The collections of Firestone Library include a very rich source of historical legislative information: debates and proceedings, published and unpublished hearings, the Serial Set, bills and laws. These can be located through the supplementary and main catalogs.

For recent years, much of the same information has become available on the Internet.

Congressional Masterfile I (CIS) provides access to hearings and Serial Set publications, 1790-1969, on the Library Web Computer. Congressional Universe, GPO Access, Thomas and CQ Washington Alert provide electronic access to Congressional hearings, bills, Serial Set publications, the Congressional Record, laws and much more. For further information about content and dates of coverage for these data bases, see the Content Comparison on the U.S. Documents web page (http://www.princeton.edu/~sburkman/us.html), or directly from the CIS home page (http://www.cispubs.com/conguniv/about/compare.htm). For further information, see the Internet Resources below, or ask at the SSRC Reference Desk.

This guide provides an introduction to the collections: paper, microfiche, and electronic resources.

Senate and House Bills CIS 1^st-70^th Congress (1789-1928) microfilm Alexander Library

71st-95th Congress (1929-1978). Text of some bills may

be found in Congressional Record, or at beginning

of a hearing.

GPO 96^th Congress - Indexed by the Cumulative microfiche Microforms/SSRC

Bills have also been printed occasionally in the

Congressional Record

Committee Hearings GPO 1st to 95^th Congress (1789-1978) paper cataloged

96th - 100th Congress. (1979-1988) paper Annex (Request in SSRC)

GPO 101st Congress (1989- ) paper DOCS/SSRC

Additional hearings collections not listed above.

CIS 23^rd-91^st Congress (1833-1969) indexed by CIS U.S.

CIS 25^th-73^rd Congress (1839-1934), not in U.S. Senate Library microfiche Alexander Library

CIS 41^st-73^rd Congress (1869-1934) in U.S. Senate Library microfiche Alexander Library

CIS 89^th-91^st Congress (1965-1969) microfiche Microforms/CFloor

CIS 91^st Congress (1970- ) Indexed by CIS Index to microfiche Microforms/SSRC

Unpublished Hearings

CIS 18^th-88^th Congress, Senate (1823-1964) indexed by CIS microfiche Alexander Library

CIS 23^rd-74^th Congress, House (1833-1964) indexed by CIS microfiche Alexander Library

Serial Set: Reports and GPO American State Papers 1st-14th Congress(1789-1817) paper 0800.087

Documents from the

Senate and House U.S. Serial Set 15th-95th Congress (1817-1978) paper 0802.012 to 0810.117

CIS U.S. Serial Set (1789-1969), including American microfiche Microforms/C Floor

CIS 91^st Congress (1970- ) Indexed by CIS Index microfiche Microforms/SSRC

GPO 100th Congress, (1987- ) paper DOCS/SSRC

Note: Senate Executive Documents and Reports not included in Serial Set until 96^th Congress (1979), indexed in CIS Index to U.S. Senate Executive

Documents and Reports (1817- 1969) (DR)Z1223.Z27.C574 1987

CIS Senate Executive Documents and Reports microfiche Alexander Library

Committee Prints CIS CIS U.S. Congressional Committee Prints Index

through 1969]

CIS 62^nd-91^st Congress (1911-1969) as filmed from U.S. microfiche Alexander Library

CIS 91^st Congress (1970- ) microfiche Microforms/SSRC

GPO 96th-100th Congress (1979-1988) paper Annex Library (request at

SSRC Desk)

101st Congress (1989- ) paper DOCS/SSRC

Note: Committee prints have had an erratic pattern of distribution and only since early 1980s have been included as depository publications.

Prior to 1970, committee prints are difficult to locate. The best source is the CIS index and microfiche collection. Committee prints are

also available in the U.S. Serial Set, the Congressional Record, the CRS Major Studies and Issue Briefs (1917- ,SSRC Microforms), the

Readex Collection of Non-Depository Publications in the Monthly Catalog (1953-1980, microprints, Forrestal Annex) and the supplemental

catalog (some are cataloged under "U.S. Congress, Senate/House, Committee, Miscellaneous Committee Prints"). Congressional

Universe includes approximately 15% of Committee Prints, 1995- .

Debates Annals of Congress, 1^st-18^th Congress, 1^st Session (1789-1824) paper FST 0800.021

Congressional Globe, 23^rd-42^nd Congress (1833-1873) paper FST 0800.023

Congressional Record (Microfilm)

76^th Congress, 3^rd session (1940) v. 86 microfilm Microforms/C Floor

78^th-90^th Congress, 1^st session (1943-1967) v. 89-113 microfilm (Film) 0800.024

93^rd- 96^th Congress, 1^st session (1973-1979), v. 119-125. microfilm

Note: Appendix material from the Congressional Record was not included in the bound volumes from Congress 83-2 (1954), v. 99, to

Congress 90-1 (1967) v. 113; microfilm must be used for these dates.

