GovInfo Reaches Over 10,000 Volumes of the U.S. Congressional Serial Set

Published: January 14, 2026

News
GovInfo achieves milestone of over 10,000 volumes for the Serial Set

The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) has achieved a major milestone, recently making available over 10,000 volumes of the United States Congressional Serial Set on GPO’s GovInfo. The volumes contain more than 185,700 individual Government documents and reports.


This latest milestone comes as part of a multi-year project with the Law Library of Congress to digitize and make accessible the United States Congressional Serial Set back to the first volume, which was published in 1817. GPO is uploading volumes of the official Serial Set in phases for free public access on GovInfo. GPO has nearly 6,000 remaining volumes to upload and is aiming to release an additional 2,000 volumes in FY2026.

“Congratulations to our team and our partners at the Library of Congress on reaching this significant milestone. This effort to preserve our Nation’s history serves as one more way we continue to make Government information available to the American people. We’re going to continue our digitization work to make even more of the documents available online.”

Director of the Government Publishing Office, Hugh Halpern
"The digitization of and free public access to the 10,000th volume of the Congressional Serial Set marks a major milestone in our commitment to open government and historical preservation. This achievement would not be possible without our partnership with the U.S. Government Publishing Office, whose collaboration helps ensure that scholars, students and the public can explore the documentary record of Congress and better understand the decisions that have shaped our Nation.”

Law Librarian of Congress, Aslihan Bulut

Highlights from the newly added volumes include:

  • Report with information on how the Navy, Treasury, Post Office, and Agriculture departments participated in the 1876 International Exhibit, America's first world's fair that celebrated the Nation’s 100th birthday.
  • Compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies from 1861‒1865. This was GPO’s largest print job at the time.
  • Committee hearing from 1912 with testimony from advocates of women’s suffrage.
  • Report of polar expedition to Lady Franklin Bay in Canada in 1881‒1884. The expedition aimed to establish a meteorological station in the Canadian Arctic to gather data on weather, magnetism, tides, and more. Only seven of the 25 original men survived the expedition.

The United States Congressional Serial Set, commonly referred to as the Serial Set, is a compilation of all numbered House and Senate reports and documents, including executive reports and treaty documents, issued and bound for each session of Congress. The contents of the Serial Set have varied throughout the publication’s history, and at times have included House and Senate Journals, as well as the reports of executive departments and agencies. Read more about the collection, including how to search for Serial Set content, in GovInfo here.

For more information about this important publication, view tutorials and webinar recordings available through the FDLP Academy: