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Government Information: History, Foreign Relations, and Defense

Sources for Historical Research

OSU Library Databases that are useful for historical research (OSU login required)

  • American State Papers, 1789-1838
    Legislative and executive documents of the first 14 U.S. Congresses
     
  • U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1980
    The bound, sequentially numbered volumes of all the Reports, Documents, and Journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives constitute a rich collection of primary source material on all aspects of American history.
     
  • Proquest Congressional
    Search Congressional publications from 1789 forward, also legislative histories.
     
  • HathiTrust
    Collection of full-text materials. To search government documents, click on Browse Collections, and then the All tab - search for 'U.S. Federal Documents.'
  • HeinOnline
    Historical and government documents. Search all or a specific collection.
  • CQ Researcher
    Search reports 1923 to present on key topic areas.
     
  • Congressional Research Service Reports (U. of North Texas)
    CRS is the public policy research arm of Congress. For more information, visit the CRS website at http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/.
     
  • Catalog of U.S. Government Publications
    The finding tool for federal publications. Search by title or keyword.
     

Indexes in paper, Library 5th floor Reference

  • U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1789-1969
  • U.S. Congressional Hearings, 1883-1969, Library 5th floor Reference
  • U.S. Executive Branch Documents, 1789-1909 and 1910-1932, Library 5th floor Reference
  • Historical Statistics of the U.S., Library 5th floor Reference
  • Presidential Papers
  • Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications, FG82 SU9 M789
     

Online Resources

National Archives and Records Administration
See Research Our Records: includes access to Dawes Rolls information (Southwest Region (Fort Worth, TX), Military Personnel Records, aerial photographs (search by city and state), etc.

American Memory, via Library of Congress. Historical collections from the National Digital Library.
Includes:

The Avalon Project, Yale Law School
Major online repository of primary sources. Includes pre-18th, 18th, 19th and 20th century Documents. Examples: The Cuban Missile Crisis, the Federalist Papers, Foreign Relations of the United States, the Presidential Papers, World War II Documents.

A Chronology of U.S. Historical Documents, via U. of Oklahoma Law Center

Foreign Relations Resources

Resource in print, Library 5th floor

Foreign Relations of the United States, EST P214

Department of State Bulletins, EST D419

United States Treaties and Other International Agreements, EST T782