Government Documents Research Guides

The Compilation of Presidential Documents collection consists of the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents and the Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents which are the official publications of materials released by the White House Press Secretary

Presidential speeches and statements issued by the Office of the Press Secretary on an annual basis. Also includes declarations, nominations, and executive orders.

“It currently covers the published speeches and documents of Presidents Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton. You can search across all volumes at the initial screen
or search within a volume. Basic searches are amplified by boolean and proximity searches. Results can be sorted by author, title, date, and frequency.

Contains president proclamations and executive orders from 1936 forward. These materials are posted initially in the Federal Register and then printed in the Code of Federal Regulations.

Locate executive orders and presidential compilations.

Contains most of the presidential papers from Washington through Cleveland's second administration. The index vol. (v.10) also contains many papers of the earlier presidents which were omitted.

Use the link above to locate online access to the 10 vol. set.

Includes proclamations and executive orders in effect at time of publication, with amendments; arranged by broad subject.

Numerical list of executive orders by President from 1933 on, with date signed, Federal Register citation, and history of amendments and revocations.

The index includes entries for some 75,000 orders from 1789 to 1983. Copies of executive orders and proclamations can be obtained through interlibrary loan.

Contains all State of the Union addresses from 1790 forward.

Contains inaugural addresses beginning with George Washington.

Paprs of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Madison are included.

Includes full text of selected documents, including inaugural addresses, annual messages, proclamations, and vetoes. As of February 2004 includes: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Polk, Roosevelt, T., Roosevelt, F., Truman, Eisenhower, Clinton, Bush, GW.

Comprehensive online resource on the U.S. presidency with more than 85,000 documents to date, covering all U.S. presidencies.

“Provides an index of the presidents of the United States and contains information and documents of their speeches, writings, biographies and anything else related to their person or the office they are holding.”

Provides links to web information about U.S. presidents beginning with George Washington.

Extensive web site with pages for each president. Includes pictures, biographies, election results, first ladies, cabinets, hightlights of administration, and links to related Internet sites.

Extensive compilation of information about the presidents. Includes biographies, presidential debates, birth and death information, names of pets, etc.

Includes color portraits and biographies of the presidents.

Presidential Documents on NARA Web Page (NARA)

Portraits of the presidents, Washington through Clinton, in the National Portrait Gallery, with brief presidential biography and background on the painting.