LibGuides: PSCI 218W Emergence of the Modern Congress (G Gamm): Research Resources

House and Senate Journals

A constitutionally-mandated record of certain House and Senate actions, including motions offered, votes taken, and amendments agreed to. Unlike Congressional Record, it does not contain remarks delivered in the House and Senate.

ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
House and Senate Journals (1817-2017) are located under the "Miscellaneous Publications" content type.

To search by keyword:
1. Under “All Types,” uncheck “Select all."
2. Check the box next "Miscellaneous Publications"
3. Enter search terms and click “Search.”

To browse:
1. Under “All Types,” uncheck “Select all."
2. Check the box next "Miscellaneous Publications"
3. Search for "journal of the house" or "journal of the senate" filter "Document Type" to house and senate journals and sort by newest to oldest
Also includes full text of the Congressional Record, legislative histories, committee information, member biographies, legislative news, the U.S. code, court decisions and the Congressional Information Service (CIS) index.

House & Senate Journals (1st-43rd Congress, 1789-1885)
Digitized copies of the Journals of Congress including House Journal, Senate Journal, Senate Executive Journal and Maclay's Journal. Coverage:1789-1875.
Journal of the Senate of the United States 1817-1980
Print and microfiche
Journal of the Senate of the United States 1981-2021 (HelnOnline)
Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States 1817-1980
Print, CD-ROM, Microfiche
Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States 1980-2020 (HeinOnline)

US Congressional Vote History

ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
1987-present. Find roll-call floor votes within the congressional record using the advanced search feature.

To search by keyword:
1. Under “All Types,” uncheck “Select all."
2. Check the box next "Vote reports"
3. Enter search terms and click “Search.”

To browse by sponsor:
1. Under “All Types,” uncheck “Select all."
2. Check the box next "vote reports"
3. In the blue "Vote Reports" box on the right, search for the name of the Representative or Senator. Sort by newest to oldest or search within for a keyword.
Also includes full text of the Congressional Record, legislative histories, committee information, member biographies, legislative news, the U.S. code, court decisions and the Congressional Information Service (CIS) index.
CQ Congress Collection This link opens in a new window
Browse key votes by Congress/year or search by Congress browse all votes.
CQ Almanac Online This link opens in a new window
(1945-2019) Summarizes noteworthy Congressional activity, including key legislation, voting participation rates and floor votes. Browse floor vote tables by year and topic by selecting "Series Appendix" then "Floor Vote Tables."

Roll Call Votes by the U.S. Congress 1990- present (Congress.gov)
House and Senate floor votes compiled from 101st Congress to present (1990-)

HeinOnline U.S. Congressional Documents This link opens in a new window
Find roll-call floor votes within the congressional record using the advanced search feature
Entire full-text of the Congressional Record Bound version, the daily version back to 1980, and the Annals of Congress (1789-1824), Register of Debates (1824-1837), and Congressional Globe (1833-1873). Also includes an archive Congressional Hearings, beginning in 1927, and other Congressional publications.

Congressional Record 1873-present (Congress.gov)
Search for roll-call AND [your search term]. For example: roll-call AND suffrage

ICPSR - Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research This link opens in a new window
Contains datasets and codebooks in political science, health and welfare, education and economics. Search for "United States Congressional Roll Call Voting Records, 1789-1998"
Datasets, with codebooks, on political attitudes, health and welfare, education and economic behavior. Almost all codebooks are online. If a codebook is only available in hard copy, you may contact us for more info.

Historical Newspapers

ProQuest Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Full text - articles, ads, pictures - of New York Times (1851 - 2011) & other major papers. Click "More" link for their names.
Atlanta Constitution (1868 - 1984) Atlanta Daily World (1931-2003) Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988) Baltimore Sun (1837-1992) Boston Globe (1872 - 1985) Chicago Defender (1909-1975) Chicago Tribune (1849 - 1993) Christian Science Monitor (1908 - 2004) Globe and Mail (1844-2014) Irish Times (1859 - 2016) Louisville Courier (1830 - 2000) Los Angeles Times (1881 - 1993) Minneapolis Tribune (1867 - 2001) New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993) New York Times (1851 - 2013) U.S, Northeast Collection (1785 - 2010) Some issues for 1953, 1962-1963, 1965, 1978 were never published due to pressman's strikes. No Sunday issue was published until April 21, 1861. New York Tribune (1841-1962) Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002) South China Morning Post (1903-1998) Times of India (1838-2008) Wall Street Journal (1889 - 2000) Washington Post (1877 - 2000)
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: U.S, Northeast Collection This link opens in a new window
A regional selection of 49 Northeastern newspaper archives including the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle.
America's Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Full text of American newspapers from colonial times to the 1920's. Also known as Early American Newspapers. From Readex.

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
Search and view newspaper pages from 1880-1910 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.

For even more news sources, visit:

Finding News and Ads Research Guide (UR)

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports: Well-researched, in-depth, non-partisan reports prepared for Members of Congress and Congressional committees. CRS experts (shared staff to congressional committees and Members of Congress) approach complex topics from a variety of perspectives and provide insightful and comprehensive analysis. Reports range in length from several pages to more than one-hundred pages and cover the full breadth of topics of interest to Congress.

