# Where can one read proceedings of past US governments? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 8, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-read-proceedings-of-past-us-governments/311609 "2005-07-08T17:13:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-read-proceedings-of-past-us-governments/311609/1 "2005-07-08T17:13:58Z")
Say I wanted to read the transcripts of what transpired in the US senate on 11th May, 1909 or the hearings associated with a particular (old) law, how would I go about it? Is it in a basement somewhere? Scanned and online? FOIA route? Suppose I didn’t know the specific document I wanted, but rather all that was discussed on 11th May, 1909, or all documents of hearings associated with a certain law. On a tangent, and not to get too conspiratorial, but how would I know I am getting all the documents? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-read-proceedings-of-past-us-governments/311609/2 "2005-07-08T17:22:01Z")
If you’re talking about Congress’s deliberations, there’s the [Congressional Record](http://www.gpoaccess.gov/crecord/), which is the official transcript of Congress. The web site only has about 10 years of deliberations, but most university libraries should have back issues on microfilm, dating back to 1873. Here are some early issues online: [Congressional Record Home Page: U.S. Congressional Documents](http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwcr.html) Here are some starting in 1989: [http://thomas.loc.gov/](http://thomas.loc.gov/) ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-read-proceedings-of-past-us-governments/311609/3 "2005-07-08T17:46:22Z")
Also useful is West’s Unites States Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN). It has full text of laws as well as the committee reports supporting them and other legislative history. It’s arranged chronologically. I don’t believe it contains floor statements and stuff like that as does the Congressional Record, so you’d need them both to be truly comprehensive. USCCAN doesn’t go back that far, though – mid-century, I think. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-read-proceedings-of-past-us-governments/311609/4 "2005-07-08T17:48:29Z")
One general note – tracking of this stuff has gotten more and more systematic over time, so the older a law is, the harder it is going to be to track stuff down. A law librarian can give you some assistance. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-read-proceedings-of-past-us-governments/311609/5 "2005-07-08T18:29:02Z")
Transcripts of hearings and markups are generally published as official government documents, which would be stored at a Federal depository library. More recent ones can be found at [gpoaccess.gov](http://gpoaccess.gov), like [here.](http://www.gpoaccess.gov/legislative.html) There are lots of Federal depository libraries, and there’s a good chance that the biggest city or university library near you is one. [Maps.](http://www.gpoaccess.gov/libraries.html) These libraries should have the documents you are looking for. Also, Congress is not subject to FOIA requests. You will have to do your own research to dig up these documents, whereas Executive Branch agencies will have people working these sorts of requests for you. (But be prepared to wait a loooong time.) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-read-proceedings-of-past-us-governments/311609/6 "2005-07-10T00:37:45Z")
Working at Distributed Proofreading [http://www.pgdp.net/](http://www.pgdp.net/c/default.php) (where volunteers proofread public-domain books for Project Gutenberg, a page at a time), I was working on a big series of books called “Messages & Papers of the President: \”. Author/Editor was James D Richardson. It consisted of all the correspondence from the President; lots of notes & letters to Congress, responses to foreign governments & ambassadores, presidential proclamations, Commander-in-Chief letters to the armed forces ordering flags to fly at half-mast, etc. I found these quite interesting. It was up to about President Teddy Roosevelt as I last remember. While not actual Congressional Records, it might be an interesting additional source. The correspondence is in date order, so you could look up the Presidential correspondence of May 11, 1909 (William Howard Taft) and see what letters the Predident wrote that day. This would be available at Project Gutenberg ([www.gutenberg.org](http://www.gutenberg.org/). ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-read-proceedings-of-past-us-governments/311609/7 "2005-07-10T02:51:47Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Working at Distributed Proofreading [http://www.pgdp.net/](http://www.pgdp.net/c/default.php) (where volunteers proofread public-domain books for Project Gutenberg, a page at a time), I was working on a big series of books called “Messages & Papers of the President: \”. Author/Editor was James D Richardson. It consisted of all the correspondence from the President; lots of notes & letters to Congress, responses to foreign governments & ambassadores, presidential proclamations, Commander-in-Chief letters to the armed forces ordering flags to fly at half-mast, etc. I found these quite interesting. > > It was up to about President Teddy Roosevelt as I last remember. > > While not actual Congressional Records, it might be an interesting additional source. The correspondence is in date order, so you could look up the Presidential correspondence of May 11, 1909 (William Howard Taft) and see what letters the Predident wrote that day. Actually, the _Messages and Papers_ series that James Richardson began editing in 1897 was updated through President Coolidge. But the series doesn’t contain _all_ presidential correspondence, only communications to Congress and certain diplomatic papers. The series ended when the National Archives & Records Administration began publishing the current series, [_Public Papers of the Presidents_](http://www.gpoaccess.gov/pubpapers/about.html), starting with the Hoover administration: > [@](#): > > The Public Papers of the Presidents, which is compiled and published