CONGRESS RECORDS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE (RECORD GROUP 46) The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives were established by article I, section 1, of the Constitution as the legislative branch of government. The Senate was empowered to try all impeachments and to judge the elections, returns, and qualifications of its Members. The Constitution also provides that the Senate share executive responsibility with the President by requiring its advice and consent in the negotiation of treaties and the appointment of certain Federal officials. There are 12,141 cubic feet of records dated between 1789 and 1968 in this record group. JOURNALS OF LEGISLATIVE Under article I, section 5, of the Constitution the Senate is required to keep and publish journals of its proceedings. These records consist of rough and smooth journals of Senate legislative proceedings and of Senate executive business. Also included are minute books consisting of memorandums made contemporaneously with Senate actions to which they relate and used in preparing the journals. BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS. 1789-1968. 1,770 lin. ft. Included are bills and joint, concurrent, and simple resolutions originating in the Senate, with amended versions resulting from the actions of the Senate and its committees; engrossed Senate bills and resolutions (the versions passed by the Senate and sent to the House), with House amendments and conference committee reports; and copies of bills and joint and concurrent resolutions originating in the House and submitted for Senate action, with amendments and conference committee reports. COMMITTEE RECORDS AND These comprise records created and received by standing and select Senate committees and consist of minutes, dockets, correspondence, memorandums, transcripts or prints of hearings, and prints of committee reports, bills, and resolutions; and committee reports to the Senate on bills or resolutions and other committee activities. BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS FILES. 1901-66. 2,541 lin. ft. Earlier records relating to particular bills and resolutions are included with committee records. From the 57th Congress (Dec. 2, 1901-Mar. 3, 1903) to the present, standing and select Senate committees have generally created a separate file for each bill or resolution referred to or originated by them and have placed in these files all related records. These bills and resolutions files concern private relief claims and public matters. SENATE DOCUMENTS. 1789-1968. 1,806 lin. ft. Included are Presidential messages to the Senate other than those concerning executive business, messages and reports to the Senate from executive departments and agencies, and miscellaneous Senate documents. PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS. 1789-1968. 2,587 lin. ft. Petitions and memorials, with supporting documents, from individuals and organizations dealing with private and public matters. ELECTION RECORDS. 1789-1968. 131 lin. ft. These consist of Senators' credentials, senatorial candidates' campaign expense reports, electors' votes for President and Vice President, tabulations of electoral votes, and certificates of messengers appointed to bring electoral votes to the Capitol. OTHER LEGISLATIVE RECORDS. 1789-1966. 108 lin. ft. Included are tabulations of Senators' votes, Senators' resignations, messages from the House, and motions and orders. RECORDS OF IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS. 1797-1936. 6 lin. ft. Included are articles of impeachment, answers to the articles, motions and orders, yeas and nays on the motions and orders, certificates of subpenas served, testimony, documentary evidence, and journals of Senate activities during the periods it sat as a Court of Impeachment. RECORDS OF EXECUTIVE PROCEEDINGS. 1789-1966. 400 lin. ft. Included are Presidential messages concerning treaties and relations with Indian tribes and foreign nations, treat- RECORDS OF THE OFFICE OF These consist chiefly of correspondence, billbooks giving legislative actions on bills and resolutions, other registers, accounts for printing and binding, records concerning stationery supply, and lobbyists' quarterly reports. CARTOGRAPHIC AND Cartographic records, 1800-1955 (1,432 items), were compiled principally by Government executive agencies and forwarded to the Senate. They include land surveys, maps pertaining to exploration and military operations, State and national boundary maps, maps showing road and railroad rights-ofway, maps of Indian land cessions, and maps and plans pertaining to dams and to river and harbor improvements. Motion pictures, 1936-38 (4 reels), consist of films received from the Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Education and Labor, relating to a San Francisco dock strike, the Republic Steel strike in Chicago, and a Stockton, Calif., cannery strike. Sound recordings, 1946 (5 items), are of hearings on the investigation of the national defense program at the Philadelphia Signal Depot and were created by the Senate Special Committee To Investigate the National Defense Program. See American State Papers (38 vols., 1832-61) for many published records of the first 25 Congresses, 1789-1838; the congressional or serial set for many published records of the 15th Congress to the present Congress (printed hearings of Senate committees are generally issued as separate documents, not as part of the set); Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States (1957- ) and James D. Richardson, A Compilation of Messages and Papers of the Presidents (1896-99 and later editions), for most Presidential messages other than those submitting nominations; Theodore J. Cassady and Harold