What are Hearings?
Hearings are held by committees of the House and Senate, sometimes by joint or special committees, to obtain information and opinions on proposed legislation, to investigate activities of a government department or to evaluate the implementation of federal law. In addition, hearings may be purely exploratory in nature, providing testimony and data about topics of current interest. They are usually open to the public. While not all hearings are published, those that are, usually are made available within several months of the hearing, though others may not be published for up to two years after they are held.
Indexes
The indexes listed below provide access to our comprehensive holdings of U.S. Congressional hearings in various formats published by both the government and commercial sources.
As many of the hearings, are available only in microformat supplied by commercial publishers, please note which years or Group number the hearing you need has been assigned by the publisher within the indexes. That will determine which of the several microform collections you will need to consult.
In the example below, please note that the 1920 hearing can be found in GROUP 1A. Also make note of the access number or CIS-number (here it is H227-Pt.2-2), which will be needed to locate the hearing within the microform collection. The text of this hearing can then be found by locating the relevant collection by going to Full Text Hearings Pre-1970 and finding the call number for GROUP 1A collection.
EXAMPLE:
Similarly, when searching for a more recent hearing, you may want to note the year, the publisher's numbers supplied in the index, and even the government supplied number, the so-called "SuDoc number", to determine which collection to select from the Full Text Hearings 1970+.
Primary Indexes
| Title/Description | Years | Location |
|
ProQuest Congressional Publications (including unpublished hearings) |
1789 - current | |
|
CIS Index (91st Cong., 2nd sess.+ ) |
1970 + |
Doc Ref KF49.C62 |
|
CIS U.S. Congressional Committee Hearings Index 23rd - 91st Congress |
1833 - 1969 |
Doc Stacks Z1223.Z7 C657 1981x |
| Witness Index (25th-89th Congress) | 1839 - 1966 | Microfiche W 405 |
Secondary Indexes
| Title/Description | Years | Location |
|
Unpublished US Senate Committee Hearings (18th-96th Cong.) |
1823 - 1980 |
Index Microfiche W 2746 |
|
Unpublished US House of Representatives Committee Hearings (23rd-92nd Cong.) |
1833 - 1972 |
Index Microfiche W 2747 |
|
Monthly Catalog of Government Publications (various titles) This catalog, issued by the government, lists government documents and publications including hearings. To access hearings for 1956-1980 in the Microprint 2 collection (Monthly Catalog entries of publications made available via the U.S. depository program have a black dot and a Item number designation.) make note of the year of the catalog and the entry number for the hearing. |
1774 + |
Doc Ref Z1223.A18x |
|
US Congress Senate Library Index of Congressional Hearings |
Pre-1935 |
US Doc 16.60 |
|
US Congress Senate Library Index of Congressional Hearing |
Pre-1935 (reprint) |
Index Microfiche S 23 ; US Doc 16.62.8 |
|
Supplement to the Index of Congressional Hearings |
Pre-1935 |
Index Microfiche S 34 |
|
Cumulative Index of Cong. Committee Hearings in the Senate Library (74th-96th Congress) |
1935 - 1980 |
US Doc 16.62 |
|
Thome, H.O. Checklist (38th-67th Congress) |
1865 - 1922 |
US Doc 16.80 |
| Supplement to the Index of Congressional Hearings |
Pre-1935 |
Index Microfiche S 34 |
| Kesaris, Paul. Top-secret hearings by the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. First installment. | 1959 - 1966 | Index Film A 426 |
| Hearings in the Serial Set |
early years |
NewsBank U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1980 |
Full Text Hearings
Please note that some sources appear in both 1970+ and Pre-1970 listings because of their range of years. The year, the publisher's numbers supplied in the index, and even the government supplied number, the so-called "SuDoc number", will determine which collection to select from the listings below.
|
Title/Description |
Years |
Location |
|
Proquest Congressional |
1824+ |
|
|
GPO Access (99th Congress + ) Only hearings released to GPO from the committees are made available on GPO Access. Whether or not a hearing is disseminated on GPO Access depends on the committee. |
1995+ |
|
|
Hearings (103rd Congress+ ) paper editions received on deposit |
1993 + |
Su Doc Y4. etc |
|
Hearings in CIS [microform] (91st Congress, 2d sess. + ) |
1970 + |
Microfiche S 237 |
|
Hearings (97th - 104th Congress) microform received on deposit |
1981 - 1996 |
Microfiche Su Doc Y4. etc. |
|
Hearings in United States government publications (depository) [microform].(84th Congress, 2nd session - 96th Congress, 1st session) |
1956 - 1980 |
Microprint 2 (at HD) |
|
Unpublished U.S. House of Representative Committee Hearings, 23rd-92nd Congress |
1833 - 1972 |
Microfiche W 2746 |
|
Unpublished U.S. Senate Committee Hearings, 18th-94th Congress, 1st session |
1823 - 1976 |
Microfiche W 2747 |
|
Hearings (76th-92d Congress) paper editions received on deposit: |
1939-1972 |
These hearings formerly held at Harvard have been permanently transferred to the Regional Federal Depository Library, the Boston Public Library . |
Full Text Hearings Pre 1970
Please note that some sources appear in both 1970+ and Pre-1970 listings because of their range of years.
As the example in Indexes shows, please make note of the year, in which Group number your hearing is cited, and the access number. That will determine which microform collection you will need to consult.
|
Title/Description |
Years |
Location |
|
Hearings in Senate Library not published in the Serial Set (23rd - 73rd Congress) Group 1 B hearings published as reports or documents. |
1884 - 1934
|
Microfiche S 23 |
|
Hearings not in the Senate Library (26th-73d Congress) Greenwood Press Supplement |
1839-1934 |
Microfiche S34 |
|
Hearings in Senate Library (74th - 91st Congress) |
1935-1969 |
Microfiche S 23.5 |
|
Hearings not in the Senate Library (26th - 73rd Congress) |
1869 - 1952 |
Microfiche S 34.2 |
|
Unpublished U.S. House of Representative Committee Hearings (23rd-92nd Congress) |
1833 - 1972 |
Microfiche W 2746 |
|
Unpublished U.S. Senate Committee Hearings (18th-94th Congress, 1st session) |
1823 - 1976 |
Microfiche W 2747 |
|
Top-secret hearings by the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations |
1959-1966 |
Film A 426 |
|
Executive sessions of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (Historical Series) These hearings originally held in executive sessions have been undergoing declassification since 1976. |
1947+ |
Search under "Historical series" in title in ProQuest Congressional Publications |
|
Executive hearings. House Committee on Foreign Affairs. |
1947+ |
US Doc 775.314.5 |
|
Hearings in United States government publications (depository) [microform].(84th Congress, 2nd session - 96th Congress, 1st session) |
1956 - 1980 |
Microprint 2 (at HD) |
|
Hearings (76th-92d Congress) paper editions received on deposit :
House and Senate hearings in paper were transferred to Boston Public Library, the Regional U.S. Depostory Library, in 2007. |
1939-1972 |
Hearings are arranged alphabetically by committee, then chronologically by Congress, then alphabetically by title. US Doc 575.1- .999 (at HD) |
|
Hearings (45th - 75th Congress) incomplete set |
1877 - 1938 |
US Doc 550.5 |
|
Hearings in the Serial Set (A few early hearings are incorporated into this series.) |
early years |
US Doc 445 and |