Research Guides: POLS 224: The American Presidency (HC): Primary Source Documents

Finding Primary Source Documents

The American Presidency Project
An extensive collection of documents including public papers, speeches, and executive orders. They are searchable by president's name, document category, date, and keyword. Material comes not only from the presidents' tenures in office but also from their election campaigns.

For more details on Congressional sources, see the research guide on Congress.

The Evolving Presidency: Landmark Documents, 1787–2015
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A compilation of primary source documents selected for their significance. This is a good volume to browse before looking at online document collections in depth.
Hein Online U. S. Presidential Library
Includes messages and papers of the presidents, documents, and related material. Over 600,000 text pages currently available.
Presidential Speech Archive
Scripps Library at the University of Virginia has been collecting some of the most important presidential speeches in American history. They are made available here, with many from the 20th century also available in audio or video.

ProQuest Congressional
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Provides daily updated information on the U.S. legislature, including full text of bills starting in 1989, public laws starting in 1988, committee reports starting in 1990, House and Senate documents starting in 1995, Congressional Record starting in 1985, Federal Register starting in 1980, National Journal starting in 1977 and other government information.

Public Papers of the Presidents
These collections include documents, public messages, statements, and speeches. Sets for the most recent presidents (Reagan- Obama) are on the National Archives site.
Papers for Hoover through Clinton are available at the University of Michigan.
U. S. Congressional Record (Hein Online)
Access to digital copies of the Congressional Record from 1873 to the present. Predecessors of the Record (Congressional Globe and Annals of the Congress) are also available here full text.

U.S. Congressional Serial Set
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Provides full-text of all reports, documents, and journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives from 1817-1994.

U.S. President: Primary Sources (Sam Houston University)
Outlines collections of primary sources available for each president. Includes additional resources not found in the American Presidency Project.