Research Guides

Guides to House and Senate Records

The best entry point for unpublished records of the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, and Joint Committees of Congress is a two volume series, now fully online, that provides an overview of records from each congressional committee, as well as the non-committee and administrative records:

• Guide to Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1789-1989
  Covers the period 1789-1989. Discusses jurisdiction, history, and records created by each committee during the period.

• Guide to the Records of the U.S. Senate, 1789-1989
  Covers the period 1789-1989. Discusses jurisdiction, history, and records created by each committee during the period.

• Guide to the Records of the Joint Committees of Congress
  Describes the records comprising Record Group 128, Records of Joint Committees of Congress. Joint committees are committees whose membership is drawn from both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

National Archives Catalog

Our records are described in the National Archives Catalog up through the 99th Congress. Visit our Research Portal or use the Catalog’s Advanced Search function to get started.

To narrow search results down to just legislative records in the Catalog, use the Advanced Search feature and scroll down to enter a "Record Group" number. (Quick review: records of the U.S. House of Representatives are part of RG 233, records of the U.S. Senate are part of RG 46, records of legislative branch commissions are part of RG 148, and records of the joint committees of Congress are part of RG 128). Use the "Records by Congress" limiter at the bottom of the Advanced Search page to narrow search results down to a specific Congress or Congress range.

Once you've found an interesting Catalog entry, make note of the National Archives Identifier (NAID) and send a request to legislative.archives@nara.gov.

Finding Aids and Preliminary Inventories

The Center has preliminary inventories (PIs) for the records of the U.S. House of Representatives (1789-1962 / 1st-87th Congresses) and the U.S. Senate (1789-1974 / 1st-93rd Congresses). The alphanumeric file codes listed in the PIs (e.g., HR67A-D20) are what Center archivists use to locate records of these early Congresses. You will see these file codes in the National Archives Catalog, as all the information from the PIs is in the Catalog. 

Researchers can access the House preliminary inventories through the House Office of Art and Archives website. A digital copy of the Senate preliminary inventory can be found using Google Books. Please reach out to the Center at legislative.archives@nara.gov for access to inventories and box lists for later Congresses.

Please note, there are many series described in the preliminary inventories that we do NOT recommend for in-person research, as they are published and made available online. Published records are also easier to locate and download using subscription databases. These include the Legislative Journals, House and Senate Bills, Committee Reports, and Reports and Communications Submitted to Congress.

The Center does not pull records if they’re available in other formats.

Other Finding Aids

The Center maintains a collection of published and unpublished finding aids and box lists for larger special committees, select committees, and the occasional subcommittee. Some (but not all) of our available finding aids are listed in the Appendixes to the House and Senate Guides:

• Finding Aids for House Records: Appendix G
• Finding Aids for Senate Records: Appendix G

Please note, these lists are not comprehensive and we may have additional indexes and box lists. Contact the Center for more information in advance of your visit at legislative.archives@nara.gov.

Subject Guides

*Note: We are in the process of moving these guides over from History Hub. If you want to read one not currently linked here, please email us at legislative.archives@nara.gov. 

Archivists at the Center have written guides on certain types of frequently requested records in our holdings:

There are also guides on frequently requested committees:

• Records of the Southern Claims Commission
• Records of the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC)

And Center archivists have also developed several how-to guides on frequently asked questions:

Microfilm

Search the National Archives Microfilm Catalog to find microfilm publications for the records of the 5th - 10th Congresses (House) and 5th - 11th Congresses (Senate). You can use the "Advanced Search" feature to search by Record Group number: 233 (House) and 46 (Senate).

The reels are available in the microfilm room at the National Archives. We do not serve records that are reformatted—the microfilm copy is our reference copy of House and Senate records from the 5th through 10th / 11th Congresses.

First Federal Congress Project

The records of the 1st Congress from both the House and the Senate are transcribed and published in the volumes of the First Federal Congress Project. Since 1972, 22 volumes of primary material documenting the actions, debates, and thoughts of the First Federal Congress and its members have been collected into the Documentary History of the First Federal Congress and published by Johns Hopkins University Press.  

Use WorldCat to find these volumes in a library closest to you, or search your local Federal Depository Library. It's also available online through Rotunda, the digital imprint of the University of Virginia's Press.

We do not serve original records in our research room that are reformatted or digitized; therefore, this publication serves as our reference copy for the records of the 1st Congress.

Citing the Records of Congress

Visit our page on Citing the Records of Congress, and for more guidance visit Chapter 1 of the House and Senate Guides, which includes a section on Citing Unpublished Congressional Documents.