Milner Library houses an extensive collection of information by and about the United States Congress. Primary sources include full text of congressional bills/resolutions both passed and not passed, congressional committee hearings, prints, documents and reports, floor debates, proceedings, journals, directories, manuals, voting data, and publications of the support agencies of congress. These official documents are issued by the full congress, either of the houses jointly or individually, or by the committees. Official congressional documents do not include materials issued by the political parties, groups of legislators, or by one individual congress member.
Congressional Debates, Proceedings, Journals
The printed debates and proceedings in both houses have been issued since the first Congress. Their titles have changed several times beginning with the Annals of Congress, Register of Debates, Congressional Globe, and currently, the Congressional Record. The Congressional Record is issued every day Congress is in session with a printed index issued every two weeks. Each title includes separate indexes at the end of the bound volumes. This bound edition includes a separate section of member names and subjects and a History of Bills and Resolutions section arranged by number. The houses are required by the Constitution to keep journals of their proceedings, and these journals have been issued by each house since the first Congress. Earlier volumes of the journals were issued as House or Senate Documents in the Congressional Serial Set. The journals include a list of bills and resolutions introduced daily by number and title but not the bill/resolution text nor the text of hearing testimony, titles of memorials and petitions to congress, annual presidential messages, presidential veto messages, and other presidential communications to each house.
Indexes to Congressional Resources
Congressional Universe
Offers comprehensive access to U.S. legislative information with access to a variety of information by and about the United States Congress.
- Search an index of congressional publications from 1970 to the present
- Retrieve CIS Legislative Histories for public laws going back to 1970
- Find testimony from congressional hearings
- Track bills as they move through the House and Senate
- Search the Congressional Record and Federal Register
- Locate information about members and committees
Congressional Universe Historical Indexes
Indexes historical congressional publications, including the serial set, dating from 1789-1969.
The Serial Set, America's longest-running series, is a serially numbered collection of House and Senate reports and documents dating to 1789. The Serial Set also includes diverse non-congressional materials ordered printed by Congress and earmarked as House or Senate Documents. These materials include presidential messages to Congress, annual or special reports to Congress, special studies and background information and annual reports of patriotic groups (Boy and Girl Scouts, American Legion, Daughters of the American Revolution).
GPO Monthly Catalog
Indexes United States government documents, reports, hearings, etc. from 1976 to the present. Paper copies also available dating from 1789 to present on Floor 4 in Documents stacks, GP 1.2.
Searchable by keyword, author, agency, and SuDoc classification numbers. (For more information on SuDoc call numbers.)
CQ Weekly, 1983+ (ISU only)
- Gives a weekly summary of what's happening in Congress
- Offers behind the scenes and political information.
- Identifies bills, which may be on topics relevant to social policy
- Gives floor votes
Produces cumulative quarterly indexes
Quarterly indexes are published 6 weeks after the end of the quarter. They are cumulative throughout the year. You can also browse the back page of recent issues for the very latest information
Guide to CQ Weekly (from Skokie Public Library)
Hill on the Web
Weekly newspaper on Congress with focus on behind the scenes information about members
Searchable archives since June 1999
Roll Call
Several articles on today's Congressional news; archive only by subscription
Extensive policy briefings on a current topic (e.g. appropriations) changed every few weeks
Full text since 1989 also available in Academic Universe
Identify through Congressional Universe under the Congressional Publications heading
Historical Congressional Information
Biography Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 to present
Gives brief biographical information on members of Congress dating from 1774 to present.
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation (from American Memories site, Library of Congress)
Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation consists of a linked set of published congressional records of the United States of America from the Continental Congress through the 42nd Congress. The online collection offers the records of the Continental Congress, the Constitutional Convention and ratification debates, and the first forty-two federal congresses, 1774-1873. It includes the Journals of the Continental Congress (1774-1789), the Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, and the Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution (1787-1788); the Journals of the House of Representatives (1789-1873) and the Senate (1789-1873), including the Senate Executive Journal (1789-1873); the Journal of William Maclay (1789-1791), senator from Pennsylvania in the 1st Congress; the debates of Congress as published in the Annals of Congress (1789-1824), the Register of Debates (1824-1837), and The Congressional Globe (1833-1873); and the Statutes at Large (1789-1873). Seventeen volumes of the US Serial Set are also currently available; an additional 93 volumes from before 1873 will be added later.
Print Resources
Congress and the Nation, 1945+ (Floor 2 Reference Area, JK 1001 .C55)
Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 1945+ (Floors 2 Reference Area, JK 1 .C66)
Usually published in June for the preceding year
Indexes major topic areas
Congressional Committees, 1789-1982 (Floor 2 Reference Area, JK 1029 .S78 1985)
Reference book that identifies historical congressional committees with beginning and termination dates, also includes name changes of committees
Congressional Record, Congressional Globe, Register of Debates, Annals of Congress, 1789 to present (Floor 2 Documents Stacks, X)
With exceptions, a verbatim account of congressional proceedings. Contains four sections:
- proceedings of the House (edited debates, records of votes and legislative action, and the full text of many bills)
- proceedings of the Senate (edited debates, records of votes and legislative action, and the full text of many bills)
- extensions of remarks (undelivered texts members ask to be included with the record)
- Daily Digest (concise, factual record of daily activities)
