Government Documents

Government documents are an often overlooked source of information for genealogical research. Some documents, like registers of employees or military personnel and indexes to patents and trademarks, provide information on identifiable individuals. Others offer a wealth of statistical information. Still others give historical accounts perhaps on branches of the military or historic sites and buildings.

Government Documents, on the second floor of Cornette Library, collects the publications of both the federal and Texas state governments. The items shown below are not a comprehensive listing of documents of interest for your research. You may wish to browse the collection or consult Andriot's Guide to U.S. Government Publications to find additional documents. Many of the older documents are fragile and should be used with care. If you need assistance, please ask at the Government Documents Desk.

Both print and electronic finding aids are available to help you find government documents. Should you need assistance using these, please check with the Government Documents staff. You may also wish to browse the shelves in search of an intriguing title.

Keep in mind that the federal government is not static. With the growth in land area, population, and American involvement throughout the world, the government expanded and changed. Because federal documents are shelved with the department, bureau, agency, or office that published them, tracking information over time can be challenging. For example, the U.S. Army resided in the Department of War from 1789 to 1947 when it became part of the National Military Establishment. Two years later the newly created Department of Defense absorbed the military branches. This means that publications relating to the U.S. Army are shelved under the Department of War, the National Military Establishment, and the Department of Defense. Each document has a number called a Superintendent of Documents number that designates its place on the shelf.

Comprehensive Index to the Publications of the United States Government (1881-1940)
Government Documents Reference
Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications (1913/14-)
Government Documents Reference
Cumulative Subject Index to the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Documents (1900-1971)
Government Documents Reference
Andriot, Donna (Ed.). Guide to U.S. Government Publications
Government Documents Desk
GPO Monthly Catalog
electronic version; 1976-present
Cornette Library's online catalog
primarily federal government documents published after 1994

Since its creation in 1862, The Department of Agriculture has conducted research and distributed information to the American public. Many of its publications are helpful for researching agricultural practices, crops grown, weather, and other agriculture-related topics. The list below includes major publications of the Department. Consult Andriot's Guide to U.S. Government Publications for the SuDoc numbers for publications from agencies like:

  • the Bureau of Animal Industry,
  • Forest Service,
  • Bureau of Plant Industry,
  • Weather Bureau,
  • Office of Farm Management and Farm Economics,
  • Bureau of Home Economics,
  • Soil Conservation Service,
  • Farm Security Administration, and
  • Rural Electrification Administration within the Department of Agriculture.
Annual Reports (beginning with 1862)
A 1.1:
Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture
A 1.2:Ag822
Department Circulars on various topics
A 1.4/2
Farmers' Bulletins
A 1.9:
Yearbook of Agriculture
A 1.10:
An Historical Survey of American Agriculture: The Farmer's Changing World: A Brief Chronology of American Agricultural History.
A 1.10a:1783
Statistical Bulletins
A 1.34
Fluctuations in Crops and Weather 1866-1948 (Statistical Bulletin No. 101)
A 1.34:101
Agricultural Statistics
A 1.47

When it was established in 1903, the Department of Commerce and Labor assumed the functions of some agencies in the Treasury Department, the State Department, and the Department of the Interior. Among them were lighthouses, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, steamboat inspection, navigation, standards, fisheries, census, statistics, and immigration. The Department split into two separate departments in 1913 creating the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor.

Bureau of the Census (1903-1972, 1975-)

Following its establishment in 1902 as the United States Census Office within the Department of the Interior, this Office was transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903 and renamed the Bureau of the Census. For earlier publications refer to the Census Office publications under the Department of the Interior.

Bureau of the Census publications are rich in statistical information. The federal government gathers statistics on many topics and analyzes, compiles, and publishes these statistics. You'll find statistical data on:

  • agriculture,
  • manufacturing,
  • telephones,
  • telegraphs,
  • municipal elections,
  • fire alarms,
  • police patrol signaling systems,
  • the insane and feeble-minded,
  • marriage and divorce,
  • mines and quarries,
  • mortality,
  • births,
  • religious bodies,
  • working women, and
  • wealth, debt, and taxation.

Browse the stacks for documents numbered C3 or ask for assistance at the Government Documents Desk. Some specific documents are listed below. Government documents relating to the decennial censuses do not list individuals persons' names but rather provide statistical information.

