Government Documents Index |
Government Documents on Southern U.S. History (Antebellum)
Government publications are important resources for the development of southern U.S. history before and after the Civil War. This guide will focus on U.S. Government resources on this region available within the Purdue Libraries and through selected Internet resources covering through the Civil War. Most federal government publications from this period are in the HSSE Library or in the Undergraduate Library´s Hicks Repository. Many recent U.S. government publications are in the Library Catalog but most government publications for this era are not in the Library Catalog. Locating these resources for the antebellum period requires using a number of print indexes.
The principal index for U.S. Government publications is Monthly Catalog
of U.S. Government Publications HSSE REF & Periodicals 016.353 Un36. This
indexes all U.S. Government publications distributed to federal depository
libraries through the Federal Depository Library Program. Additional indexes
for historical U.S. documents include:
| Cumulative Title Index to U.S. Public Documents 1789-1976 | HSSE REF 016.353 C913 |
| Checklist of U.S. Public Documents 1789-1909 (Online version courtesy of Evergreen State College) | HSSE REF 016.353 Un3c3 |
| CIS U.S. Serial Set Index & Cartobibliography 1789-1969 | HSSE REF 328.73 C761c |
| CIS Index to U.S. Executive Branch Documents 1789-1909 | HSSE REF 351.73 C497 1990 |
| CIS U.S. Congressional Committee Hearings Index 1833-1969 | HSSE REF 348.731 C76 |
| CIS Index to Unpublished Senate Committee Hearings 1823-1964 | HSSE REF 348.731 C497 |
| Guide to U.S. Government Publications | HSSE REF 015.73 G943 |
General U.S. Document legal reference sources include:
| U.S. Code | HSSE REF 345.11 Un3co |
| U.S. Statutes at Large | HSSE REF 345.11 Un3& HSSE MF (1789-1903) |
| U.S. Reports | HSSE DOC JU 6.8: |
| Lawyer's Guide to U.S. Supreme Court Reports | HSSE REF 345.4 Un37r |
| Lexis-Nexis Academic (Provides comprehensive current and historical access to the full text of federal and state court cases.) |
Other U.S. document reference sources for this period include:
| Historical Statistics of the United States (Online-Purdue Users Only) | HSSE REF 317.3 St29sh |
| Women in Congress | HSSE DOC Y 1.1/7:101-238 |
| Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress |
HSSE REF 328.73 D63b 1997 |
| A Guide to Pre-Federal Records in the National Archives | HSSE DOC REF AE 1.108:P 91 |
| Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives | HSSE DOC REF AE 1.108:G 94 |
| Guide to Records of the National Archives (various regions) | HSSE DOC REF AE 1.108:R 24/3 |
| Guide to Records of the U.S. House of Representatives at the National Archives, 1789-1909 | HSSE DOC Y 1.1/7:100-245 |
| Guide to Research Collections of former Members of the U.S. House of Representatives | HSSE DOC Y 1.1/7:100-171 |
| Guide to Records of the U.S. Senate at the National Archives, 1789-1909 | HSSE DOC Y 1.1/3:100-42 |
Additional congressional and executive branch publications in HSSE include:
| Letters of Delegates to Congress 1774-1789 | HSSE DOC LC 1.34: |
| Annals of Congress 1789-1824 | HSSE Repository X |
| Congressional Debates 1824-1837 | HSSE Repository X |
| Congressional Globe 1835-1874 | HSSE Repository X |
| Congressional Record 1874-Present (Online 1994-present) | HSSE Repository X & X/A: |
| American State Papers | HSSE Repository Y 1.1/2: |
| Congressional Serial Set (Selected titles online) Lexis-Nexis Digital Congressional Serial Set (Purdue users only) |
HSSE Repository Y 1.1/2: & HSSE MF (v. 1-916, 1817-1857) |
| Territorial Papers of the United States | HSSE 973.082 Un3 |
| Decennial Census of the United States | HSSE Repository 317.3 |
| Richardson's Messages & Papers of the President 1789-1897 | HSSE 353.03 R39 |
| General Land Office Automated Records Project: Pre-1908 Patents: Homesteads... Alabama (CD-ROM) |
HSSE DOC REF I 53.57:AL 1 B |
| General Land Office Automated Records Project: Pre-1908 Patents: Homesteads... Arkansas (CD-ROM) |
HSSE DOC REF I 53.57:AR 4 K/998 |
| General Land Office Automated Records Project... Florida (CD-ROM) |
HSSE DOC REF I 53.57:F 66/2 |
| General Land Office Automated Records Project... Louisiana (CD-ROM) |
HSSE DOC REF I 53.57:L 93 |
| General Land Office Automated Records Project... Mississippi (CD-ROM) |
HSSE DOC REF I 53.57:M 69 |
| From the Golden Gate to Mexico City: The U.S. Army Topographical Engineers in the Mexican War 1846-1848 | HSSE DOC D 114.2:G 57 |
| The Role of Federal Military Forces in Domestic Disorders 1789-1878 | HSSE DOC D 114.19:R 64 |
| Official Records of the War of the Rebellion: Army (Also in CD-ROM HSSE REF) |
HIKS Repository W 45.5: |
| Official Records of the War of the Rebellion: Navy | HIKS Repository N 16.6: |
| Draft General Management Plan: Stones River National Battlefield Tennessee | HSSE DOC I 29.79/3:ST 7 |
| Draft General Management Plan: Cane River Creole National Historic Park | HSSE DOC I 29.79/3:C 16/DRAFT |
| Documentary History of the First Federal Congress 1789-1791 (17 vols.) HSSE 328.7309 Un3As 2004 |
Internet Resources
Although only a small portion of the historical literature ever produced by the
U.S. Government and U.S. state governments is Internet accessible, there is
a significant body of historical documentary material that has been digitized.
A limited portion of this digitizing has been done by U.S. Government agen-
cies such as the Library of Congress and, in selected instances, by southern
state government agencies. Significant digitization of government documents
pertinent to antebellum southern history has been done by academic entities.
The following is a partial sampling of the growing variety of historical govern-
ment information resources on antebellum southern history that are Internet
accessible:
| American Memory Project-(Library of Congress resource providing access to various digitized U.S. History resources. Railroad Maps 1828-1900 and Southern Black Churches 1780-1925 are relevant southern history resources.) |
| A Century of Law Making for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents & Debates 1774-1873 |
| Documents from the Continental Congress & the Constitutional Convention 1774-1789 |
| National Archives & Records Administration |
| U.S. Army Center for Military History |
| Naval History Center |
| National Park Service |
| Official Records of the War of the Rebellion: Army (Courtesy Cornell University Library) |
| Official Records of the War of the Rebellion: Navy (Courtesy Cornell University Library) |
| United States Historical Census Data Browser (Courtesy University of Virginia Library) |
| Census of Population & Housing 1790-Present |
| U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey Annual Reports (1852-1950) HIKS Repository C 4.1: (1851-1955) |
| Project Avalon: Documents in History, Law, & Diplomacy (Courtesy Yale University) |
| A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787-1825 (Courtesy Tufts Univ. & American Antiquarian Society |
| National Archives Atlanta, Georgia |
| National Archives Fort Worth, Texas |
Selected Southern State Government Resources