GPO Digitizes Historical Congressional Directories from the 1800s

The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) is digitizing historical volumes of the Congressional Directory from the 19th and 20th centuries. The first release includes Directories from 1869–1888, as well as 1993. The public can now access these digitized Congressional Directories on GPO’s GovInfo. Additional digitized historical Congressional Directories will be released on GovInfo as they are completed.

A few notable people featured in these volumes are:

• Joseph Hayne Rainey (June 21, 1832 – August 1, 1887), the first black person to serve in the United States House of Representatives.
• Robert Smalls (April 5, 1839 – February 23, 1915), a politician who freed himself, his crew, and their families during the Civil War by sailing a ship from Confederate-controlled waters to Union-controlled waters.
• Romualdo Pacheco (October 31, 1831 – January 23, 1899), the first Hispanic person to chair a standing committee in Congress and the only Hispanic person to serve as the Governor of California.

About the Congressional Directory

The Congressional Directory has a legacy of being one of the most comprehensive and detailed resources for identifying the components of the three branches of the Federal Government. It includes short biographies of each member of the Senate and House, as well as terms of service and contact information for members of Congress. In addition, it provides descriptions of various Executive branch departments and Judiciary information.

The Congressional Directory serves as the official handbook for Congress and is also widely used by Federal Agency officials and the general public.

Searching the Digitized Congressional Directory

The digitized volumes from 1869 to 1888 and 1993 are being added to the Congressional Directory collection already available on GovInfo. The Congressional Directories from the 105th Congress forward are available as full volumes and smaller sections in PDF and text versions. The newly added digitized volumes of the Congressional Directory are only available as the full volume PDF files. There are several ways to access the new digitized Directories:

• Using Basic Search, the digitized volumes can be found using the collection and congress search operators (e.g. collection:CDIR and congress:41), followed by checking the box next to “View Historical Results.” Results can be refined using the filters to the left of the search results. View a Basic Search example for the Congressional Directories from the 41st Congress here.
• In Advanced Search, many metadata fields are not available for search. The digitized volumes can be accessed through checking the “Congressional Directory” collection box and selecting the historical Congress number from the drop-down menu. View an Advanced Search example for the Congressional Directory from the 45th Congress here.
• The digitized volumes are also available to browse on the Congressional Directory collection browse page.

For more information on the Congressional Directory or for more search tips, please visit the Congressional Directory Help Page.