The American Presidency

Professor: Calvin MacKenzie
Librarian: Ginny Hopcroft
Spring 2007

    
Photo from The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden

Primary Sources for the Presidency

Websites

Presidential Libraries
http://www.ibiblio.org/lia/president/pres-home.html

The White House
http://www.whitehouse.gov/

President of the United States (Links from Univ. of Michigan)
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/fedprs.html

USA.gov (a federal government locator)
http://www.usa.gov

GPO Access Executive Branch Resources
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/executive.html

Government Documents

Budget of the United States Government.
Govt Ref PrEx 2.8: 1965-present (print)
http://www.access.gpo.gov/usbudget/
The President's budget proposal for the next fiscal
year.

Codification of Presidential Proclamations and Executive Orders
Govt Ref AE 2.113 1945-1989 (print)
http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/forward.html
A codification (grouping by subject) and index of executive orders from 1945-1989.

Federal Register (online) and Code of Federal Regulations (print and online)
Govt Ref AE 2.106
The Federal Register reports executive orders and proposed executive agency regulations. The CFR codifies and publishes the final regulations. Title 3 of the CFR is an annual print compilation of Executive Orders. Executive Orders, 1998-present are on the web in GPO Access at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/executive.html.

Messages and Papers of the Presidents (George Washington to Woodrow Wilson)
Main Ref J81 . B96G

Public Papers of the Presidents (Herbert Hoover to present)
Govt Ref AE 2.114/Govt Doc AE 2.114
Online, 1991 forward

Each president's public speeches, proclamations and sometimes executive orders are collected and
published together in an annual volume, arranged chronologically.

United States Congressional Serial Set (online)
Govt Doc Y 1.1/2 numbered serially 1789-1999 (print)
Govt Micro Y 1.1/2 - Y 1.1/8 (microfiche)

The Serial Set is primarily comprised of congressional reports on legislation, but the series does
contain Executive Documents, Executive Reports, and treaties. Bowdoin's Serial Set
collection starts with the years of the early republic, and with a few gaps
continues to the present. Indexing to this series is provided by three
reference sources: LexisNexis Congressional's module for years 1789 to 1969,
the Serial Set print index for 1789 to 1970, and the print CIS Annual for 1970 to present. Online access through Readex's U.S. Congressional Serial Set is available from 1807-1908 with updates being continually added.

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/nara003.html

Each week the Government Printing Office publishes the President's public
speeches, press conferences, proclamations, etc. These are later compiled in
the volumes of the Public Papers of the Presidents. The "Weekly Compilation" from 1993 to the
present is available on the web. Academic Search Premier also makes the weekly compilation available from 1995 to the present in full text.

Political Science Journals

To locate articles in the journals below, use the indexes in the following section. To determine whether Bowdoin Library owns or provides online access to a journal, go to the Journals tab on the Library homepage and enter the journal name.

  • Annals (American Academy of Political and Social Sciences)
  • American Journal of Political Science
  • American Political Science Review
  • American Politics Quarterly
  • Journal of Politics
  • Legislative Studies Quarterly
  • Political Science Quarterly
  • Polity
  • Presidential Studies Quarterly
  • Public Administration Review
  • Public Opinion Quarterly
  • Social Science Quarterly
  • Western Political Quarterly or Political
  • Research Quarterly
  • Women and Politics
  • Vital Speeches of the Day

Indexes and Databases

Academic Search Premier
Academic Search Premier indexes over 1800 English language periodicals in the social sciences, humanities, and science, as well as general interest magazines and several important American newspapers. Date coverage varies between periodicals some as far back as 1980; about 60% of the articles are in full text.

LexisNexis Academic
LexisNexis Academic is a full-text web database of news and legal information. It provides access to both current news and up to 20 years of retrospective news, both domestic and international. Under the News heading you search separate files for the most current news, World news, U.S. news, etc. Under U.S. news you can find many regional newspapers not otherwise online.

America History and Life
This source indexes scholarly articles and books about the history of the United States and Canada published throughout the world. It is a subject index which provides citations and abstracts for the works indexed.

LexisNexis Congressional
LexisNexis Congressional is an online service providing full text access to many congressional publications: bills, laws, committee reports, testimony (but not full hearings), the Congressional Record, legislative histories, etc. Coverage varies with the kind of publication; most go back at least to the late 1980's.

U.S. Congressional Serial Set (Readex) (online)
This work-in-progress regularly adds volumes and as of Feb. 2007 covers the 15th Congress - 59th Congress, 2nd Session, 1817 – 1908.

U.S. Congressional Serial Set Index (print)
 1817 – 1908.
CIS Annual (print)
Govt Index KF49 .C62 1970-
This title is a print index to the congressional publications in the Government Documents Collection. In some cases subject searches are more easily conducted in print. Students may want to begin with CIS Annual and then locate full text committee reports, hearings, and prints in Lexis Nexis Congressional, Readex's U.S. Congressional Serial Set, or in our print volumes.

