and as such needs to be used with the printed volume which is available in the Documents Department of Waldo Library. The call number is: Z 1223 .A 1885 (Doc). It is housed on one of the index tables in the department.

(External) Historic Government Publications from World War II The Libraries at Southern Methodist University bring you a collection of scanned government publications concerning the Second World War. The adobe Acrobat viewer is required for viewing these documents.

(External) Kappler's Indian Affairs and Treaties (Oklahoma State Universoty) This source contains the text of treaties between the United States and Native Americans between 1778 and 1883. It is keyword searchable and contains treaty name, year and tribe indexes.

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