Washington and Lee University Research Guides: History 254: The History of the US Welfare State: Finding Primary Sources

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Primary Sources Government Documents & Publications

GovInfo
Portal for access to U.S. government documents, bills, code, and more.
HathiTrust: U.S. Federal Documents Collection
The following searchable collections enable focused discovery of U.S. federal documents in HathiTrust:
U.S. Federal Documents, U.S. Congressional Serial Set, Bureau of Indian Affairs publications, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency publications, Foreign Relations of the United States, Statistical Abstract of the United States, U.S. Civil Rights Commission

HeinOnline U.S. Congressional Serial Set This link opens in a new window
Complete indexing of the more than 17,000 volumes of the Serial Set.

National Archives
Using the Advanced Search, select "archival materials online" to access digitally available sources.

ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
This is almost certainly the most comprehensive database of Congressional publications, some dating back as far as the late 1700's. Includes the complete texts of hearings and most other documents. An interesting sub-set of the database provides legislative histories. (Law Library subscription.)
U.S. Declassified Documents Online This link opens in a new window
Searchable database of previously classified federal records spanning the twentieth and twenty first centuries. The types of materials include intelligence studies, policy papers, diplomatic correspondence, cabinet meeting minutes, briefing materials, and domestic surveillance and military reports. Database allows users to to locate the full text of documents and filter their search results by document type, issue date, source institution, classification level, and date declassified as well as other document characteristics.

Primary Sources: Presidential Papers

Primary Sources: Newspapers

Black Studies Center: Newspapers Titles include: Chicago Daily Defender and Final Call

New York Times, The, Historical Newspaper This link opens in a new window
This historical newspaper provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time. The Historical New York Times with Index (1851-1993) provides search capability using subject terms and topics for focused and targeted results in combination with searchable full text, full page, and article-level images from the Historical New York Times beginning with the first issue in 1851.
Wall Street Journal Historical Archive This link opens in a new window
Offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue (1889)
Washington Post Historical Newspaper (1877-1996) This link opens in a new window
Full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue in 1877.

Interlibrary Loan

The Library can't own or subscribe to every piece of research ever created...that's why we have interlibrary loan!

If you need to use an article or book not in the library's collection, place an interlibrary loan request. The University Library can borrow materials from libraries across the globe.