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Foreign Relations of the U.S. (FRUS) -- Serial Set Correlation List

Compiled by Maryellen Trautman, Government Publications Librarian



U.S. State Department
Annual Report, Foreign Relations
Superintendent of Document Classification #S1.1

Contents:

Publication History:

Checklist of United States Public Documents 1789-1909, p. 892.
GP 3.2:C 41/2

The Secretary of State is the only cabinet officer who does not make a yearly report on the business of his Department, the only annual report of a Secretary of State being Secretary Olney’s in 1896, which appeared in the volume of Foreign Relations and was also issued separately (S 1.1a:).

The reports here listed are the yearly collections of diplomatic correspondence between the United States and one or more foreign countries. From earliest times the President in his annual message gave a synopsis of our relations with foreign countries. This was usually supplemented by certain State Department papers, sometimes a single treaty, but more often a number of diplomatic letters. From these accompanying papers grew the publication now known as Foreign Relations.

As the volumes of Foreign Relations have for more than 45 years past been issued in permanent form with the President’s annual message, and on account of the difficulty in marking their first appearance as an annual State Department document, this list of Foreign Relations is made to include references to the earliest documents in the Congressional Serial Set where the State Department papers accompany the President's annual message, whether they immediately follow such message, or are intercepted by other Department reports bearing the same document number. For 1830, 1835, 1841, and 1860, references are given to such papers from the State Department which were transmitted somewhat later than the annual message. Since 1861, state papers which do not accompany the annual message, and are issued in a separate volume are not included here, being listed below under General publications (S 1.2:).

From 1861-1909 (except 1869), this compilation of State Department correspondence, besides appearing in the Congression Serial Set, has been issued, sometimes with a different arrangement, in a regular volumes bureau form. For 1861 there are 2 bureau editions, one of which bears the title "Papers relating to foreign affairs." From 1861 to 1868 the back-title reads: Diplomatic Correspondence. From 1870 to 1909, the back-title reads: Foreign Relations of United States. It does not purport to be a complete record of diplomatic correspondence, however, as the Department of State exercises discretion in withholding from publication many diplomatic dispatches.

See, for Diplomatic Correspondence, 1775-1787, Z 2.2: - Z 2.4:

See, for papers of this nature, April 30, 1789 - May 24, 1828, American State Papers, Foreign Relations, Congressional Serial Set 01-06.

1861-1868/pt.2 Spine title: Diplomatic Correspondence
1869 Spine title: Foreign Relations of the United States. First Annual Report of the Secretary of State
1869 Spine title: Foreign Relations of the United States

The Foreign Relations volumes have been compiled on an annual basis since the publication of diplomatic correspondence which accompanied President Lincoln’s first annual message to Congress (December 3, 1861). Originally entitled Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs Accompanying the Annual Message of the President, the name of this series was changed in 1870 to Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, and in 1947 to the present title [Foreign Relations of the United States].

Publication of these volumes, except for the year 1869, has been continuous. In addition to the annual volumes, supplements have also been published, among them the World War Supplements, the Lansing Papers, the special 1918-1919 Russia volumes, the Paris Peace Conference, 1919, series, and Japan, 1931-1941.

The principles which guide the compilation and editing of Foreign Relations were restated in Department of State Regulation 045 of May 27, 1949.

For the documentation on Japan: 1931-1941, see: S 1.1/d:v.1 and v.2 or Serial set 10803 and 10804.

References:

See listing in Checklist, SuDocs #GP

Availability:

These publications will be available in a Federal Depository Library near you.

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