Census of Benevolent Institutions, 1910
C 3 B43
Statistical Directory of State Institutions for the Defective, Dependent, Delinquent Classes
C 3.2:D36
Indian Population in the United States and Alaska, 1910
C 3.2:IN23
Negro Population, 1790-1915
C 3.2:N31
Negroes in the United States, 1920-32
C 3.2:N312
Index to Occupations, 1915
C 3.2:Oc1
Alphabetical Index of Occupations by Industries and Social-Economic Groups, 1937
C 3.2:Oc17
Officers and Employees of the Department of Commerce and Labor, 1908
C 3.2:Of2
Paupers in Almshouses, 1910
C 3.2:P28
A Century of Population Growth from the First Census of the United States to the Twelfth, 1790-1900
C 3.2:P81
Population of States and Counties of the United States, 1790-1990
C 3.2:P81/26
Official Register of the United States: Persons in the Civil, Military, and Naval Services (1907-1932, irregular)
C 3.10
Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910
C 3.15; C3.16
Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920
C 3.28
Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930
C 3.375
Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940
C 3.940-5:

Bureau of Navigation (1903-1932) and Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation (1936-1942)

The Bureau of Navigation transferred from the Treasury Department in 1903. It joined the Steamboat Inspection Service in 1932 to become the Bureau of Navigation and Steamboat Inspection which was renamed the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation in 1936.

List of Merchant Vessels of the U.S. (beginning with 1907)
C 11.5; C 25.11:; C 25.15:

Patent and Trademark Office

Originally part of the Department of the Interior, the Patent Office transferred to the Department of Commerce in 1925. It was renamed the Patent and Trademark Office in 1975.

Index of Patents Issued from the United States Patent Office, 1927-1996
C 21.5/2
Index of Trademarks Issued from the United States Patent Office, 1927-1997
C 21.5/3

The Department of Defense was established in 1949. Earlier military-related documents are shelved with the National Military Establishment, the Department of the Navy for sea forces, and the Department of War for land forces.

Department of the Air Force

Earlier records for the Department of the Air Force are shelved with the National Military Establishment (1947-1949).

Air Force Chaplains
D 301.2:C363
The U.S. Air Force Reference Series
D 301.82/
The U.S. Air Service in World War I
D 301.82/2:
The Army Air Forces in World War II
D 301.82:4

Army Medical Department

The Department was created in 1950. Earlier records are shelved with the Department of War (1818-1947) and the National Military Establishment (1947-1947).

World War II Series
D 104:11

Department of the Army

The Department of the Army joined the Department of Defense in 1949. Earlier documents are shelved with the Department of War from 1789 to 1947 and the National Military Establishment from 1947 to 1949.

Quartermaster Corps

The Quartermaster Corps, the Army's supply corps, became a part of the Department in 1949. Earlier records are shelved with the Department of War Quartermaster's Department (1812-1912) and the National Military Establishment (1947-1949) under the Quartermaster General of the Army.

Quartermaster Support of the Army: A History of the Corps, 1775-1939
D 106.83 Q2
QMC Historical Studies
D 106.8:

Corps of Engineers

The Corps of Engineers, previously the Engineer Department in the Department of War (1802-1947) and the National Military Establishment (1947-1949), transferred to the Department of Defense in 1949.

Histories of various Corps of Engineers districts
D 103:
Kane, Sharyn & Keeton, Richard. In Those Days: African-American Life Near the Savannah River.
D 103.2:Sa9/5

Department of the Navy

From 1789 to 1798, the Secretary for the Department of War headed naval affairs. In 1798 the Department of the Navy was established. It was incorporated into National Military Establishment in 1947 and transferred into the Department of Defense in 1949.

Civil War Naval Chronology, 1861-65
D 207.2: C49
Naval Documents of the American Revolution
D 207.10
The Naval War of 1812
D 207.10/2: H621
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
D 207.12

Marine Corps

Earlier documents for the Marine Corps are shelved with the Department of the Navy (1798-1947) and the National Military Establishment (1947-1949).

Marines in the Revolution
D 214.13:R32/775-83
Marines in the Spanish-American War, 1895-1899
D 214.13:SP2
History of the US Marine Corps Operations in World War II
D 214.13:W89

Center of Military History

Previously the Historical Division under the National Military Establishment (1947-1949), the Center transferred to the Department of the Army in 1949. Its name changed to the Office of the Chief of Military History in 1950 and to the Center of Military History in 1974.

United States Army in World War II
D 114.7:

The Department was formed in 1979. Earlier documents pertaining to education are shelved under:

  • the Bureau of Education and the Office of Education in the Department of the Interior from 1869 to 1939,
  • the Federal Security Agency from 1939 to 1952, and
  • the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare from 1953 to 1969.
Early American Textbooks, 1775-1900
ED 1.2:T31/2

At its inception in 1849, the Department took responsibility for the General Land Office, the Office of Indian Affairs, the Pension Office, and the Patent Office. Public buildings, the penitentiary of Washington, D.C., the United Census, and mining also came under its purview.

