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Government Documents Index

Government Documents on Northeastern U.S. History

U.S. Government publications and state government publications are excellent sources for studying the development of U.S. History from the 1600s to the present. Purdue Libraries have many government publications on the historical evolution of the northeastern U.S. For definitional purposes, this guide will cover the following states: West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Many publications in this guide are U.S. Government publications. Paper copies of many of these publications are in the HSSE Library. While some recent U.S. Government publications are in the Library Catalog many historical government documents are not in the Library Catalog and accessing them requires using a number of print indexes which are listed below.

The principal index to 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 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 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 351.73 C497 1990

CIS Index to U.S. Executive Branch Documents 1910-1932 HSSE REF 351.73 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CIS Index to Unpublished Senate Committee Hearings 1823-1964 HSSE REF 348.731 C497

CIS Index (1970-present) HSSE REF 328.73005 C76

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

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

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

American Colonial Records (various states) 974-975 HSSE Microforms-2nd floor

Documents Relative to the Colonial History of New York HSSE 974.7 D65 14vols

Public Papers of George Clinton, First Governor.. New York. HSSE 974.7 N485p

Guide to the Microfilm of the Records of Pennsylvania's Revolutionary Governments, 1775-1790 (Record Group 27) in the Pennsylvania State Archives HSSE 974.803 P384g

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 RE AE 1.108:G 94

Guide to Records of the National Archives (Regions0 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 DIC 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

Statistical Abstract of the United States HSSE DOC C 3.134:

Additional congressional and executive branch publications in HSSE include:

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

Journals of the Continental Congress HSSE Repository 328.731 Un3

Annals of Congress 1789-1824 HSSE Repository X

Register of Debates 1824-1837 HSSE Repository X

Congressional Globe 1835-1874 HSSE Repository X

Congressional Record 1873-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)

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

Official Records of the War of the Rebellion: Army HIKS Repository W 45.5
(Courtesy Cornell University Library)

Official Records of the War of the Rebellion: Navy HIKS Repository N 16.6:

Documents from the Continental Congress & Constitutional Convention 1774-1789

Documentary History of the First Federal Congress 1789-1791 (17 vols.) HSSE 328.7309 Un3as

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, a significant and growing body of historical documentary material 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 northeastern state government agencies. The following is a partial sampling of the growing variety of historical government information resources and finding aids on northeastern history that is Internet acessible:

American Memory Project (Library of Congress project providing access to a wide variety of digitized U.S. History resources. American Landscape and Architectural Design, 1850-1920 from the Harvard Graduate Design School and Revolutionary Era Maps 1750-1789 are relevant northeastern history resources.)

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

National Archives & Records Administration

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

Census Bureau & Census of Population & Housing 1790-Present

Massachusetts Electronic Atlas (Courtesy-Harvard Geospatial Library)

U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey Annual Reports (Online 1852-1950) HIKS Repository C 4.1 (1851-1955)

New York State Gazetteer and Geodata Collection (Courtesy-SUNY Buffalo Library)

A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787-1825 (Courtesy Tufts University & American Antiquarian Society)

National Archives Washington, DC

National Archives Pittsfield, Massachusetts

National Archives Waltham, Massachusetts

National Archives Lees Summit, Missouri