HeinOnline U.S. Congressional Documents This link opens in a new window
1916-present. Choose U.S. Congressional Documents then limit to CRS Reports
Entire full-text of the Congressional Record Bound version, the daily version back to 1980, and the Annals of Congress (1789-1824), Register of Debates (1824-1837), and Congressional Globe (1833-1873). Also includes an archive Congressional Hearings, beginning in 1927, and other Congressional publications.
ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
1916-present. Uncheck "Search All Content" and select CRS Reports
Also includes full text of the Congressional Record, legislative histories, committee information, member biographies, legislative news, the U.S. code, court decisions and the Congressional Information Service (CIS) index.

Congressional Research Service 2009-present(Congress.gov)
Public access to CRS Reports
Every CRS Report
Open website managed by the American Governance Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on strengthening the institutions of American government.
Github collection of CRS Annual Reports 1971-
Last two years not available.

Research Members of Congress

CQ Congress Collection This link opens in a new window

1945- present. Includes floor votes, member interest-group ratings, and reporting and analysis on Congress. Select "Data download" to download roll call votes of a specific member (or up to 10 members), by vote or totals and descriptions by congress, topic or bill number. Or download voting alignments of members as excel (.xlsx), comma delimited (.csv), or tab delimited (.txt).
ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
1987-present. Search by member of Congress for personal info and campaign finance records. Or, select "Members and Committees" to search by name for information on members of Congress.

Member Records will retrieve information on a particular member of Congress. Demographics will retrieve on criteria such as gender, party affiliation, state represented, alma mater, and more. Committees will membership and schedule information for House, Senate, and joint committees.
Also includes full text of the Congressional Record, legislative histories, committee information, member biographies, legislative news, the U.S. code, court decisions and the Congressional Information Service (CIS) index.

Congress.gov - Members 2003-present
Member information back to the 108th Congress (2003-2004)
Congressional Directory 1869-present
Official directory of the U.S. Congress, prepared by the Joint Committee on Printing (JCP). It presents: short biographies of each member of the Senate and House; committee memberships and terms of service; lists officials of the courts, military establishments, and other Federal departments and agencies, including D.C. government officials, governors of states and territories, foreign diplomats, and members of the press, radio, and television galleries.

Researching Congress and Legislation

ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Pending legislation, U.S. laws, congressional hearings and testimony before Congress and other Congressional documents. Includes indexing to US Serial Set 1789-2021.
Pro Tip: Proximity search is near/# (e.g. bathroom near/25 transgender will retrieve results that mention the word transgender within 25 words of the word bathroom).
Also includes full text of the Congressional Record, legislative histories, committee information, member biographies, legislative news, the U.S. code, court decisions and the Congressional Information Service (CIS) index.
Congress.gov - the official website for U.S. federal legislative information This link opens in a new window
Congress.gov is the official website for U.S. federal legislative information. The site provides access to accurate, timely, and complete legislative information for Members of Congress, legislative agencies, and the public. It is presented by the Library of Congress (LOC) using data from the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Office of the Secretary of the Senate, the Government Publishing Office, Congressional Budget Office, and the LOC's Congressional Research Service.

Congress.gov is usually updated the morning after a session adjourns. Consult Coverage Dates for Legislative Information for the specific update schedules and start date for each collection.

The scope of data collections and system functionality have continued to expand since THOMAS was launched in January 1995, when the 104th Congress convened. THOMAS was produced after Congressional leadership directed the Library of Congress to make federal legislative information freely available to the public.
U.S. Federal Legislative History Library - HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
Full-text searching on the U.S. federal legislative history.
CQ Congress Collection This link opens in a new window
Includes floor votes, member interest-group ratings, and reporting and analysis on Congress.
Pro Tip: Proximity search is w/# (e.g. bathroom w/25 transgender will retrieve results that mention the word transgender within 25 words of the word bathroom).

Debates of Congress

HeinOnline U.S. Congressional Documents This link opens in a new window
Annals of Congress (1789-1824), Register of Debates (1824-1837), Congressional Globe (1833-1873), and the Congressional Record (1873 to present) are all indexed in HeinOnline U.S. Congressional Documents.
Entire full-text of the Congressional Record Bound version, the daily version back to 1980, and the Annals of Congress (1789-1824), Register of Debates (1824-1837), and Congressional Globe (1833-1873). Also includes an archive Congressional Hearings, beginning in 1927, and other Congressional publications.
ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Congressional Record 1789-present
Also includes full text of the Congressional Record, legislative histories, committee information, member biographies, legislative news, the U.S. code, court decisions and the Congressional Information Service (CIS) index.

Congressional Record 1873-present (Congress.gov)
Historical Debates of Congress (Congress.gov)
Access the Annals of Congress (1789-1824), Register of Debates (1824-1837), Congressional Globe(1833-1873), and Congressional Record (1873-present)

Hearings

ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
1824 to present. Search by subject, title, witness name or affiliation.
Also includes full text of the Congressional Record, legislative histories, committee information, member biographies, legislative news, the U.S. code, court decisions and the Congressional Information Service (CIS) index.

GovInfo
Provides access to text of hearings from 1945 to present.

Committee Votes

ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
1817-present. Search the House and Senate Reports to find the Committee Report on the bill. You can search for publications related to the bill number. The committee vote will be written in to the narrative of the report.
Also includes full text of the Congressional Record, legislative histories, committee information, member biographies, legislative news, the U.S. code, court decisions and the Congressional Information Service (CIS) index.

PSCI 218W Emergence of the Modern Congress (G Gamm)

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