by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration, began in 1957 in response to a recommendation of the National Historical Publications Commission. Noting the lack of uniform compilations of messages and papers of the Presidents before this time, the Commission recommended the establishment of an official series in which Presidential writings, addresses, and remarks of a public nature could be made available. > > Volumes covering the administrations of Presidents Hoover, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush are included in the Public Papers series. Currently, GPO Access contains the Public Papers for Presidents George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush. Additional volumes covering the administrations of Presidents Hoover, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan will be made available from GPO in the future. Currently, volumes are published approximately twice a year, and each volume covers approximately a 6-month period. > > NOTE: The papers of President Franklin Roosevelt were published privately before the commencement of the official Public Papers series. > > Each Public Papers volume contains the papers and speeches of the President of the United States that were issued by the Office of the Press Secretary during the specified time period. The material is presented in chronological order, and the dates shown in the headings are the dates of the documents or events. In instances when the release date differs from the date of the document itself, that fact is shown in the textnote. > > To ensure accuracy, remarks have been checked against a tape recording and signed documents have been checked against the original, unless otherwise noted. Editors at OFR have provided textnotes and cross references for purposes of identification or clarity. Speeches were delivered in Washington, DC, unless indicated. The times noted are local times. > > The appendices to the Public Papers contain additional material that has been previously published in the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents. A companion to the Public Papers series, the Weekly Compilation was begun in 1965 to provide a broader range of Presidential materials on a more timely basis to meet the needs of the contemporary reader. This expanded coverage in the Public Papers provided by the appendices in each Public Papers volume provides listings of: > > [ul]A digest of the President’s daily schedule and meetings, when announced, and other items of general interest issued by the Office of the Press Secretary;[/ul] > [ul]The President’s nominations submitted to the Senate;[/ul] > [ul]A checklist of materials released by the Office of the Press Secretary that are not printed full-text in the book; and[/ul] > [ul]A table of Proclamations, Executive orders, and other Presidential documents released by the Office of the Press Secretary and published in the Federal Register[/ul] > Each Public Papers volume features a foreword signed by the President, and a portfolio of photographs selected from White House Photo Office files, as well as subject and name indexes, and a document categories list. ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-read-proceedings-of-past-us-governments/311609/8 "2005-07-10T21:32:05Z")
Thanks for all the replies. > [@Ravenman](#): > > Also, Congress is not subject to FOIA requests. You will have to do your own research to dig up these documents But what about declassified documents of secret/closed hearings? Are they also in the Depositories? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-read-proceedings-of-past-us-governments/311609/9 "2005-07-10T23:00:35Z")
> [@II Gyan II](#): > > But what about declassified documents of secret/closed hearings? Are they also in the Depositories? I’ve never specifically looked into this, but my assumption is that these could be found in the National Archives in Adelphi, Maryland, and not likely anywhere else. Unfortunately, NARA’s website is not cooperating with me right now to verify what declassified legislative records are available. Congress does not routinely publish transcripts of classified hearings and such in the same manner that it publishes other hearings. There are a few exceptions, such as one or two years ago, the overwhelming majority – if not every page – of the secret portions of Senator McCarthy’s hearings were published. They should be available on [GPOaccess.gov](http://GPOaccess.gov). ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-read-proceedings-of-past-us-governments/311609/10 "2005-07-10T23:49:24Z")
I have never seen any shipments of declassified Congressional hearings sent to a GPO Depository. They almost certainly wouldn’t be sent now since so little is on paper. GPOaccess would be the place to check. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-read-proceedings-of-past-us-governments/311609/11 "2005-07-11T12:46:43Z")
I just looked, and the National Archives does indeed have significant holdings of formerly classified material. For example: > [@](#): > > 10.49 While this page describes Senate records through 1968, it must be noted that the Committee on Foreign Relations has opened for research, subject to certain conditions, all treaty files, unclassified executive communications, petitions and memorials, and legislative case files that have been transferred to the National Archives. Unpublished public hearing transcripts are usually available at the National Archives when 2 years old. Public access to executive session transcripts and other executive records less than 12 years old is regulated by the committee’s rule 12, providing that requests may be made directly to the committee. Several series also include documents that have been security-classified by the agency of origin and as such must undergo declassification review before release. Questions relating to access to such records may be referred to the clerk of the committee or the Records Declassification Division of the National Archives. [http://www.archives.gov/records\_of\_congress/senate\_guide/chapter\_10\_1947\_1968.html](http://www.archives.gov/records_of_congress/senate_guide/chapter_10_1947_1968.html)