What is the U.S. Congressional Serial Set?

U.S. Congressional Serial Set is a collection with thousands of United States federal legislative and executive agency publications. Oviatt Library has a subscription to the U.S. Congressional Serial Set in digital format as part of Readex Corporation's Archive of Americana; access the U.S. Congressional Serial Set by selecting it on the Archive of Americana menu). This subscription offers full text and a variety of ways to search this very important collection. Dates currently available in the Congressional Serial Set subscription are 1817-1948; this Readex digital collection will eventually include 1817-1980. (GPO Access has the Congressional Serial Set online for 1995- present; Oviatt Library also has print and microform holdings listed in the Library Catalog). The Readex database includes a Help page with tips for more effective searching.

An Overview of the U.S. Congressional Serial Set (PDF; use the free Adobe Reader) provides a detailed explanation of the types of documents/reports included in the Serial Set and for which years each is included. U.S. Congressional Serial Set content can be summarized as:

• Numbered reports and documents from the House of Representatives and the Senate. (Does not include Congressional debates, bills, etc. Only about 300 committee hearings are included, mostly from the 19th and early 20th centuries).
• Presidential messages and documents sent to Congress (does not include executive orders).
• Executive branch publications that were sent to Congress and assigned a document number.
• Treaty documents.
• Maps which accompanied any of the above.

A list of examples of publications included in the U.S. Congressional Serial Set is available.

Created and maintained by Mary M. Finley
Questions or comments: mary.finley@csun.edu
Links checked: 18 June 2008