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Government Documents Index

Goverment Documents on Midwestern U.S. History

U.S. Government publications and state government publications are important sources for studying the development of Midwestern U.S. History from the 1787 Northwest Ordinance to the present.
Purdue Libraries have many government publications on the historical development and evolution of the midwest. This guide will consider the following states: Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota as being part of the midwest. These publications will primarily include U.S. Government publications and Indiana State publications. Paper copies of these resources are available in the HSSE Library and in the Undergraduate Library's HIKS Repository. Many recent U.S. Government publications are in the Library Catalog but many historical government publications are not in the Library Catalog.. Locating these resources requires using a number of print indexes which listed below.

The principal index for U.S. Government Publications is Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications HSSE REF & Periodicals 016.353 Un36. This indexes all U.S. Government publications distributed to federal depository libraries through the Federal Depository Library Program administered by the U.S. Government Printing Office. An online version of this index from 1994-present is accessible here Additional indexes to historical U.S. documents include:

Cumulative Title Index to U.S. Public Documents 1789-1976 HSSE REF 016.353 C913

Checklist of U.S. Public Documents 1789-1909 HSSE REF 016.353 Un3c3 (Online version courtesy of Evergreen State College)

CIS U.S. Serial Set Index 1789-1909 HSSE REF 328.73 C761c

CIS Index to U.S. Executive Branch Documents 1789-1909 HSSE REF 351.C73 C497 1990

CIS Index to U.S. Executive Branch Documents 1910-1932 HSSE REF 351.C73 C497 1996

CIS U.S. Congressional Committee Hearings Index 1833-1969 HSSE REF 348.731 C76

CIS Index to Unpublished Senate Committee Hearings 1823-1964 HSSE REF 348.731 C497

Guide to U.S. Government Publications HSSE REF 015.73 G943

General U.S. Document legal reference sources include:

U.S. Code HSSE REF 345.11 Un3co

U.S. Statutes at Large HSSE REF 345.11 Un3 & HSSE MF (1789-1903)

U.S. Reports HSSE DOC JU 6.8:

Lawyer's Guide to U.S. Supreme Court Reports HSSE REF 345.4 Un37r

Lexis-Nexis Academic (Provides comprehensive current and historical access to the full text of federal and state court opinions.)

Other U.S. and Indiana document reference sources include:

Historical Statistics of the United States HSSE REF 317.3 St29sh (Online-Purdue Users Only)

Women in Congress HSSE DOC Y 1.1/7:101-238

Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress HSSE REF 328.73 D63b 1997

A Guide to Pre-Federal Records in the National Archives HSSE DOC REF AE 1.108:P 91

Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives HSSE DOC REF AE 1.108:G 94

Guide to Records of the National Archives (regions) HSSE DOC REF AE 1.108::R 24/3

Guide to Records of the U.S. House of Representatives
at the National Archives, 1789-1909 HSSE DOC Y 1.1/7:100-245

Guide to Research Collections of Former Members
of the U.S. House of Representatives HSSE DOC Y 1.1/7:100-171

Guide to Records of the U.S. Senate at the National
Archives, 1789-1909 HSSE DOC Y 1.1/3:100-42

Biographical Directory of Indiana General Assembly HSSE REF 328.309772 In2zB52

Statistical Abstract of the U.S. HSSE DOC C 3.134: & HSSE 317.3 St29

Additional congressional and executive branch publications in HSSE include:

History of the Ordinance of 1787 and the Old Northwest Territory HSSE 977 Un3

Letters of Delegates to Congress 1774-1789 HSSE DOC LC 1.34:

Annals of Congress 1789-1824 HSSE Repository X

Congressional Debates 1824-1837 HSSE Repository X

Congressional Globe 1835-1874 HSSE Repository X

Congressional Record 1874-Present HSSE Repository X & X/A: (Online 1994-present)

American State Papers HSSE Repository Y 1.1/2:

Congressional Serial Set (Selected titles online) Also available here (Purdue users only) HSSE Repository Y 1.1/2: & HSSE MF (v. 1-916, 1817-1857)

Territorial Papers of the United States HSSE 973.082 Un3

Decennial Census of the United States (pre-1970) HSSE Repository 317.3

Richardson's Messages & Papers of the President 1789-1897 HSSE 353.03 R39

General Land Office Automated Records Project: Pre-1908
Patents: Homesteads..Michigan (CD-ROM) HSSE DOC REF I 53.57:M 58

General Land Office Automated Records Project: Pre-1908
Patents: Homesteads..Minnesota (CD-ROM) HSSE DOC REF I 53.57:M 66

General Land Office Automated Records Project: Pre-1908
Patents: Homesteads..Ohio (CD-ROM) HSSE DOC REF I 53.57:OH 3

General Land Office Automated Records Project: Pre-1908
Patents: Homesteads...Wisconsin (CD-ROM) HSSE DOC REF I 53.57:W 75

Official Records of the War of the Rebellion: Army HIKS Repository W 45.5:
(Also in CD-ROM HSSE REF)

Official Records of the War of the Rebellion: Navy HIKS Repository N 16.6:
(Digitized OR's courtesy of Cornell University Library)

Internet Resources

Although only a small portion of the historical literature produced by the U.S. Government and U.S. state governments is Internet accessible, there is a significant body of historical documentary material that has been digitized. A limited portion of this digitizing has been done by U.S. Government agencies such as the Library of Congress and, in selected instances by midwestern state government agencies. The following is a partial sampling of the growing variety of historical government information resources and finding aids on midwestern history that is Internet accessible:

American Memory Project Library of Congress-Provides access to a wide variety of digitized
U.S. History resources. Haymarket Affair trial transcripts and African-Americans in Ohio 1850-1920 relevant midwestern history resources.)

A Century of Lawmaking for New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents & Debates 1774-1875

Documents from the Continental Congress & Constitutional Convention 1774-1789

National Archives and Records Administration

Historical Census Browser-Courtesy University of Virginia Library, this resource includes access to decennial census data from 1790-1960

Census of Population & Housing 1790-Present

Governor Morton (IN) Telegraph Books (Courtesy-Indiana State Archives & IUPUI Library Digital Collections

National Archives Chicago

National Archives Kansas City, Missouri

National Archives-Dayton, Ohio

Selected Midwestern State Government Resources

Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (Includes Illinois State Historical Library)

Illinois State Archives