We are excited to announce that the U.S. Congressional Serial Set is coming soon to HeinOnline! This will be included at no additional charge for U.S. Academic and Core Plus subscribers, Government, Politics & Law subscribers, and subscribers of HeinOnline’s U.S. Congressional Documents database. The Serial Set is an ongoing project in HeinOnline with the goal to add more than four million pages each year until completion.
It’s important to note that HeinOnline has always contained substantial portions of the Serial Set, including the American State Papers, comprehensive coverage of Foreign Relations of the United States, and thousands of House and Senate reports and documents inside compiled federal legislative histories. The current endeavor will ultimately complete and organize the content of the set into one easy-to-use, comprehensive location.
About the Collection
U.S. Congressional Serial Set
1817-Date
The United States Congressional Serial Set, commonly referred to as the Serial Set, is considered an essential publication for unveiling American history. Spanning more than two centuries and with more than 15,500 bound volumes, the records in this series include House and Senate Documents, as well as House and Senate Reports. The reports are usually from congressional committees dealing with proposed legislation and issues under investigation. The documents include all other papers ordered printed by the House or Senate. Documents cover a wide variety of topics, including reports of executive departments and independent organizations, reports of special investigations made for Congress, and annual reports of non-governmental organizations. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, executive-branch materials were also published in the Serial Set.
American State Papers
1789-1838
United States Congressional Documents from the period 1789 to 1817 are published under the title American State Papers, which consists of 38 volumes. The two series overlap, as American State Papers covers through 1838. Full coverage of the American State Papers are available
within this collection inside HeinOnline.
Project Status
The Serial Set in HeinOnline currently includes:
- Full index containing more than 380,000 records
- 3,000 volumes and 3 million pages of integrated
full-text volumes - Linking to more than 80% full-text volumes in HeinOnline
or HathiTrust Digital Library
Project Status (as of 7/19/18)
Full-text volumes will be added monthly until completion.
Researching in the Serial Set
Select the U.S. Congressional Serial Set from the HeinOnline welcome page to access all content in the database. The default landing page of the Serial Set directs users to the full list of Congress numbers available within the collection. The first through twenty-fifth Congress numbers are published in the American State Papers, and the fifteenth through current Congress numbers are published in the U.S. Congressional Serial Set.
Once a Congress number has been selected, users are taken to the complete list of volumes within the selected Congress.
While searching or browsing the Serial Set in HeinOnline, colored icons appear next to various records. These icons indicate whether full-text coverage or indexing only is currently available for the material. Selecting a volume number within a Congress brings users to a complete list of titles within the volume. Availability is indicated by “H” icons.
Interpreting the Icons
Blue and Orange Icon: This icon indicates that this Serial Set volume has been digitized and is available within the HeinOnline database as well as the HathiTrust Digital Library.
Blue Icon: This icon indicates that this Serial Set volume has been digitized and is available within the HeinOnline database.
Partially Blue Icon: This icon indicates that this Serial Set volume is partially available within the HeinOnline database.
Orange Icon: This icon indicates that this Serial Set volume is available in HathiTrust Digital Library and will link to the specific Serial Set volume within the collection.
Gray Icon: This icon indicates that this Serial Set volume is not yet available in HeinOnline or the HathiTrust Digital Library.
Searching the Metadata
Selecting the Advanced Search link located beneath the main search bar allows users to search particular fields within the metadata (indexing) for more precise results. Users can also choose the method in which to sort search results from the Advanced Search area by relevance, volume date (oldest or newest first), or by document title.
Search options include:
- Congress
- Doc No
- Keywords
- Title
- Volume
- Year
Section types include:
- American State Papers
- Congress Bills
- House Bills
- House Documents
- House Reports
- Senate Documents
- Senate Treaty Documents
- And more!
Help Complete the Project
If your library holds all or part of the Serial Set, and you are willing to assist us in completing this project, please contact Shannon Hein at shein@wshein.com or 716-882-2600.
HeinOnline would like to give a special thanks to Wayne State University for their generous contribution which resulted in the initial release of the U.S. Congressional Serial Set. We are also grateful to the University of Utah which is generously providing much of the additional content needed to complete the set. We will continue to need help from the library community to complete this project.
For more information about the U.S. Congressional Serial Set, please contact your sales representative or the HeinOnline Marketing team at marketing@wshein.com or 800-828-7571.
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