Finding Historical Government Documents

Historical research based on government documents is often useful and not too difficult, because the documents are not under copyright. However, the materials are not organized and sometimes hard to find. This document lists some of the sources that I use and the best archives for finding them.

Federal Reporter (1st series): 300 volumes. Most volumes available on Hathitrust here, but with volumes 40, 233, and 300 search-only. Volumes 40 and 233 are here.

Federal Cases (F. Cas.): 30 volumes plus index. All are available on Hathitrust here or here.

United States Reports: On Hathitrust here. Note that some early editions were republished with star pagination, so try multiple copies of the same volume.

Congressional Record (bound edition): On GPO. Unfortunately not well-indexed; may need to use a list of Congresses here.

Statutes of the Realm: A good scan is on Hathitrust here.