U.S. Congressional Serial Set: Examples

This page lists a few interesting publications from the U.S. Congressional Serial Set as an introduction to the range of titles and subjects published in the thousands of volumes of House and Senate documents and reports that are included in the Serial Set since 1817. In some cases, titles on this list have been shortened or slightly altered from the original lengthy titles. The titles listed below have bookmark-type links that take you directly to the full-text of each document listed.

Civil War and Reconstruction

• Fort Pillow Massacre. (Serial Set Vol. No. 1206, Session Vol. No.1 38th Congress, 1st Session H.Rpt. 65). Testimony regarding what happened at the Battle of Fort Pillow (1864) during the Civil War. Prisoner of war exchanges between the Union and the Confederacy effectively ended after this battle. Were African-American troops fighting on the Union side slaughtered after they surrendered to Confederate troops? Should they have been treated as prisoners of war?
• Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States. Mississippi. Volume I. (Serial Set Vol. No. 1539, Session Vol. No. 2 H.Rpt. 22 pt. 11). Transcript of a hearing, one of a series held in the 1870's in different southern states, about conditions in the southern states after the Civil War, including the development of the Ku Klux Klan.

Elections and Who Can Vote

• New York Election Frauds. (Serial Set Vol. No. 1389, Session Vol. No. 2 H.Rpt. 31). Election fraud, in the 1868 elections in New York, that involved fraudulent citizenship papers, people voting multiple times, and more. Additional information about alleged election fraud is available in other reports.
• Petition of Susan B. Anthony. January 22, 1874. (Serial Set Vol. No. 1584, Session Vol. No. 1 S.Misc.Doc. 39). Petition for the remission of a fine, imposed upon her by the United States Court for the Northern District of New York, for illegal voting. See also three Congressional reports on this petition Serial Set Vol. No. 1625, Session Vol. No. 3 H.Rpt. 608, Serial Set Vol. No. 1626, Session Vol. No. 4 H.Rpt. 648, and Serial Set Vol. No. 1587, Session Vol. No. 2 S.Rpt. 472.
• Arguments of the Woman Suffrage Delegates before the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate, January 23, 1880. (Serial Set Vol. No. 1993, Session Vol. No. 1 S.Misc.Doc. 74). Delegates to the Woman Suffrage Convention held in 1880, including Susan B. Anthony, present their case regarding why women should be allowed to vote to the Senate Judiciary Committee. They also testified before the House Committee on the Judiciary: Serial Set Vol. No. 1929, Session Vol. No. 2 H.Misc.Doc. 20. Many other documents about women and the right to vote are included in the Serial Set.

Immigration and Ethnic Minorities in the United States

• Chinese Immigration. January 26, 1882. (Serial Set Vol. No. 2890, Session Vol. No. 6 H.Rpt. 4048). See also the 1891 hearing on the effectiveness of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882: Chinese Immigration. March 2, 1891. (Serial Set Vol. No. 2890, Session Vol. No. 6 H.Rpt. 4048).
• Reports of the Immigration Commission. Immigrants in Industries. Part 25: Japanese and Other Immigrant Races in the Pacific Coast and Rocky Mountain States (in three volumes. Vol. II Agriculture. 1910). (Serial Set Vol. No. 5684-2, Session Vol. No. 85 S.Doc. 633 pt. 25 vol.2). This document, part of a very large study about immigrants in the United States, includes information about Japanese farmers in Los Angeles County, Armenian farmers in Fresno County, Italian farmers in Sonoma County, and more.

Native Americans

• Indian Land Cessions in the United States. (Serial Set Vol. No. 4015, Session Vol. No. 118 H.Doc. 736 pt. 2). Records compiled as the Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1897, Pt. 2.
• Indian Affairs. Laws and treaties. Vol. II. (Treaties). (Serial Set Vol. No. 4254, S.Doc. 452).

