Hearings can be excellent sources of policy information, the perspectives of witnesses and committee members, and data.
Hearings are held by congressional committees to gather information on proposed legislation or to conduct oversight, including "the review, monitoring, and supervision of the implementation of public policy".* Hearings are also held to investigate issues of national importance, such as the Pearl Harbor attack or the Watergate break-in. Senate committees hold confirmation hearings for presidential nominees. (More on types of hearings) Expert witnesses or people who will be affected by the proposed legislation may be called to testify. They may bring along exhibits which may provide information hard to find anywhere else.
While most hearings are published, committees are not required to publish transcripts of hearings. The Committee Chair makes the decision to do so, and decides whether the hearing will be published in paper or digitally or both. Publication can happen quickly, be delayed for months, or never occur. Bowdoin has most published hearings in paper from 2003 to 2010 and scattered hearings from other time periods. Otherwise, Bowdoin Library provides access to hearings in digital format.
Some committees, especially in the House, issue a Hearing Memorandum, which often contain a statement of the purpose of the hearing, witnesses, background information, and a short bibliography. Look for these from 2004-2011 in ProQuest Congressional in the Committee Prints & Misc. Publications database.
Google Books has digitized many hearings from the twentieth century. If you know the title of the hearing, search Google Books with keywords in that title. Or try the phrase "hearing before the committee" with a subject word and limit to "full view only." HathiTrust and the Internet Archive are other sources for historical hearings.
* Congressional Research Service, Types of Committee Hearings, 2015.
Congress | Years | Format | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1- | 1789- (coverage scattered in the earlier years) |
online | HathiTrust Best Bet for 1789-1823 | |
18, 2nd sess.-118, 1st sess. | 1824-2023 | online | ProQuest Congressional Best Bet for 1824-2023 | Also includes unpublished hearings, 1973-1992. New: Congressional Hearing Print Request. Bowdoin students, faculty, and staff may request that a hearing be printed, bound, and delivered to your campus address in 2-4 days. |
51-111 | 1890-2010 (with gaps) |
paper | Govt. Doc Y4. | Use ProQuest Congressional for text online or use it as an index to get SuDocs number of the print hearing. New: Congressional Hearing Print Request. Bowdoin students, faculty, and staff may request that a hearing be printed, bound, and delivered to your campus address in 2-4 days. |
56-95 | 1900-1978 (scattered coverage) |
online | HeinOnline | |
96- | 1979- (stronger coverage) |
|||
79-105 | 1945-1998 | online | search or browse Congressional Hearings in govinfo Best Bet for freely available | |
106-present | 1999-present (stronger coverage) |
|||
103-present | 1993-present | online | Browse congress.gov by Committees > [...] Hearing Transcripts | |
108, 2nd sess.- | 2004-present | online | ProQuest Congressional | Selected testimony transcripts and submitted statements only. |
varies | varies | online | U.S. House of Representatives Committee Repository; House Committees; Senate Committees; C-SPAN |
May provide access to selected full content of hearings or only to the prepared statements of witnesses. |
varies | varies | online | NexisUni | Search under "News". Not comprehensive, but has hearings transcripts not easily found elsewhere. |
varies | varies | online | U.S. Congressional Serial Set; Internet Archive; Google Books |
None of these databases is comprehensive but they may have hearings not found elsewhere. |
Years | Format | Location |
---|---|---|
mid-1980s- | video | C-SPAN |
video | congress.gov, Committee Hearings and Meetings Video | |
video | The websites of the committees before which the hearing was held may also provide video: House Committees; Senate Committees |
Congress | Years | Format | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
18, 2nd sess.-present | 1824-present | online | ProQuest Congressional | |
53-95 | 1895-1977 | Monthly Catalog of U.S. Govt. Publications, Govt. Doc GP 3.8: | ||
94-present | 1976-present | online | Catalog of U.S. Government Publications |