What is the Serial Set?
Definitions from GPO:
- "The U.S. Congressional Serial Set, commonly referred to as the Serial Set, contains the House and Senate Documents and the House and Senate Reports bound by session of Congress. In general, it includes: committee reports related to bills and other matters, presidential communications to Congress, treaty materials, certain executive department publications, and certain non-governmental publications."
- "Congressional reports originate from congressional committees and deal with proposed legislation and issues under investigation."
- "Congressional documents originate from congressional committees and cover a wide variety of topics and may include reports of executive departments and independent organizations, reports of special investigations made for Congress, and annual reports of non-governmental organizations."
Generally speaking, Documents are information coming IN to Congressional Committees, such as communications from the Executive Branch. Reports are information coming OUT of a Committee to the larger body, reporting on a piece of proposed legislation. Note that Reports can be very useful in studying legal history, since they describe the purpose of a proposed law, reasons for Committee recommendations regarding full chamber action, and often analysis and discussion of the proposed legislation's intent.
On this page
Online Sources
The Government Publishing Office is the major online source for recent Reports and Documents.
These publications are usually available in either text or PDF format. The text version does not display charts, photographs, and other graphic materials. The PDF versions are electronic copies of the full publication, including any illustrative material, reproduced in the same quality as in the printed documents.
Serial Set
- HeinOnline This link opens in a new windowHeinOnline is Hein's premier online product, with more than 70 million pages of legal history available in an online, fully-searchable, image-based format. HeinOnline bridges the gap in legal history by providing comprehensive coverage from the inception of more than 1,600 law and law-related periodicals.
Focuses on law journals, case law, and government documents.
Some United States collections include the Congressional Record, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, and the entire digital Serial Set. Other notable collections are the US state collections, canon law materials, international treaties and agreements, English legal materials, and United Nations legal materials.
Databases by Category: Canadian Content, Case Law, Current Content Journals, International Resources, International Treaties and Agreements, U.K. Content, U.S. Federal Content, U.S. State Content
Learn more about this resource at: https://lib.stmarytx.edu/HeinOnline
- Catalog of Government Publications: Congressional Serial Set searchsearch publications from 1976 to the present, with searches limited to Serial Set Reports and Documents
- Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: Serial Setsearch or browse the Serial Set up to 1917
- Library Catalog (Serial Set)Blume Library items about the Serial Set including some Serial Set holdings.
Related Government Documents
- Congress.govOfficial website for U.S. federal legislative branch. Includes information on bills, committees, the recent Congressional Record, nominations, and current treaties.
- Congress.gov: CommitteesIncludes profile pages for committees including members. Also links to bills being considered, hearings, and reports.
- Congressional Documents1975-present. Consists of House Documents, Senate Documents, and Senate Treaty Documents.
- Congressional Reports1995-present. Reports originate from congressional committees and deal with proposed legislation and issues under investigation. House and Senate Reports.
- Congressional Reports (recent)Most recent Congressional Reports.
More about Reports & Documents
Matching Report and Document numbers with the Serial Set volumes into which they are bound is tricky, but can be useful when requesting material on Interlibrary Loan or doing research, especially in older volumes. Here's a listing from GPO, back to 1957:
Congress.gov contains Reports from the 104th Congress (1995) to the present. It does not contain Documents. Choose the "Committee Reports" option from the drop-down menu next to the search box. Various limiting options are available to narrow your search.
A great new feature on Congress.gov groups all reports (as well as legislation) associated with particular committees together.
- Congress.govOfficial website for U.S. federal legislative branch. Includes information on bills, committees, the recent Congressional Record, nominations, and current treaties.
- Congress.gov: CommitteesIncludes profile pages for committees including members. Also links to bills being considered, hearings, and reports.
Some Reports may be found on individual Committee web sites, but this availability varies considerably from Committee to Committee. Some Committees may provide lists, but not the actual Reports. Unless you have been specifically referred to a Committee web site for a Report or Document, it will usually be much easier to find this material online.
