Featured Resources
Guides by Level of Government
Topic Guides
To look more deeply into government materials published during the Civil War, we present this list of executive agencies which were operating in the 1860s and which had publications printed by the Government Printing Office. Each agency likely produced a published annual report in additon to other printed materials. Annual reports are a good place to start. The SuDoc number found next to each entry can be used in conjuction with the Checklist of United States Public Documents, 1789-1909 (Hereafter abbreviated 1909 Checklist) available through Hathi Trust and in print in the library. All documents in the Checklist are arranged in SuDoc order but not chronological order. There are several other ways to access Civil War era publications from federal agencies:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FEDERAL EXECUTIVE AGENCIES IN OPERATION 1861-1865
Example of search process:
1) View list of this agency's publications in the 1909 Checklist, in Hathi Trust
2) Note publications you want to get, for example the agency's Annual Report
3) Optional: check the CIS Index to U.S. Executive Branch Documents, 1789-1909: Guide to Documents listed in Checklist of U.S. Public Documents, 1789-1909, not printed in the U.S. Serial Set (See MERLIN record)
4) Find the Annual Report in the MU Libraries' print collection by doing an author/title search in the UM LIBRARIES CATALOG, OR
5) Find the Annual Report freely available in Hathi Trust, OR
6) Find the Annual Report in the U.S. Congressional Serial Set database
If if seems there would have been more executive agencies than what in this list, consider that many were organized after the Civil War. The nation's first Education Bureau was established by an act passed in 1867. The Department of Justice got its start in 1870 and the Department of Commerce wasn't organized until 1903. Before the establishment of executive agencies, these issues were handled by subject-specific congressional committees. Incidentally, one finds the same pattern at the Missouri state level.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To find a similar list for Missouri state government agencies active during the Civil War, check our Missouri Historical Documents Browser and click on years 1861, 1863, 1865, etc.