The U. S. Congressional Serial Set

What is the Serial Set?

The Serial Set is a collection of U.S. government publications compiled under the directive of Congress.  It has been called America's oldest on-going series and the most valuable historical collection of federal publications in existence. In the period covered by CIS's Serial Set Index, 1789 to 1969 there were 330,000 documents.

The term serial set refers to both the device used to organize the publications in an open-ended or serial scheme, and to the publications themselves to which Congress has serially assigned report or document numbers.

The Serial Set officially begins with publications from the 15th Congress in 1817.  Publications from the period 1789-1916 are contained in the American State Papers, a collection that was compiled and printed privately with the guidance and authority of Congress.  The American State Papers are usually treated as part of the Serial Set.  The are shelved in Government Documents before the bound Serial Set volumes and are indexed in the CIS Serial Set Index.  

What's in the Serial Set?

Congress has always been responsible for selecting items that appear in the set. Materials were selected for publication to provide Members and their staffs with information needed in carrying out their constitutional responsibilities; to see that a permanent record was kept of congressional activity; to influence public opinion; and sometimes just because it was thought interesting.

The Serial Set contains Congressional publications, executive branch publications and nongovernmental publications.

Congressional publications: Congressional journals (through 1952) and administrative reports; directories, manuals and related internal publications; reports on public and private legislation considered during each Congress; reports resulting from congressionally commissioned or conducted investigations, including elections; histories of Congress and the Capitol.

• Not included: In early Congresses the Senate frequently sat in secret session and the proceedings and other records of these sessions are not a part of the set, except by special order. Texts of bills and resolutions appear only sporadically and only in the early years. As a rule committee hearings and prints are not included. (They are indexed separately for the same period of time by the CIS U.S. Congressional Committee Prints Index, Z 1223 .Z7 C 66, and the CIS U.S. Congressional Committee Hearings Index, Z 1223 .A2 C5, both in Congressional Reference shelved after the Serial Set Index.)  

Executive branch publications:  annual reports of the heads of executive departments and agencies, official communications from the President to Congress, studies and analyses of specific topics; serialized, periodical or other recurring publications, such as the bulletins of the U.S. Geological Survey.

Nongovernmental publications: reports from organizations organized under laws requiring reports to Congress, such as the American Red Cross, the Boy Scouts  and Girl Scouts of America, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the American Legion, and the American Historical Association; reprints from magazines, newspapers and law journals; communications from the public; curios such as a Bible in several languages compiled by Thomas Jefferson; and a wide variety of other interesting publications. 

The Serial Set Index

The Serial Set Index (Gov Docs Congressional Reference, J 69 .C58) is divided into 12 parts, each covering a range of Congresses.  It begins with the American State Papers and the 15th-34th Congress (1789-1857) and ends with the 86th-91st Congress, First Session (1959-1969).

Each part (range of Congresses/years) consists of 4 sections: Index of Subjects and Keywords; Private Relief and Relations Actions--Index of Names of Individuals and Organizations; Numerical List of Reports and Documents; Schedule of Serial Volumes.  

The Private Relief and Relations Index is for documents concerned with relief and related actions of Congress affecting specific individuals--private legislation.  It lists the proper names of persons and organizations cited in publication titles as the recipients of proposed relief or action.  In general, the serial set "private" volumes were not distributed to depository libraries. The Schedule of Serial Volumes is used primarily by libraries to verify the contents and organization of their Serial Set collection, and what numbers were unused and never published.

It's doubtful you will ever use anything but the Subject/Keyword Index, which is self-explanatory, and the Numerical List, which is not.

The Numerical List presents the titles and reference numbers for all Reports and Documents.  It is an enormous help in locating documents for which a patron may only have a House or Senate Report or Document Number.  It lists by each session the report or document  numbers and gives the Serial Set volume number.  

Indexing of the Serial Set, 1970 to 1978

For the serial set from 1970 through 1978, use the CIS Congressional Index.  Serial set reports have no call number; they are listed as H.Doc.#, H.Rpt.# or S.Doc.#, S.Rpt.#. To convert these to serial set numbers you have to use Numerical Lists and Schedule of Volumes, GP 3.7/2. These are shelved immediately after the Serial Set Index in Congressional Reference.  

Serial Set Holdings in Government Documents

We have the Serial Set in 3 formats: microprint, microfiche and bound volumes.

Beyond 1978

With the 96th Congress in 1979, we began receiving all Congressional publications in microfiche.  We now receive the reports and documents contained in the serial set at these separate microfiche call numbers.

For a more detailed look at the Serial Set, try GPO's U.S. Congressional Serial Set: What It Is and Its History.