The Library has recently purchased the LexisNexis Congressional Hearings Digital Collection. This collection of hearings will be an important tool for legal researchers at BYU and marks the first time we have had access to historical hearings electronically. It will certainly be a welcome addition to those of you who have searched for hearings in our Government Documents collection or have had to trek over to the main library.
Congressional Hearings can provide an important source of background information on a variety of legal topics and are an important source to consult when researching legislative history. Click here for more about Hearings and the LexisNexis Congressional Hearings Digital Collection.
With this purchase, the library has acquired access to approximately 120,000 Congressional Hearings spanning 1823-2003. (More recent hearings are available for free on the web from the Government Printing Office.) The documents are searchable and available in PDF format through the Lexis Nexis Congressional interface.
The best way to research the Hearings is to go straight to the LexisNexis Congressional database. If we are searching for Hearings (as well as other legislative documents) surrounding the admission of Utah as a state, we can use the Basic Search and type in something like Utah statehood.
The first two results that come back are from the Hearings Digital Collection that I’ve been talking about.
If we select the second document we will be able to pull up an on-point Senate hearing from 1888 in PDF format..
Please feel free to contact me or ask at the reference desk with any questions regarding this wonderful resource.