Proceedings GPO Journal of House/Senate…, 1^st-90^th Congress (1789-1968) paper FST, see "U.S. Congress"

GPO Journal of the House of Representatives… 91^st Congress paper FST 0812.115q

GPO Journal of the Senate…, 91^st Congress (1969- ) paper FST 0811.115q

GPO Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate paper FST 0800.0998.2

v. 1 (1828- )

Reprint Journal of the Senate, including Journal of the Executive paper FST KF45.G58

Reprint Journal of the House of Representatives, 1^st-14^th paper FST KF46.G58

(1789-1816/1817).

The Journals are also available in the CIS Serial Set microfiche Microforms/C Floor

Laws GPO U.S. Code (1940 ed.- ) paper DOCS/SSRC, Stack 128

West U.S. Code Annotated (1927- ) paper (SF) Bookcase 2

GPO Statutes At Large, 1^st Congress to present (1789- ). paper (SF) KF50.xU5

West U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News (1952- ) paper (SF)KF48.xU55

The following selected internet sources provide access to a wide range of legislative information.

U.S. Legislative Branch: An Internet Resource Page from the Library of Congress (http://lcweb.loc.gov/global/legislative/congress.html). Very comprehensive list of sources of legislative information, especially Congressional Mega Sources. (http://lcweb.loc.gov/global/legislative/mega.html) which gives major sources for many facets of legislative information.

GPO Access (http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/index.html) (from the Government Printing Office, with more than 20 mirror sites). Includes bills, history of bills, calendars, documents, reports, Congressional Record and its Index, public laws and U.S. Code, Congressional Directory, line item veto notices.

Senate Home Page (http://www.senate.gov/). Includes Legislative Activities, most from GPO Access, roll call votes, and status information on Treaties.

THOMAS: Legislative Information on the Internet (Library of Congress). (http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas2.html). Primary source Congressional documents: bill text, bill summaries and legislative status, public laws, vetoed bills, Congressional Record text and Index, resumes of Congressional Activity, committee reports, House and Senate roll call votes, explanations of the legislative process, historic Congressional documents, and more.

CapWeb; the Internet guide to U.S. Congress (http://www/capweb.net/classic/index.morph). Directory of Information for Senate and House members, Congressional Support Agencies and Caucuses, bills and the Congressional Record.

Project Vote Smart (http://www.vote-smart.org/). Wealth of facts on candidates and elected officials, voting records, campaign finances, major bills, voting records and the text of bills.

U.S. Senate bibliographies: A Comprehensive Listing of Hearings, Prints and Publications, printed by the Senate, 98th Congress (1983- ), prepared by North Carolina State University Libraries http://www.lib.ncus.edu/stacks/senatebibs/.

Lexis-Nexis offers two levels of access to Congressional information:

Academic Universe (on the Library Web Page) has a wide variety of full text and citation databases covering many subjects and news sources, such as Government and Political News, for Legislative News and Political Transcripts and Testimony.

Lexis-Nexis (Telnet version on the Library Web Page, and available only to Princeton students and faculty) includes full text access to

Congressional Record, bills and bill tracking, legislative histories, public laws, biographical, financial and voting information for members

of Congress.

Congressional Universe (Library Web page, Princeton only)

Provides access to selected Congressional Testimony, 1988- .

CQ.com: On Congress

(http://oncongress.cq.com)

Access to very current congressional activities: tracking legislation, committee markups and hearings, schedules,

floor action. Source for in-depth research on Congress.

Congressional Hearings via GPO Access

(http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/cong017.html)

Selected hearings, 1995- . Arranged by committee; no index.

Congressional Hearings on the Web

(http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Documents.center/hearings.html)

Site maintained at University of Michigan listing free sources of Congressional testimony by Congressional Committee and Agency

GPO Congressional Publication Releases

(http://www.llsdc.org/gpo/index.html)

Weekly list of newly released hearings, plus newly enacted public laws, maintained by Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C. (LLSDC)

Quick links to House and Senate Committee Documents and Hearings

(http://www.llsdc.org/sis/legislative/gpolinks.html)

Hearing arranged by Committee, 104th Congress - , also from LLSDC)

Search by keyword in subject and the word "testimony" in web sources like AltaVista and GovBot

Rev. 9/00/sb/vrd