E. Hufford, comps., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Senate Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Inquiry in re Transfer of Employees, 1942, PI 12 (1948); Harold E. Hufford and Watson G. Caudill, comps., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the United States Senate, PI 23 (1950); George P. Perros, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Senate Committee on Education and Labor: Subcommittee on Wartime Health and Education, 1943-46, PI 42 (1952); Harold E. Hufford, comp., assisted by Toussaint L. Prince, Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Special Committee of the Senate To Investigate the National Defense Program, 1941-48, PI 48 (1952); George P. Perros and Toussaint L. Prince, Preliminary Inventory of the Records of Certain Committees of the Senate Investigating the Disposal of Surplus Property, 1945-48, PI 59 (1953); George P. Perros, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Special Committee of the Senate To Investigate Petroleum Resources, 1944-46, PI 61 (1953), and Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Special Committee of the Senate on Atomic Energy, 1945-46, PI 62 (1953); Watson G. Caudill, Toussaint L. Prince, and Albert U. Blair, comps., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Special Committee of the Senate To Investigate Air-Mail and Ocean-Mail Contracts, 1933-35, PI 63 (1953); Albert U. Blair and John W. Porter, comps., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce: Subcommittee To Investigate Interstate Railroads, 1935-43, PI 75 (1954); George P. Perros, comps., James C. Brown, and Jacqueline A. Wood, comps., Papers of the United States Senate Relating to Presidential Nominations, 1789-1901, SL 20 (1964); and Laura E. Kelsay and Charlotte M. Ashby, comps., Cartographic Records Relating to the Territory of Wisconsin, 1836-1848, SL 23 (1970). Microfilm Publications: Territorial Papers of the United States Senate, 1789-1873, M200, 20 rolls, DP; and The Territorial Papers of the United States: The Territory of Wisconsin, 1836-1848, M236, 122 rolls. RECORDS OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (RECORD GROUP 233) The U.S. House of Representatives was created by article I, section 1, of the Constitution. Although it shares legislative power with the Senate, the House originates all bills for raising revenue and, by custom, general appropriation bills. The House has the sole power to impeach U.S. civil officers, and judges elections, returns, and qualifications of its Members. There are 13,662 cubic feet of records dated between 1789 and 1962 in this record group. JOURNALS AND MINUTE BOOKS. 1789-1962. 241 lin. ft. These consist of manuscript journals (official reports of House proceedings) kept in compliance with article I, section 5, of the Constitution; and minute books containing memorandums prepared contemporaneously with the transactions to which they relate and used in preparing the journals. BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS. 1789-1962. 1,376 lin. ft. These consist of original House bills and joint, concurrent, and simple resolutions; amended versions of bills and resolutions; engrossed bills and resolutions; Senate amendments to bills and resolutions; bills and resolutions that originated in the Senate, including bills passed and joint and concurrent resolutions adopted by the Senate; House amendments to Senate bills and resolutions; and conference committee reports on bills and resolutions. COMMITTEE RECORDS. 1789-1962. 11,415 lin. ft. The records consist of minutes, dockets, general correspondence, memorandums, stenographic transcripts and prints of hearings, prints of committee reports and bills and resolutions, documents concerning bills and resolutions referred to or originated by committees, and committee reports. PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS. 1789-1962. 1,993 lin. ft. Unpublished petitions and memorials sent to the House, sometimes with supporting documents, that relate to a wide range of private and public matters. HOUSE DOCUMENTS. 1789-1962. 1,580 lin. ft. Consisting primarily of messages and reports sent to the House by Presidents, 1793-1962, and by executive departments and agencies, 1789-1962, this records originally series includes referred to as House miscellaneous documents. ELECTION RECORDS. 1805-1962. 88 lin. ft. These consist of Members' credentials, Representatives' and Delegates' oaths of office, and certificates of electors' votes for President and Vice President. RECORDS OF IMPEACHMENTS. 1816-1944. 22 lin. ft. Included are reports, correspondence, memorandums, depositions, exhibits, testimonies, and articles of impeachment. OTHER HOUSE RECORDS. 1791-1962. 64 lin. ft. These include rolls of yea and nay votes, telegrams received and sent over telegraph lines connecting the House with executive departments and the Government Printing Office, and notices of constitutional amendment ratifications. RECORDS OF THE OFFICE OF THE CLERK OF THE HOUSE. 1789-1962. 233 lin. ft. These include correspondence; transcribed reports of standing and select committees; transcribed reports and communications from executive departments; registers of bills, resolutions, executive and miscellaneous documents, committee reports, petitions and memorials, and documents received from or sent to the Senate; records of claims referred to the U.S. Court of Claims under the Bowman Act; receipts for documents withdrawn from House files; the Clerk's contingent accounts; applications of House Members for leaves of absence; communications to the Speaker, chiefly from House Members; and records relating to bills and resolutions presented to the President for approval, the purchase of books and newspapers for House Members, and the provision of coal, wood, stationery, and other supplies for the House. |