Finding the Golden Oldies

Legal research is all about updating. Then along comes the tantalizing research project that relies on original wording of a statute or the statute’s legislative history. 

Where do you start?

The answer may depend on just how old the information needed is and whether the source is federal or state. 

Timing is important. For those who are too young to remember a time before the ability to “google” anything, 1994 was the “Year of the Web” and is often thought of as the beginning of the web as we now know it. Material from before roughly 1994 will only be available in digital format in a database or if someone, typically a library or governmental agency, has gone to the effort to go back and digitize it.

For federal material, there are a variety of options for those older materials. The United States Government Printing Office provides an excellent website, GovInfo.gov, that is constantly adding additional older copies of government publications. The Congressional Serial Set which includes House and Senate Documents and Reports is an excellent example. Digitized by the Law Library of Congress, it is now available from 1817-1952. Of course, it also illustrates the problem. The years before 1817 and after 1952 are not yet available as part of this set. Additional Congressional documents for some Congresses from 1975-1993 are available. Coverage starting with the 103rd Congress (1993-1994) to present is available and good on this free public site. 

By comparison, the U.S. Congressional Serial Set library on HeinOnline (a subscription service) provides access to the Congressional Serial Set through 2017 as of this writing. It also includes earlier materials from 1789-1838 in the American State Papers and later Congressional documents from 2018-2021. Similarly, HeinOnline provides more complete historical coverage of many other useful resources. RWU Law community members have access to HeinOnline from the Library’s Digital Resources page.

For state materials, the gaps between free and subscription sources are even greater. A common need for legal researchers is the text of old versions of statutes. These are not available in digital format from free sources. Older versions of the session laws may be found on the state’s legislative website. These do not go back beyond the mid-1990s. Two HeinOnline libraries which can prove helpful are:

• The State Statutes: A Historical Archive includes superseded state statutes for all fifty states. The difficulty with this library is that coverage stops due to copyright issues, which affects the period that would be of interest to most researchers.
• The Session Laws library on HeinOnline provides the more complete access, but does require the extra effort to “reconstruct” statutes that have changed wording over time.

For those who have physical access to a library, print copies of the older versions or (dare I say it) microfiche versions may be available. [For those of you who have never used it, microfiche is a version of film in small sheets containing images of the pages.]

If what you are seeking is not in digital form and you do not have the ability to visit the library or government agency, what do you do? Ask a Librarian! We are here to assist you. We can help explore alternative sources or means of obtaining the copies you need.