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Congressional Resources (U.S. Federal): Newsbank Readex

A Guide for locating U.S. Congressional resources.

What's Included in Newsbank Readex?

Newsbank Readex includes two databases that contain a "family of historical collections contains books, pamphlets, broadsides, newspapers, government documents and ephemera printed in America over three centuries."

  • American State Papers 1789-1838
    Legislative and executive documents, many originating from the important period between 1789 and the beginning of the U.S. Congressional Serial Set in 1817
  • U.S. Congressional Serial Set 1817-1980
    Reports, documents and journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
    Includes Serial Set Maps.

Newsbank Readex also includes AccessUN (1945-Present).

  • The premier index to United Nations documents including Official Records, masthead documents, draft resolutions, meeting records, UN Sales Publications, and the UN Treaty Series citations. Also included is the full-text of several thousand UN documents.

How to Search Newsbank Readex

  • Uses Boolean (AND, OR, NOT)
  • Proximity Connectors
    • ADJ(n) Finds the words in a particular order.  Where n is the number of words between terms. 
      The default is 1.
      e.g. Barack ADJ(3) Obama - means Barack within three words before Obama.
    • NEAR(n) Finds the words in any order. Where n is the number of words between terms. 
      The default is 1.
  • Root expander is *, but all plurals are found without a root expander.
  • ? Substitutes one letter.
    e.g. hou?e finds house or houfe (long s used in older documents)

Special Searches in American State Papers

Publication Search

This is a search by number - enter any of the following numbers:

  • Congress number and session, if known. 
    e.g. 66-3 is the third session of the 66th Congress
  • Select Document type
  • Enter number, and/or part number, if known.
Bill Number Search
  • Enter Congress number (session is not necessary)
  • Select Bill or Resolution Type
  • Enter Bill or Resolution number
Browsing Options
  • Subject
  • Publication Category
  • Standing-Committee Author
  • Document Class
  • Congress

Special Searches in Congressional Serial Set

Publication Search

This is a search by number - enter any of the following numbers:

  • Congress number and session, if known. 
    e.g. 66-3 is the third session of the 66th Congress
  • Select Document type
  • Enter number, and/or part number, if known.
Bill Number Search
  • Enter Congress number (session is not necessary)
  • Select Bill or Resolution Type
  • Enter Bill or Resolution number
Browsing Options
  • Subject
  • A to Z
  • Person
  • Act
  • Location
  • Publication Category
  • Standing-Committee
  • Congress