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Government Resources

Between the early 1920s and early 1980s, the Justice Department and its Federal Bureau of Investigation engaged in widespread investigation of those deemed politically suspect. Prominent among the targets of this sometimes coordinated, sometimes independent surveillance were aliens, members of various protest groups, Socialists, Communists, pacifists, militant labor unionists, ethnic or racial nationalists, and outspoken opponents of the policies of the incumbent presidents.

Date Range: 1920-1984
Content: 88,021 images
Source Library: Federal Bureau of Investigation Library  


Since 1982, Primary Source Media, a division of Gale, has published the Declassified Documents Reference System (DDRS). This unique reference product involves indexing, abstracting, and capturing a large selection of U.S. government documents obtained from presidential libraries. These libraries receive declassified documents from various government agencies, including the White House, the CIA, the FBI, the State Department, and others. As researchers visit these presidential libraries and request documents, the libraries photocopy and provide them to Gale. The result is a collection of more than 75,000 documents, consisting of more than 465,000 pages, that has literally been built by researchers themselves for nearly two decades.


Part of the SIRS Knowledge Source suite of products, SIRS Government Reporter delivers thousands of full-text documents, summaries and graphics concerning a wide variety of topics: health, science, economics, environment, politics, foreign affairs, business and industry. Articles and graphics are carefully selected according to strict criteria with regard to content and age appropriateness.  Additional content provides current and historic government documents; landmark and recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions; information about U.S. Justices, U.S. Presidents, elected leaders, federal departments and agencies. National Archives Documents and Country Profiles are also included.


Congress is the single most important information-producing institution in the United States. Behind every major bill debated, behind every issue discussed lie months of intensive investigation and analysis. The "working papers" that result from these efforts often represent the best information available anywhere on a given subject. That's because Congress has some of the nation's top experts on its staff, and the authority to call witnesses from throughout the world to testify on virtually any issue of concern.  This resource includes:

  • Committee Prints & Miscellaneous Publications (Full Text) (1830-present)
  • Serial Set (Full Text) (1789-present)
  • House & Senate Reports (1817-present)
  • House & Senate Documents (1817-present)
  • Hearings (Full Text) (1824-present)
  • Prints (Full Text) (1824-present)
  • Congressional Research Service Reports (CRS) (Full Text) (1916-present)

Containing nearly 11 million pages of records and briefs brought before the U.S. Supreme Court in the period 1832-1978, this product provides an essential primary source tool for the study of all aspects of American history as well as the U.S. judicial system


The Foreign Relations of the United States series presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity. The series, produced by the State Department’s Office of the Historian, is comprised of more than 500 books of invaluable historical information.

The Foreign Relations volumes contain documents from various Presidential libraries, the Department of State and Defense, the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Agency for International Development, and other foreign affairs agencies as well as the private papers of individuals involved in formulating U.S. foreign policy.


The USGS (United States Geological Survey) Warehouse contains access to all USGS numbered series since 1880, full product and thematic map content for over 40,000 publications and bibliographic citations for over 70,000 publications.


The CQ Researcher is a collection of reports covering political and social issues, with regular reports on topics in health, international affairs, education, the environment, technology and the U.S. economy.


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The world's most-comprehensive online collection of image-based legal journals, statutes, U.S. treaties and other documents.