UWM Libraries Research and Course Guides: HIST 593: Seminar on Historical Method: Theory and Approach: Find Government Documents

Activity 1: Looking for Governement Docs

Activity 1: Brainstorm Terms to Search for Government Documents

Review one of the historic New York Times articles linked below and:

Identify the types of government actors, agencies and actions described in the news story
Brainstorm some search terms to help find government docs

Tip: Look events and people up on Wikipedia to identify specific bill and public law names

Batista Is in Peril, U. S. Aide Reports
RUSSELL BAKER Special to The New York Times. New York Times (1923-); New York, N.Y.. 01 Jan 1959: 1
SENATE REJECTS AID CUTS AND BAN ON HELP FOR REDS
By FELIX BELAIR Jr. Special to The New York Times. New York Times (1923-); New York, N.Y.. 02 Oct 1962: 1.
Reprisals for Cuba Trade Tougher Than Expected
By TAD SZULC Special to The New York Times. New York Times (1923-); New York, N.Y.. 05 Oct 1962: 1.
Resolution to Curb Cuba Adopted by Senate, 86-1
By MAX FRANKEL Special to The New York Times. New York Times (1923-); New York, N.Y.. 21 Sep 1962: 1
Capital's Discussions on Crisis Kept a Tight Secret for a Week
New York Times (1923-); New York, N.Y.. 23 Oct 1962: 19.

Find Congressional Documents

This video created by Boston College Libraries shows different strategies for searching ProQuest Congressional.

ProQuest Congressional
ProQuest Congressional provides access to historical and current Congressional information and publications on all aspects of legislation dealing with life and public policy. Topics include scientific undertakings, historical events, social welfare, economic conditions, communication policies, and an endless array of other subjects.
The database indexes and provides full-text for Congressional Committee Prints, House and Senate Documents and Reports (Congressional Serial Set), Hearings, and Legislative Histories. It also provides member and committee information and political news, as well as access to the Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Register, and the Congressional Record (1985-present).

Types of documents you can find and filter results by:

Bills-Find different drafts of laws
Hearings- Find expert testimony related to the policy before it went to vote
CRS Reports- Find the research materials about policies and laws provided to congress by the Congressional Research Service (CRS)
Congressional Record- Find floor debates and other documents related to congressional session
Executive Orders and Presidential Proclamations (under "more")- Find presidential communications and orders

U.S. Declassified Documents Online (Gale Primary Sources)
U.S. Declassified Documents Online provides immediate access to a broad range of previously classified federal records spanning the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The collection brings together over 700,000 of the most sensitive documents from all the presidential libraries and numerous executive agencies in a single, easily searchable database.

Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)
Using Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), you can search across millions of digitized primary sources from American libraries and museums including the Library of Congress, National Archives, and UWM Digital Collections. This is a great resource for finding primary sources related to American History.

To find NARA records, click on "Browse by Partner" at the very top of the page, then select "National Archives and Records Administration". Search across NARA records using the search box in the upper right of the screen.

John F. Kennedy Library Digitized Collections
Digitized archival materials from the JFK presidential library. Includes collections related to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Digital National Security Archives (DNSA)
Click on "Documents" in the main navigation to search for materials. Founded in 1985 by journalists and scholars to check rising government secrecy, the National Security Archive combines a unique range of functions: investigative journalism center, research institute on international affairs, library and archive of declassified U.S. documents.
Wilson Center Digital Archive (International Documents)
Constructed and maintained by the Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program, the Digital Archive contains declassified historical materials from archives around the world, much of it in English translation.

Homeland Security Digital Library
The Homeland Security Digital Library provides quick access to important U.S. policy documents, presidential directives, and national strategy documents as well as specialized resources such as theses and reports from various universities, organizations and local and state agencies. The resources are reviewed and selected by a team of homeland security researchers and organized in a unique homeland security taxonomy.

Activity 2: Searching

Activity 2: Searching for Government Documents

Use the terms and details you found in Activity 1 to:

Search the database ProQuest Congressional 2 different ways. Doing this find:
- 1 Topic Page that's broadly relevant to the topic of your news article from Activity 1
- 1 Public Law broadly related to the news article
- 1 other government document--not a bill or law-- related to the news article
Experiment with one of the other recommended search tools. Try to find a document that interests you.

Be prepared to share. Bring any questions you have back to the class for discussion.

Workshop Documents and Slides

Workshop Handouts

Government Docs Workshop Slides Fall 2024
Here are the slides from the 9/12 workshop on searching for government documents.

Librarian Examples from Demos

Keywords and context: Emanuel Celler; Joseph S Clark Kennedy; May, 9 1961, integration, "six-point program", Civil Rights Act 1960 (8601/PL 86–449), 1964 (H.R. 7152/ PL 88–352)

Congress Gets Rights Bills But No Kennedy Message By The Associated Press. New York Times (1923-); New York, N.Y.. 09 May 1961: 1.