Research Guides: Federal Legislative History Research: Compiled Legislative Histories

Compiled Legislative Histories

A compiled history means that someone has located all of the legislative history documents associated with a law, and put them in one place.

A compiled legislative history can be a real time saver! Check these sources to locate compiled legislative histories:

ProQuest Legislative Insight This link opens in a new window
A federal legislative history database containing compilations of digital full-text publications relevant to enacted U.S. public laws. Includes legislative histories for public laws from the 1st Congress (1789) to the current Congress.
United States Federal Legislative History Library This link opens in a new window
This HeinOnline library contains several valuable resources for legislative history research. The U.S. Federal Legislative History Titles Collection contains comprehensive federal legislative histories published by the U.S. GPO and private publishers. The Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories Database provides citations to legislative histories published as government documents, periodical articles and books. Search and browse options are available to locate legislative histories and information. The Legislative Reference Checklist: The Key to Legislative Histories 1789 to 1903, an invaluable tool for the time period covered, is also provided in full-text as part of this HeinOnline library.

Legislative Histories of Selected U.S. Laws on the Internet: Free Sources
Part of the Legislative Sourcebook by the Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C. (LLSDC), this listing provides links to legislative histories and is arranged by popular name and public law number.
Legislative Histories of U.S. Laws on the Internet: Commercial Sources
Part of the Legislative Sourcebook by the Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C. (LLSDC), this listing provides links to legislative histories available on HeinOnline, Lexis, Westlaw, ProQuest Congressional and ProQuest Legislative Insight. The listing is arranged by popular name and public law number. A listing of specialized collections of legislative histories is also provided.

Westlaw This link opens in a new window
Westlaw offers several databases that provide compiled legislative histories from federal government sources such as the GAO, Congress, as well as non-government sources.

History of Bankruptcy This link opens in a new window
Part III of HeinOnline's Taxation and Economic Reform in America archive, includes legislative histories, treatises, documents and more related to bankruptcy law. Also includes classic books from as early as the late 1800s and links to scholarly articles related to the study of bankruptcy in America.
Intellectual Property Law Collection This link opens in a new window
HeinOnline's substantial collection of legislative histories, treatises, documents, classics, and more relating to copyrights, patents, and trademarks in one database. Notable titles include: Legislative History of the 1909 Copyright Act (1976), Kamenstein Legislative History Project: A Compendium and Analytical Index of Materials Leading to the Copyright Act of 1976, and William Robinson's Law of Patents for Useful Inventions. This library also features CFR Title 37, U.S. Code Titles 17 & 35, Manual of Patent Examining Procedure, and more.
Taxation & Economic Reform in America, Parts I & II, 1781-2010 This link opens in a new window
A substantial archive of legislative history materials and other documents. It includes the complete Carlton Fox Collection of nearly 42 years of historical legislation related to the internal revenue laws from 1909-1950. It also includes over 100 other legislative histories related to taxation, economic reform, and stimulus plans.