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U.S. Congressional Serial Set
The UW Libraries holds the U.S. Congressional Serial set in three different editions: in
print,
in archival quality
microfiche,
and in a
digital edition from Readex,
which includes the Serial Set
maps; (see below for further information on holdings).
The U.S. Serial Set is a celebrated core resource for the field of American History. It is a specially bound, consecutively numbered version of all House and Senate reports and documents. Historians and researchers have been amazed by the Serial Set’s inclusion of such items as colored plates, maps, journals of land surveys, explorations and other materials one would not think of as dry Congressional fare. Because our federal government operated differently during its earlier years, many Executive Branch publications and general interest materials, like horticultural descriptions, were submitted directly to Congress and published as reports and documents.
Want to learn more about the Serial Set? See these resources:
How to locate a report or document:
U.S. Congressional Serial Set Digital Edition, Readex (UW Restricted)
1817-1994
(the latter date is changing as Readex continues to digitize volumes)
and its predecessor:
The American State Papers, Readex (UW Restricted)
1789-1838
(for further resources, see:
American State Papers)
For years not covered by the two Readex resources above, start first with:
Lexis-Nexis Congressional, which indexes the Serial Set from:
1789-present
(it is solely a finding tool and does not provide full text prior to 1989; used mostly to locate materials not yet digitized by Readex)
Use the Advanced Search tab. Searches can be limited to the Serial Set by checking the appropriate boxes, e.g. House and Senate Documents, House and Senate Reports, and Serial Set (this is the most comprehensive way to do the search).
It is important to note down the following information for each of the items you wish to see from your results list; we can not locate these items in the library without this information:
- Title
- CIS-NO.
- DOC-NO.
- CONG-SESS.
- SESSION-DATE
We will assist you in locating the documents, which will be on microfiche:
CIS, Microfiche M-1901
1997-
(located in microfiche cabinets 19 and 20; Committee Reports, Documents and Prints start in 1997)
[Serial Set], Microfiche M-1415
(located in microfiche cabinets 16 and 17)
1789-1969
Note: the older print editions of the Serial Set (1789-1969) in our collection are fragile; we restrict their usage and encourage the use of the digital and microfiche versions of the Serial Set.
Component Parts of the Serial Set:
House and Senate Documents
Also known as Committee Documents, these materials are included in the U.S. Serial Set. In more recent years (1990-), duplicate, paperbound copies of the separate Documents have been retained in the GovPub U.S. Stacks and GovPub Microforms as well. For a fuller description of Documents, see
House and Senate Documents, Lexis-Nexis. Since the UW Libraries copy of the bound Serial Set ceased in 1996, post 1996 Documents can be found on CIS microfiche in GovPub Microforms (cabinets 19 and 20).
House and Senate Reports
Also known as Committee Reports, these materials are included in the Serial Set. In more recent years (1990-), duplicate, paperbound copies of the separate Reports have been retained in the GovPub U.S. Stacks and GovPub Microforms as well. For a fuller description, see House and Senate Reports, Lexis-Nexis. Since the UW Libraries copy of the bound Serial Set ceased in 1996, post 1996 Reports can be found on CIS microfiche in GovPub Microforms (cabinets 19 and 20).
Executive Branch and miscellaneous items
(this page from Lexis-Nexis provides a thorough explanation of the non-congressional materials in the Serial Set)
Want to go directly to full text House or Senate Reports or Documents? Don't care about the Serial Set?
Last modified: Wednesday July 08 2009
