Congressional Documents

Congressional documents concern a wide variety of subjects and include all papers ordered to be printed by the House or Senate, apart from congressional committee reports. As described by the Government Publishing Office (GPO), congressional documents “may include reports of executive departments and independent organizations, reports of special investigations made for Congress, and annual reports of non-governmental organizations.” Researchers also frequently ask us for assistance in finding Senate treaty documents, which contain the “the text of a Treaty as it is submitted to the U.S. Senate for ratification by the President of the United States.” House and Senate document citations include the number of the Congress and the number of the document. For example, "S.Doc. 114-15" cites to the fifteenth document from the 114th Congress, while "Treaty Doc. 114-1" designates the first treaty document in the 114th Congress.

Subscription Resources

The subscription resources marked with a padlock are available to researchers on-site at the Library of Congress. If you are unable to visit the Library, you may be able to access these resources through your local public or academic library.

ProQuest Congressional External This link opens in a new window
This collection includes congressional documents dating back to 1817. To search for congressional documents, you can perform a basic search and limit your search to House and Senate document under document type. If you have a citation, click on “legislative and executive publications” at the top, then choose “search by number,” and “bibliographic citations.” Next, under publication number, use the drop-down to choose a House or Senate document or Treaty Document under “type,” select the Congress, and type in the publication number. If you scroll down, you can also look for congressional documents by inputting a U.S. Serial Set volume number.
ProQuest Legislative Insight External This link opens in a new window
The ProQuest Legislative Insight subscription database is also available at many law schools and law firms, and allows you to type a citation to a public law, U.S. Statutes at Large citation, or enacted bill number, and retrieve a compiled legislative history that may include House and Senate documents.
U.S. Congressional Serial Set External This link opens in a new window
This subscription database, also known as the Readex collection, provides access to the U.S. Congressional Serial Set, which includes congressional documents. There are multiple access points, including a subject index, an a to z index, a personal names index, an index by names of acts, an index by geographic name, and you can browse documents by Congress. You can also search for a citation or perform a search within the full text.

Free Online Resources

Congress.gov
Congress.gov provides free access to full-text Senate treaty documents. Treaty documents are available on Congress.gov for all treaties submitted to the Senate since the 81st Congress (1949-1950). You can search by treaty citation, but if you do not have a citation, Congress.gov’s facets make it easy to browse for a treaty document. Facets available include the two-year Congress, the status of a treaty document, and the treaty topic. You can use the facets in combination with one another to quickly narrow down your results.
GovInfo
GovInfo contains select congressional documents dating back to the 15th Congress (1817-1818).
Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation
Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation contains the U.S. Serial Set, including select congressional documents, from 1817-1917. For documents predating the U.S. Serial Set, turn to the American State Papers collection, which is also available on Century of Lawmaking and covers the period from 1789 to 1838.

Print Resources

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

American State Papers by William S. Hein and Company Incorporated Staff (Edited by)
Call Number: KF11 .A48 1998
It is divided into 10 classes: Foreign Relations (6 vols.), Indian Affairs (2 vols.), Finance (5 vols.), Commerce & Navigation (2 vols.), Military Affairs (7 vols.), Naval Affairs (4 vols.), Post Office Department (1 vol.), Public Lands (8 vols.), Claims (1 vol.), & Misc. (2 vols.).
United States Congressional Serial Set
Call Number: KF12 .U5
Published/Created: Began with volume 1 during the 15th Congress, 1st session, 1817.
The U.S. Congressional Serial Set (Serial Set) includes a variety of information, including congressional documents, reports, and prints.

The Serial Set is immense, with over 15,000 volumes. Researchers typically need to follow a multi-step process to locate items within these volumes. The first step is finding a schedule or index of documents, such as those available on GovInfo or LLSDC External. Some freely-available indexes include:
- Tables of and Annotated Index to the Congressional Series of United States Public Documents: 15th Congress (1817-1819) - 52nd Congress (1891-1893)
- Index to the Reports and Documents: 54th Congress (1895-1896) - 72nd Congress (1932-1933)
- Numerical Lists and Schedule of Volumes of the Reports and Documents: 73rd Congress (1933-1934) - 96th Congress (1979-1980)
- United States Congressional Serial Set Catalog: 100th Congress (1987-1988) - 105th Congress (1997-1998)
- Schedule of Volumes of the U.S. Serial Set External: 91st Congress, 2nd Session (1970) - 113th Congress (2013-2014)
The indexes are organized by document type, date, and session of Congress and which index to use will depend on the publication date of the sought after document. Once the appropriate index or schedule has been identified, researchers can search by the document number to determine the Serial Set volume number where the document is located. A researcher can then search for the volume number on the University of Pennsylvania Libraries External catalog by selecting the "show more" link and either browsing the list or running a Ctrl+F search for the volume number. Each volume number is then linked to free digitized editions of the volume on HathiTrust.
CIS Annual by Congressional Information Service (Edited by)
Call Number: KF49 .C62
The Congressional Information Service (CIS) provides two resources that are likely of interest to researchers in this area. First, the CIS Annual and the monthly publication, CIS Index to Publications of the U.S. Congress (see below), which index and abstract congressional publications, such as congressional documents, since 1970.
CIS Index to Publications of the United States Congress by Congressional Information Service (Edited by)
Call Number: Z1223.Z7 C66
Jan. 1970 - Present
Senate Executive Documents and Reports by Congressional Information Service (Edited by)
Call Number: Microfiche 90/10007 (K)
The CIS also produces the CIS Senate Executive Documents and Reports, which provides coverage of Senate treaty documents from 1817 to 1969.

Compiling a Federal Legislative History: A Beginner’s Guide

Congressional Documents

Subscription Resources

Free Online Resources

Print Resources