Labor Issues

• Employment of Pinkerton Detectives. (Serial Set Vol. No. 3142-1, Session Vol. No. 3 H.Rpt. 2447 pt. 1 & 2). Investigation into the use of private security forces during labor unrest (the 1892 Homestead Strike against one of Andrew Carnegie's steel companies).
• Report on Condition of Woman and Child Wage-Earners in the United States. Volume XIX: Labor Laws and Factory Conditions. (Serial Set Vol. No. 5703, Session Vol. No. 104 S.Doc. 645 pt. 19). Part of a 19-volume set (published during 1910-1912) on working women and child labor . Each volume in the set focuses on a specific topic, e.g. the cotton textile industry, wage-earning women in stores and factories, etc.

Public Health and Safety

• Adulteration of Food Products. (Serial Set Vol. No. 3888, Session Vol. No. 3 S.Rpt. 516). A hearing held in 1900 to consider regulation of the food industry.

Exploration and Discovery

• Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in 1842, and to Oregon and North California in 1843-'44. (Serial Set Vol. No. 461, Session Vol. No. 11 S.Doc. 174). One of several reports about this expedition--including colored maps and illustrations--submitted by Brevet Capt. J.C. Fremont, of the Topographical Engineers.
• Reports of the Secretary of War...and the Report of Lieut. J.H. Simpson of an Expedition into the Navajo Country. (Serial Set Vol. No. 562, Session Vol. No. 14 S.Exec.Doc. 64). Reports on several military expeditions into the southwestern United States. Special features include color illustrations and the first detailed description of the ruins in Chaco Canyon.
• Narrative of Perry's Expedition to the China Seas and Japan, in 1852, 1853, and 1854. (Serial Set Vol. No. 769, Session Vol. No. 14 S.Exec.Doc. 79 pt. 1). The first volume of the report on Commodore Perry's historic visit to Japan.
• Geology of the Comstock Lode. (Serial Set Vol. No. 2051, Session Vol. No. 17 H.Misc.Doc. 52 pt. 1). See also the accompanying atlas.

Disasters and Emergency Response

• "Titanic" Disaster Hearings. (Serial Set Vol. No. 6167, Session Vol. No. 28 S.Doc. 726). Investigation into the sinking of the Titanic; includes eyewitness testimony.
• Cruise of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Bear. (Serial Set Vol. No. 4167, Session Vol. No. 93 H.Doc. 511). Report about the cruise and overland expedition (to deliver food and supplies--including reindeer--to crews of 8 whaling ships icebound in the Arctic Ocean) from November 27, 1897 to September 13, 1898.

Relationships / Correspondence with Other Countries

• Africans Taken in the Amistad. (Serial Set Vol. No. 366, Session Vol. No. 4 H.Doc. 185). President Van Buren transmits to Congress correspondence between the Spanish and United States governments about the Africans who revolted on the vessel named "Amistad".
• Relief of Armenians. June 21, 1916. (Serial Set Vol. No. 6910, Session Vol. No. D H.Rpt. 837). There also are earlier documents in the Congressional Serial Set regarding Armenians, an example being Report of the Secretary of State, Relating to Alleged Cruelties Committed upon Armenians in Turkey. December 11, 1894. (Serial Set Vol. No. 3275, Session Vol. No. 1 S.Exec.Doc. 11).
• Note of the Secretary of State of the United States to the Secretary of Foreign Relations of the de facto Government of Mexico dated June 20, 1916. (Serial Set Vol. No. 7099, Session Vol. No. 145 H.Doc. 1237). The United States objects to incursions into the United States and actions against Americans during the Mexican Revolution.
• Annexation of the Hawaiian Islands. (Serial Set Vol. No. 3721, Session Vol. No. 5 H.Rpt. 1355 pt. 1 & 2).

State and Local Issues within the United States

• Water Supply for Los Angeles. (June 26, 1906. Serial Set Vol. No. 4908, Session Vol. No. 3 H.Rpt. 5024).