US Congressional Serial Set

The US Congressional Serial Set began in 1817 as the official collection of congressional reports and documents. The collection was published in a "serial" fashion, hence its name. Richard J. McKinney in an overview of the set notes "The Serial Set does not normally include the text of congressional debates, bills, resolutions, hearings, committee prints, and publications from support agencies of Congress such as the Government Accountability Office and the Congressional Budget Office. However, by special order some 300 selected committee hearings were included, especially in the 19th and early 20th centuries." [http://www.llsdc.org/sourcebook/docs/serial-set.pdf] Proceedings of the Congress are published in the Congressional Record while committee hearings and prints in most cases are published separately through the United States Government Printing Office (GPO).

Coverage for the period 1789 to 1817 is via the separate compilation "American State Papers", which consists of 38 volumes. The two series have some overlap as "American State Papers" covers through 1838.

It is common for a volume of the Serial Set to be composed of a combination of documents and reports. Some of these reports may be one to two pages in length, while others can be hundreds of pages long. Although congressional in name, there are thousands of executive branch publications (e.g., the "Annual Report of the Secretary of War" and "Official Records of the American Civil War") included within its pages. It is this rich combination of legislative and executive publications that account for its tremendous value as a primary source for American history.

Although its more than 14,000 bound volumes are a rich historical resource, it has often been neglected by researchers due to weak indexing and limited distribution. Volumes of the Serial Set have been sent to federal depository libraries over the years by the GPO, but many such depositories hold only a partial collection of the set for a variety of reasons (e.g., age of the depository). Also House Report 104-657 directed beginning with volumes covering the 105th Congress (commencing with v.14388) distribution has been limited to regional depositories plus certain others designated by Congress. [http://www.congress.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/R?cp104:FLD010:@1(hr657)] An exception are Serial Set volumes judged to be key Congressional publications by GPO and that thus receive distribution to all depository libraries. [http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/tools/faqs.html#9]

Congressional Information Service (CIS) in the late 1980s issued the set through 1969 (v.1-12880) on microfiche, along with its predecessor "American State Papers"; the entire set consitituted about 117,000 fiches. CIS also issued a 56 volume comprehensive index to both series covering 1789-1969, for the first time providing access to their contents via multiple points (subject, name, bill number, etc.) including the many maps they contain. LexisNexis and Readex have both undertaken digitization efforts to convert the text of "American State Papers" and the "Serial Set" to electronic format. LexisNexis completed their efforts in late 2006 (covering 1789-1969) and has undertaken a digitization project for congressional hearings while thus far Readex has completed up to 1945, with plans to do volumes through 1980. LexisNexis is also rescanning the maps in the set via a partnership with the University of Maryland, College Park, acknowledging the initial scans done from the CIS microfiche while adequate for text are inferior when it comes to maps versus scanning the originals. [http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/culture/release.cfm?ArticleID=1089] Neither of these subscription services are generally available and it is best to consult with a local university librarian to determine where specific volumes can be located.

In 2007 the Google Books project began to scan the Serial Set.

Research has confirmed in some cases volume numbers were assigned to particular titles that were never published or appeared in later volumes. GPO has issued a list of "Assigned Serial Numbers Not Used". [http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/techsup/ts113098.html#1]

A bibliographic citation such as "35th Congress, 2nd Session, House Miscellaneous Document #43 Claims of citizens of Territory of Kansas" (or the equivalent shorthand version "35th-2nd H.misdoc 43") will be found in the Serial Set.

Links

* [http://rs6.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwss.html Serial Set Overview (Library of Congress)]
* [http://www.llsdc.org/sch-v/#Overview Overview of the US Congressional Serial Set (Librarian presentation)]
* [http://digital.library.unt.edu/govdocs/ssi/browseVolumes.php List of Serial Set Volumes (1817-1969)]
* [http://llsdc.org/sch-v/ List of Serial Set Volumes (1970 to Current)]
* [http://rs6.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwsslink.html Selected Volumes Digitized On Line]
* [http://www.lexisnexis.com/academic/serialset/ LexisNexis Serial Set Digital Collection]
* [http://www.readex.com/readex/product.cfm?product=9 Readex U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1980]
* [http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/sersetweb/serset1.html University of Michigan Graduate Library exhibit Congressional Serial Set Hidden Treasures in American History]