Question: What is the Serial Set?

What is the Serial Set

The Serial Set is a large paper (and microfiche) collection of old Congressional Documents. The Serial Set contains old House and Senate reports and special reports. The Serial Set also contains old House and Senate documents, including Presidential and budget materials and reports of Federal departments and agencies.

For more information about the Serial Set, check these resources:

• Introduction to United States Government Information Sources, 6th ed., by Joe Morehead (REF COLL ZA5055.U6 M67 1999)
• The Serial Set: Its Make-up and Content by Andrea Sevetson
• An Overview of the U.S. Congressional Serial Set by Richard J. McKinney.

Where to find the Serial Set

• ProQuest Congressional online, full-text, PDF, covering 1789-present
  • Many GPO Digitally Signed PDFs. A digital signature, viewed through the GPO Seal of Authenticity, verifies document integrity and authenticity on GPO online Federal documents.
  • PDF Replicas of original documents
• Graduate Library Documents Center
  • Available in its entirety from 1789-1969 on microfilm 
  • Later paper volumes (vol. 7915-12880) are also available at the Graduate Library. 
• Early paper volumes of the set, through volume 7914, are shelved at Buhr Shelving Facility
• Older Serial Sets are available in the HathiTrust Digital Library

The Law Library does not own the Serial Set itself. We do, however, own a copy of the CIS US Serial Set Index, 1789-1969.

To retrieve a physical copy of a Serial Set document, follow these steps:

• Use the CIS US Serial Set Index to locate the volume containing the needed document.
• Find the correct volume in U-M Library Search (Hatcher Microfiche holdings; Various campus holdings).
• Request the document using the "Get This" button. The document may need to be picked up at the Grad Library.