Annual Reports (beginning with 1889)
I 1.1:
Bulletins
I 1.3:
Official Register of the United States Containing a List of the Officers and Employees in the Civil, Military, and Naval Services, Together with a List of Vessels Belonging to the United States. (volume 2. The Post Office Department and the Postal Service)
I 1.25:905v2
Kappler's Indian Affairs Laws and Treaties (vols. VI and VII)
I 1.107:6
Statistical View of the United States...Being a Compendium of the Seventh Census, 1850
I 8.2:C731
Eight Census of the United States, 1860
I 9.5:
Ninth Census of the United States, 1870
I 10.2:
Tenth Census of the United States, 1880
I 11.2:
Eleventh Census of the United States, 1890
I 12.2:
Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900
I 13.2:

Bureau of Indian Affairs (1849-)

A Report of the Department of the Interior: Indian Affairs, 1900
I 20.1:900

Bureau of Pensions (1849-1930)

Decisions of the Department of the Interior: Appealed Pension and Bounty-Land Claims, 1908-1912
I 24.8:18
Decisions of the Department of the Interior: Appealed Pension and Retirement Claims, 1924-1930
I 24.8:22

General Land Office (1849-1946)

Annual Reports (1875, 1911, 1913)
I 21.1:
Decisions of the Department of the Interior and the Government Land Office in Cases Relating to Public Lands (beginning with 1906)
I 21.5:36

National Park Service (1916-)

The NPS was created in 1916. NPS documents include information on National Parks, historic and archeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places, historic resource and cultural landscape studies, and bibliographies on special topics. The SuDoc numbers for National Park Service publications begin with I 29.

Office of Education (1869-1939)

Annual Reports (beginning with 1870/71)
I 16.1
Bulletins (beginning with 1907)
I 16.3:
Circulars of Information (beginning with 1880)
I 16.4:

United States Geological Survey(1879-)

Twenty-first Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey to the Secretary of the Interior, 1899-1900, Part VII - Texas
I 19.1:899-900/pt7
Maps Can Help You Trace Your Family Tree: How to Use Maps in Genealogy.
I 19.15/3:M32

The Department of Justice came into being in 1870. Prior to its inception, the Attorney General was a member of the President's Cabinet.

Register of the Department of Justice (beginning with 1908)
J 1.7:17

Attorney General's Office

Annual Reports (beginning with 1884)
J 1.1
Federal Anti-Trust Decisions (beginning with 1890)
J 1.2:An8

An act of March 4, 1913 created the Department, separating actions related to labor from the Department of Commerce and Labor.

Annual Reports (1886, 1903, 1913-)
L 1.1
Commissioner of Labor Annual Reports (beginning with 1887)
La 1.1

Bureau of Labor Statistics (1913-)

Separated from the Department of the Interior in 1913, the Bureau publishes data on employment and manpower, productivity, wages, industrial relations, prices, costs, and standards of living.

Bulletins
L 2.3:

Bureau of Immigration (1913-1933)

Transferred from the Department of Commerce and Labor in 1913 to the new Department of Labor, the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (C 7) was split into two bureaus (L 3 and L 6). The two bureaus consolidated into the Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1933.

Annual Reports (beginning with 1913)
L 3.1:
Immigration Laws and Regulations (beginning with 1917)
L 3.5:

The State Department was established in 1789.

Messages and Documents of the Department of State (1868-1869, 1872-1873, 1880-1881)
S 1.1:
Foreign Relations of the United States
S 1.1:
Register of the Department of State (beginning with 1929)
S 1.6:
Foreign Service List (beginning with 1929)
S 1.7:
Territorial Papers of the United States
S 1.36: (see also General Services Administration - National Archives and Records Service)
Biographical Register (1954, 1957-1973)
S 1.69:

The Department was established in 1789.

Annual Report (1857, 1876, 1885-1886, 1907)
T 1.1

Coast Guard (1915-1917, 1919-1941, 1947-1966)

Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers and Cadets and Ships and Stations of the Coast Guard (beginning with 1929)
T 47.10:

The Department of War came into being in 1789 at the end of the Revolutionary War. It became the Department of the Army with establishment of the National Military Establishment in 1947. Two years later it became one of the military departments in the newly established Department of Defense.

