The Library of Congress holds the main body of the papers of twenty-three presidents of the United States, including those of President Woodrow Wilson, the first president to make the Secretary of Labor an independent cabinet position. For those interested in researching business topics, there is much in the presidential collections that may be useful, including significant pieces of legislation, business related events, and correspondence with business-related individuals. All collections of presidential papers after Coolidge are held at the National Archives and Records Administration as part of their presidential libraries program.

The following collection titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content, including finding aids for the collections and digital collections, are included when available. Collections not available online are available on microfilm. Many institutions own copies of the microfilm collections, and copies are also available for use in the Manuscript Reading Room. The papers of John Adams and John Quincy Adams, James Buchanan, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Warren G. Harding are not in the custody of the Manuscript Division, but microfilm editions of these collections are available in the Manuscript Reading Room.

Most presidential collections include an index to correspondence, which may be found under "Expert Resources" on the digital collections and in the bibliographic description for those collections not yet available online.