LibGuides: United States Government Information by Subject: Historical

Historical American Documents

America's Founding Documents (National Archives)
Digital images of founding documents, including the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, etc. (Lacks the Federalist Papers.) To read the document, look for the link to the "Transcript."
Century of Law Making for a New Nation (Library of Congress)
U.S. Congressional publications for 1774-1875, including Journals of the Continental Congress, House and Senate Journals, Senate Executive Journal, The Annals, Debates of Congress, Bills and resolutions, Statutes at Large, American State Papers, U.S. Serial Set.
Federalist Papers (Congress.gov)
Series of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison. Published anonymously in various New York state newspapers of the time, they urged New Yorkers to ratify the proposed U.S. Constitution
Milestone Documents (Library of Congress)
Digital images of 100 milestone documents in American history in chronological order, from the Lee Resolution (1776) to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Includes some Federalist Papers. Includes a short description that places the document in historical context. To read the document, look for the link to the "Document transcript."

Portals & Catalogs

Digital Collections (Library of Congress)
Online visual, audio, and text-based materials. Includes the papers of many U.S. Presidents. Use the search box in the top right corner of the page.
Digital Collections--Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774 to 1789 (Library of Congress)
Documents relating to the work of Congress and the drafting and ratification of the Constitution.
Digital Collections--Primary Documents in American History (Library of Congress)
A research guide to important documents in American history from 1775-1920.
Founders Online (National Archives)
Correspondence and other writings of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams (and family), Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison.
Government Documents (Archives Library Information Center)
A list of gateways and guides to locating government information
Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (govinfo.gov)
Listing of publications produced by the Government Publishing Office (GPO) from 1895 to 2004. Topics can be searched in the index for each year. To do a comprehensive search by topic across all years, prefer HeinOnline or HathiTrust.org. (A list of serial titles is included in the February issue of the MoCat until 1977. Starting with 1977, the serial supplement was published separately.)
Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (HeinOnline )
This link takes you directly to the "MoCat." When doing a general HeinOnline search, narrow your results using Collection of "U.S. Federal Agency Documents . . ," and then the Title of "Monthly Catalog . . ."
National Archives
Collects documents of legal or historical importance created in the course of business conducted by the U.S. Federal government.

Locating Older Federal Documents and Archived Websites

United States Government Manual (1935-2019) holds official information on the agencies of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. Includes quasi-official agencies; international organizations in which the United States participates; and boards, commissions, and committees

The Internet Archive is a non-profit organization that began archiving the Internet in 1996. Search for archived government websites through the Wayback Machine interface. Search for older Federal documents--now online--through the Advanced Search interface. In addition, some Federal agencies add access to their websites and online documents through the FEDLINK interface.

The Library of Congress Web Archiving Program preserves U.S. and select international government, organizational, political, legal, and news websites. Websites are selected according to the Library’s collection policies.

HathiTrust U.S. Federal Documents is a collection within HathiTrust, a partnership of research institutions and libraries digitizing their print collections for public use. While privately published materials may not be fully accessible, government publications usually are. Downloading and printing are not available.

FRASER is a digital library of U.S. economic, financial, and banking history. Primarily collecting materials from the Federal Reserve System, it also includes those from agencies that directly affect the banking system, state and local governments, economic and policy research institutions, nongovernmental banking and policy institutions.

Google Books is adding digitized federal documents. Using the advanced search screen, try searching for GPO, gov. print. off., or other variations in the publisher box. Or search by agency, title, etc.

University of North Texas Libraries' Digital Library archives thousands of government documents, as well as some defunct websites in the CyberCemetery.

Current and historical federal publications can be identified in GPO's Catalog of U.S. Government Publications. The Libraries have this in print from 1895-1976: J 85 GP 3.8:. Earlier government publication guides are available:

1774-1881: Poore's Descriptive Catalogue of The Government Publications of the United States, September 5, 1774-March 4, 1881 available at: GovDoc Ref Z 1223 A 1962 and at the UNT Digital Library;
1789-1909: Checklist of United States Public Documents, 1789-1909 available at GovDoc Ref Z 1223 A113 and at the UNT Digital Library;
1881-1893: Ames' Comprehensive Index to the Publications of the United States Government available at: GovDoc Ref Z 1223 A 1905B and at the UNT Digital Library;
1893-1940: Catalog of the Public documents of the Congress and of all departments of the Government of the United States available at GovDoc Ref Z 1223 A13.

WorldCat

WorldCat is a catalog for locating books, journals, videos, and government documents held by libraries. You will need to sign in using your netID and password. Within the catalog entry for a print document, select the Submit request to UAlbany button to request the document through our Interlibrary Loan Department. The catalog entry for an online government document or website usually includes a link to the full document on the Internet.

Collaboration

History Hub
Crowdsourcing platform sponsored by the National Archives. Ask questions, share information, find people based on their experience and interests. Experts and citizen archivists are available to help.

Genealogical Research

The University Libraries do not conduct genealogical research for patrons. Government websites that may be helpful in your research include the United States National Archives, which holds immigration, naturalization, passport, and veteran records, Dawes Commission records, as well as 1790-1940 census records, the New York State Library, and the Albany County Hall of Records. Cornell University Library has a getting started guide to genealogy.

Access to local newspapers, such as Albany's Times-Union and others, is facilitated through Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Also consult NYS Historical Newspapers.

The New York State Library provides free access to census records about NYS citizens through 1940 via Ancestry.com: New York.

FamilySearch.org provides guidance on using U.S. census records. The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy is online.

Research Guides

United States Government Information by Subject

Reference & Gov't Information Librarian