Earlier this month, Margaret wrote about the addition of citations to our share/save toolbar on Congress.gov. We also made it easier to see contact information for members.
One of the areas we have focused on, behind the scenes, over the last year is to continue to enhance the historical content on Congress.gov. In February we added Statutes at Large text for 93rd – 103rd Congresses (1973-1994). With today’s release, we are adding similar content for the 82nd – 92nd Congresses (1951-1972). One thing you might notice when looking at these laws is that there are no titles listed yet. This will follow in an upcoming release. There also is not the same level of metadata for this older material, but this new collection is searchable on the site and all bill numbers are also there for you to search and retrieve.
You can search to find a public law from this time period by “cite” search field in our global search bar.
Put in cite: to retrieve a specific law
You can also search the text that is in the PDFs by putting in a search term and selecting “Search Within.”
The display is similar to our first phase of adding the Statutes at Large. We embed the PDF within the Congress.gov template.
Here’s an example of an item from the 86th Congress
In April we continued to add content to the Bound Congressional Record with the addition of the 82nd – 84th Congresses (1951-1956). Now you can also search and browse the Bound Congressional Record for an additional seven Congresses, from the 75th – 81st (1937-1950).
Here is the latest from the Congress.gov Enhancements page:
Enhancement – Legislation – Laws for 82nd– 92nd Congresses
- Text is available for public and private laws enacted in the 82nd – 92nd Congresses (1951-1972).
- Search text from the search bar or Legislation search form.
Have you been exploring the historical materials we have been adding to Congress.gov? Share your thoughts below or provide your feedback on the updates.