Government Documents Monthly Catalog (online)
Govt Index (print)
To access Bowdoin's government publications, first check the Library Catalog. If you do not find your material there, you should check the Government Documents Monthly Catalog, either on the web for 1976 to present or the print version for 1890 to 1976. This source may be searched by keyword, subject, and issuing agency. When you identify a useful document in this database or in the paper index, please make note of the "Sudocs" number. The publications in Bowdoin's Government Collection are arranged by the Sudocs classification scheme, and you can locate your document on the shelf with this number.

Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS) (online)
Main Per Index (print)
PAIS indexes "publications on all subjects that bear on contemporary public issues and the making and evaluation of public policy, irrespective of source or traditional disciplinary boundaries." Sources may be periodical articles, books, government documents or the reports of public and private organizations in the U.S. and internationally. Coverage for the electronic version begins with 1972 and continues to the present. The print version covers 1915 to 1985.

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
1975-present
This service indexes scholarly journals of U.S. and international political science. It is comprised of the merged backfiles of Political Science Abstracts and ABC Pol Sci with new publications indexed monthly. Publication coverage goes back to 1975. Selected scholarly web sites may be among the retrieved sources.

Reference Sources

Reference Sources-Books

Most of the publications listed below are located in the Reference Collection on the first floor of the library. Some are online.

Congressional Quarterly Almanac 1945-Present
Govt Index JK 1.C66

Congressional Quarterly's Guide to the Presidency
Main Ref JK 516 C57 1989

The American Presidency: A Bibliography.
Main Ref Z 1249 P7 M357 1987

American Presidents: A Bibliography.
Main Ref Z 1249 P7 M36 1987

Biographical Directory of the United States Executive Branch, 1774-1977.
Main Ref E 176 B576

The Presidency: a Research Guide
Main Ref Z 1249 P7 G63 1985

The Almanac of American Politics
Main Ref JK 1012 A44

America at the Polls 2: the Vote for President, 1968-1984
Main Ref JK 524 S22 1988

America Votes: a Handbook of Contemporary American Election Statistics.
1956- Annual.
Main Ref JK 1967 A8

Facts on File World News Digest (online)

The New York Times Archive, 1851-2003 (online)

Presidential Elections Since 1789
Main Ref JK 524 C66

The Pursuit of the White House: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics and
History
Main Ref JK 524 T44 1987

Roper Center for Public Opinion Research (online from Lexis Nexis Academic)
1935-
From L/N Academic homepage left column choose "reference," then choose "polls and surveys". "Covers  politics and government, public institutions, international relations, business, social affairs and consumer behavior and preferences. The file includes sources in opinion polling such as Gallup, Harris, Roper; ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC; Los Angeles Times, New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal."

Polling the Nations (online)
"A compilation of questions and responses from more than 12,000 national, state, local and special surveys, conducted by 700 polling organizations in the United States and 70 other countries from 1986 through the present."

American Public Opinion Index
Main Ref HM 261 A463-

The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion.
Main Ref HM 90 P8 G35

Reference Sources-Websites

Brookings Institution:Government's 50 Greatest Endeavors
http://www.brookings.edu/comm/reformwatch/rw02.htm

AllPolitics
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/

Federal Election Commission
http://www.fec.gov

Opensecrets.org
http://www.opensecrets.org/home/index.asp

Politics1
http://www.politics1.com

Project Vote Smart
http://www.vote-smart.org

Catalogs for Books

Bowdoin College Library Catalog
Access to Bowdoin Library's holdings of books, videos, government documents, etc.
MaineCat
Includes the holdings of most Maine libraries. It has an online request button—requests from Colby and Bates take 1-2 days.
NExpress
Combines access to the library holdings of Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Wellesley, Williams and Northeastern; requests usually arrive in 2 days.
WorldCat
Combined database of library catalogs nationwide.

In the catalogs above, you can begin looking for your topic with a keyword search or a subject search. For a subject search, here are examples of subject headings for interest groups:

Bush, George W.
United States--Executive Departments
Presidents--United States--Elections

Research Strategy

Consult the Library Research Strategy for a helpful summary/refresher of the research process. Additional tips for research in politics:

1. Use both subject and keyword searching in any electronic database or index, including the library catalog.

2. When you find a citation for a useful book or article, always check the descriptors or subject headings for additional search terms.

3. Read bibliographies and footnotes.

4. For information on primary sources, please read the CBB Guide to Primary and Secondary Sources.

5. Evaluate information sources, especially web sites, carefully for accuracy, timeliness and authority.

This page created and maintained by Ginny Hopcroft. Last updated: February 27, 2007.