In the Library
The Serial Set is shelved in the position of classification number Y 1.1/2: in the Documents Collection on the 2nd Floor. Volumes received prior to 1997 are tan-colored 
and hardbound, and shelved by the sequential Serial Set Numbers printed in black on their spines.
In 1997 (105th Congress) the Library stopped receiving the official Serial Set and began inhouse binding of paper Reports and Documents. These publications from the 105th and later Congresses are shelved by Congress number within each individual series, using the following classification numbers:
- Y 1.1/3: Senate Documents
- Y 1.1/4: Senate Treaty Documents
- Y 1.1/5: Senate Reports
- Y 1.1/6: Senate Executive Reports
- Y 1.1/7: House Documents
- Y 1.1/8: House Reports
In other words, for Reports and Documents prior to the 105th Congress, all series produced by a particular Congressional session can be found together in Serial Set volumes. Starting with the 105th Congress, all Reports and Documents in a particular series are shelved in numerical order. For example, 105th Congress House Reports are followed by 106th Congress House Reports, etc., within the Y 1.1/8: classification.
NOTE: In 2014, the Library stopped receiving printed Reports and Documents. Catalog records for electronic versions of these publications are still being placed in the Library's Catalog, however, and they can be searched by the classification numbers above, subjects, keywords, etc. The records contain links that will take you directly to PDF versions.
Old Serial Set volumes
In recent years the Serial Set has been almost exclusively limited to being a (sometimes) dry record of Congressional recommendations and actions. But historically, it also contained many Executive Branch publications, including beautifully drawn maps and engravings, reports of explorations and investigations, etc.
Unfortunately, the Blume Library's collection does not contain any of these older historical treasures, but you can see some of them online:
- Congressional Serial Set: Hidden Treasures in American Historyonline exhibition from the University of Michigan
- Digital Collection of Early Oklahoma & Indian Territory MapsIn the American State Papers Collection, Oklahoma State's Library has digitized all the maps dealing with Oklahoma in the Serial Set
Guides and references
- American State PapersCongressional records for 1789-1838, the period which precedes the Serial Set
- Legislative History Resources Reference Chartreference lists giving online sources (complete with dates of coverage)
- US Congressional Serial Set: What it is and its HistoryAdapted from a presentation by Ms. Virginia Saunders, who was the person at GPO responsible for preparing the Serial Set for publication for many years.
- US Congressional Serial Set Inventoryinventory provided by the Univ. of North Texas; includes libraries which have reported holdings for each volume, a valuable aid for interlibrary loan
Serial Set history
Reports and Documents are usually cited in sources such as bibliographies by Report or Document number, not by Serial Set volume number. However, prior to 1981, the Reports and Documents were published in the Serial Set volumes with many gaps for numbers published separately. To find which 
volume contains a particular Report or Document, it's best to consult the Numerical Lists and Schedule of Volumes, a finding aid published for every Congressional Session. These Lists are shelved at the beginning of the Serial Set volumes. (There is a set of PDF versions of this reference series back to 1957 provided by the Government Publishing Office.)
Beginning with the 97th Congress (1981) the Serial Set became much more user-friendly, with Reports and Documents appearing in strictly numerical order, with no gaps. Matching up dates and Serial Set volumes is easy for any year if you consult this handy Table of Congressional Publication Volumes and Presidential Issuances, provided in PDF format by the the Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C.
All Reports and Documents are represented in the Library Catalog.
If you have any questions about the Library's Serial Set/Reports and Documents collection, or are having difficulty locating any of these publications, please contact the Documents Librarian, using information at the top right of the Home page of this guide.
Many libraries around the country have more complete Serial Set holdings than we do. If you're interested in visiting another library for extensive research, you can find out the extent of their Serial Set holdings by consulting this Inventory, provided by the University of North Texas.