Annual Report (1874, 1899, 1908-1941)
W 1.1
America's Munitions, 1917-1918
W 1.2:M92
Officers of the Army Stationed in or Near the District of Columbia (beginning with 1931)
W 1.11:

Adjutant General's Department (1913-1947)

Army List and Directory (1929-1941)
W 3.10:
Official Army Register (1920-1947)
W 3.11:

Engineer Department (Corps of Engineers) (1802-1947)

Annual Report (beginning with 1910)
W 7.1:
Explorations and Surveys for a Railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean
W 7.14:12/

Medical Department (1818-1947)

The Medical Department of the U.S. Army in the World War
W 44.19

National Guard(1818-1947)

Official National Guard Register (1930-1931, 1936, 1939, 1943)
W 70.5:

War Records Office (1878-1899)

War of the Rebellion Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
W 44.19

First Report of the United States Board on Geographic Names (1890-1891)
GB 1.1:890-91
Fifth Report of the United States Board on Geographic Names (1890-1920)
GB 1.1:920
Sixth Report of the United States Board on Geographic Names (1890-1932)
GB 1.1:932

First established as the United States Fish Commission in 1871, the United States Fish & Fisheries Commission came into being in 1880. It was transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903 when it became the Bureau of Fisheries (C 6).

Annual Reports (beginning with 1877)
FC 1.1
Bulletins (beginning with 1899)
FC 1.3:19
The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States, 1887
FC 1.6:5

GSA was established in 1949.

National Archives and Records Service (1949-1985)

In 1985 NARS became the National Archives and Records Administration.

Guide to Cartographic Records in the National Archives
GS 4.6/2:C24
Guide to Records in the National Archives of the United States Relating to American Indians
GS 4.6/28 Am3
Index, Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789
GS 4.2:C76/2/774-89
Index, The Papers of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789
GS 4.2:C76/3/774-89
Territorial Papers of the United States
GS 4.13:24 (see also Department of State)
Guide to Federal Archives Relating to the Civil War
GS 4.62:C49
Guide to the Archives of the Government of the Confederate States of America
GS 4.62:C76

The long history of the nation's library began in 1800.

Records of the Virginia Company
LC 1.11:V81
Family Ties in England, Scotland, Wales, & Ireland
LC 1.2: F 21
Genealogical Research at the Library of Congress
LC 1.2: G 28/999
Generations Past: A Selected List of Sources for Afro-American Genealogical Research
LC 1.12/2:Af8/4
Revolutionary America, 1763-1789: A Bibliography
LC 1.12/2:R32/4/1763-1789/
Letters of Delegates to Congress
LC 1.34:1
Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789
LC 4.5:2
Genealogies Cataloged by the Library of Congress Since 1986
LC 30.27:G28

Since its creation in 1934, the National Archives has been the repository of the nation's archival records. In July 1949 the National Archives was transferred to the General Services Administration, and was renamed the National Archives and Records Service later that year. Its name changed again in 1985 to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States
AE 1.108: G 94
Citing Records in the National Archives of the United States
AE 1.113:17/997
Cartographic and Architectural Branch
AE 1.113:26
Fast Facts About the 1920 Census
AE 1.113:43
Research in the Land Entry Files of the General Land Office (Record Group 49)
AE 1.113:49
Using the Census Soundex
AE 1.113:55/
Records Relating to Personal Participation in World War II: "The American Soldier" Surveys
AE 1.124:78
World War II Records in the Cartographic and Architectural Branch of the National Archives
AE 1.124:79
Records Relating to Personal Participation in World War II: American Prisoners of War and Civilian Internees
AE 1.124:80/999
Records Relating to Personal Participation in World War II: Military Awards and Decorations
AE 1.124:92
Presidential Libraries Holdings Relating to Prisoners of War and Missing in Action
AE 1.124:104
Records of Military Agencies Relating to African Americans for the Post-World War I Period to the Korean War
AE 1.124:105
Black Family Research: Records of Post-Civil War Federal Agencies at the National Archives
AE 1.124:108

Adjutant General's Office

Official Army and Air Force Register (1948)
M 108.8:948
Official Army Register (1949)
M 108.8:949

Engineer Department

Annual Report
M 110.1:
Engineers of the Southwest Pacific
M 110.2:EN3v1

Historical Division

Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War (1917-19) Zone of the Interior
M 103.2:W89 v3/pt.1
United States Army in the World War, 1917-1919
M 103.9:1

Bureau of Naval Personnel

United States Navy Chaplains, 1778-1945
M 206.2.C36/778-945
Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps (January 1, 1949)
M 206.10:949

Naval Academy

Annual Register of the United States Naval Academy (1947-1948, 1948-1949)
M 206.107:

Annual Report (beginning with 1890)
P 1.1:
U.S. Official Postal Guide (beginning with 1914)
P 1.10:
Street Directory of the Principal Cities of the United States 1908
P 7.6:5

In 1829 Englishman James Smithson bequeathed his fortune to found the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The Smithsonian was established by Congress in 1846.

Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collection (covers biology, geology, anthropology, and other scientific fields)
SI 1.7

American Historical Association(1889-)

Annual Report (beginning with 1890)
SI 4.1:date v1
Writings on American History
SI 4.1:date v2

Bureau of American Ethnology

Annual Report (beginning with 1879)
SI 2.1
Bulletins
SI 2.3