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Digitized Collections of U.S. Government Documents
Primary sources are original, uninterpreted information published at the time of the event under investigation. For government documents, primary sources are the activities, functions, and policies of the United States governmental bodies published or otherwise made available to the general public by the United States government, at government expense or as required by law.
This information may include executive branch agency documents and investigative reports (including the Office of the President), congressional hearings and reports, public laws, regulations, treaties, census data, scientific data, and court cases.
The following sources are collections of historic government documents that have been digitized by governmental agencies or educational institutions. Current government documents will be of historic value in the future. For current government documents, search in the Wellesley Library catalog.
- General
- The Presidency
- Executive Branch (agency documents, including reports and data)
- Legislative Branch (congressional testimony, reports, and laws)
- Judicial Branch (court cases)
- Topical
- Regional
- Pacific
General Historical Collections of Government Documents
- American Memory Collection (Library of Congress) - about the collection.
- Avalon Project [Yale Law School] - documents in law, history and diplomacy, 17th century to present.
- Registry of U.S. Government Publication Digitization Projects [GPO]
- Internet Archive collection of U.S. Government Documents
- The American Presidency Project [UCSB] - 76,860 documents related to the study of the Presidency, includes The Public Papers of the Presidents
- Presidential Recordings Program [Miller Center of Public Affairs, UVA] - recordings of six American presidents between 1940 and 1973.
- Presidential Proclamations [Conservative Caucus]
Legislative Branch
- National Security Archive [George Washington Univ.] - government records on a wide range of topics pertaining to the national security, foreign, intelligence, and economic policies of the United States obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests.
- Foreign Relations of the United States - diplomatic documents and corresopondence, 1861-1958 (Univ. of Wisconsin), 1945-1968 (U.S. Dept. of State Archive), 1945-1976 (U.S. Dept. of State, selected vols), 1991 to present (GPO Access). Also Clapp Docs JX 233 .A3, 1932 to present.
- USDA National Agricultural Library Digital Repository - Includes the Agriculture Information Bulletin, the Agricultural Economic Report, and the Yearbook of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Full title list.
- CIA Electronic Reading Room - electronic access to previously released documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
- Commission on Civil Rights [Thurgood Marshall Law Library, U. of MD] - "complete electronic record of United States Commission on Civil Rights publications held in the Library's collection and available on the USCCR Web site".
- Congressional Budget Office publications - variety of topics, 1975 onward.
- CyberCemetary [Univ. of North Texas] - a collection of federal government defunct agencies and commissions.
- Department of Defense technical reports - citations to research reports generated for and by the Department of Defense from 1974 onward. Some links to full text. Ask at the Clapp Reference Desk for a passward to access reports not full text.
- Department of Education ERIC documents - more than 1.2 million bibliographic records of journal articles and other education-related materials and, if available, links to full text. Wellesley has an extensive microfiche collection for those documents not full text online. Ask at the Clapp Reference Desk.
- Department of Energy Energy Citations Database - citations to scientific and technical research in disciplines of interest to DOE such as chemistry, physics, environmental science, geology, engineering, mathematics, climatology, oceanography, and computer science from 1948. Full text available from 1994. Wellesley may have earlier reports in microfiche. Ask at the Clapp Reference Desk.
- Environmental Protection Agency NEPIS - some full text.
- NASA Technical Reports - access to NASA's current and historical technical literature since it was first released in 1994.
- Continental Congress/Constitutional Convention collection (1764-1789)
- Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation (Library of Congress American Memory collection) Includes:
- Annals of Congress 1789-1824 (1st Congress to 18th Congress)
- Register of Debates 1824-1837 (18th Congress, 2nd Session to 25th Congress, 1st Session)
- Congressional Globe 1833-1873 (23rd through 42nd Congresses)
- Congressional Research Service Reports [Univ. of North Texas] - reports on issues before Congress. Also see the research page for American Politics.
- see Wellesley's research guide on Legislative History
- Supreme Court Decisions Issued between 1937 and 1975 [from fedworld.gov, U.S. Dept. of Commerce], 1990 to present [Cornell Law School], 1992-2000 [GPO Access], 1991 to present [U.S. Supreme Court]
- U.S. District and Appellate Courts - links to specific court site for cases.
- Census of Population and Housing 1790-2000 [Census Bureau]
- Statistical Abstract of the United States 1878-2008 [Census Bureau]
- FRASER, FRED, and ALFRED [Federal Reserve Board of St. Louis] - economic information and data on the U.S. economy. Fred contains 19,561 U.S. economic time series, while ALFRED® allows you to retrieve vintage versions of economic data that were available on specific dates in history
- Health Care Financing Review [HHS CMS journal] - Fall 1979 onward
- Vital and Health Statistics Series [HHS CDC]
- Army Map Service Topographic Map Series [Perry-Castenada Library Map Collection, Univ. of Texas]
- Daily Weather Maps [NOAA] 1871 - 2002 and 2003 to present
- Historic USGS maps of New England and NY [Univ. of New Hampshire]
- Native American History in the American Memory collection
- Keppler's Laws and Treaties - seven volume compilation of U.S. treaties, laws and executive orders pertaining to Native American Indian tribes; U.S. Government treaties with Native Americans from 1778-1883 (Volume II) and U.S. laws and executive orders concerning Native Americans from 1871-1970 (Volumes I, III-VII).
- Indian Claims Commission Decisions [Oklahoma State Univ.Edmon Low Library] - The Commission was created in 1946 "to hear claims of 'any Indian tribe, band, or other identifiable group of American Indians against the United States'". Includes decisions handed down through March 1973.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics and Women's Bureau [part of the Women Working 1830-1900 Collection, Harvard Univ.]
- America at War 1941-1945 [Univ. of Richmond] - Includes the G.I. Roundtable Pamphlet Series and Army Talks.
- Operational Documents [Combined Arms Research Library, Fort Leavenworth]
- Historic Government Documents from WWII [Southern Methodist Univ.] - original documents from a variety of executive agencies from the WWII period.
- WWII Newsmaps [Univ. of North Texas] - Wellesley has a collection of the originals of many of these maps. They are in very fragile condition. Ask at the Clapp Reference Desk.
- WWII Poster Collection [Northwestern Univ.] - comprehensive collection of over 300 posters issued by U.S. Federal agencies from the onset of war through 1945
Regional Collections - Pacific
- Southern Oregon History, Bioregion, and First Nations [Southern Oregon University]
- Wellesley College Library
- Date created: March 26, 2008
- Last modified: July 17, 2009
- Expires: September 1, 2010