UW Libraries - History - Government Documents

The UW Libraries has a strong collection of U.S. government publications for all three branches of government. The UW Libraries also has parliamentary material for some Western European nations and selected documents from other countries and international organizations. Most of the printed material, as well as specialized reference help, is available in the Government Publications Section located on the ground floor of Suzzallo Library.

The sources listed here are starting points for identifying and locating older governmental material.

Great Britain

Parliament
- The Cabinet Papers, 1915-1977
  Digitized UK Cabinet Papers for 1915-1977. Papers can be downloaded for free from the National Archives.
- Hansard Debates
  Hansard House and Lords debates dating back to 1988 for the former and 1994 for the latter. A prototype digital historical archive of Hansards is available for the 19th and 20th centuries. Printed versions of Hansard are available in Government Publications.
- House of Commons Parliamentary Papers.
  Fulltext collection of 19th and 20th century Parliamentary Papers.
- Records of the Parliaments of Scotland
  Digitized version of proceedings of the Scottish parliament from 1235 to the union of 1707.
Judicial
- Old Bailey Online
  Information on more than 197,000 criminal trials from 1674 to 1913

United States

General
- Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy
  Diverse collection of documents dealing with US, international and diplomatic history.
- Hein Online
  Full text Congressional Record, Supreme Court decisions and other federal documents plus law reviews.
- MarciveWeb Docs
  Index to US government documents from 1976 through the present.
- Monthly Catalog of US Government Publications, 1895-1976
  Index to government documents.
- Our Documents
  Collection of 100 milestone documents of American history with commentary.
Congressional Documents
- American State Papers
  US Congressional material dating from 1789 to 1838.
- A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation
  Library of Congress collection of "published congressional records of the United States of America from the Continental Congress through the 43rd Congress, 1774-1875."
- Congressional Universe
  Full-text debates, bills, reports dating back to approximately 1989 and indexing of congressional reports and hearings dating back to 1789.
- Documents from the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789
  Collection of more than 250 documents "relating to the work of Congress and the drafting and ratification of the Constitution."
- Thomas
  Library of Congress portal to current Congressional documents includes Public Laws back to 1973 and the Congressional Record back to 1989.
- US Congressional Serial Set
  Full-text Senate and House reports, documents, and journals for the period 1817-1962.
Executive Documents
- Codification of Presidential Proclamations and Executive Orders
  April 13, 1945, through January 20, 1989.
- Digital National Security Archive
  Digitized declassified documents regarding critical US foreign policy decisions
- Foreign Relations of the United States
  State Department documents from the Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon adminstrations. Also see the University of Wisconsin's more complete collection of the Foreign Relations series.
- Papers of the War Department 1784-1800
  Digitized collection of over 50,000 documents
- Public Papers of the President
  Papers of Reagan, GHW Bush, Clinton and GW Bush are available.
- Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents
  1993 to the present.
Judicial Documents
- LexisNexis
  Includes federal and state case law as well as some EU, Canadian and Commonwealth legal materials.
- Oyez: US Supreme Court Multimedia
  More than 2000 hours of audio from Supreme Court hearings.
- Supreme Court Collection 1990-present
- Supreme Court Decisions 1937-1975
- Supreme Court Opinions 1893-present

International Organizations

GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade)
- GATT Digital Library 1947-1997
  Collection of more than 30,000 GATT documents and publications.
League of Nations
- League of Nations Statistical and Disarmament Documents
  Collection of 260 League of Nations documents from the collections of Northwestern University. Also see Indiana University's League of Nations photo collection.
United Nations
- Access UN
  Index to UN documents dating from 1946 to the present.
- Official Documents of the United NationsAccess to all UN documents dating from 1993 with growing coverage of earlier years.