Executive Branch Documents

ProQuest offers unique insight into American society through our Executive Branch Documents, which boasts a wide array of materials produced by the Federal government from our nation’s founding through the mid-20th century. Topics span business and industry, foreign trade, navigation, immigration and population, health, religious affiliations, militay operations, and more.

The wide range of content in Executive Branch Documents makes it suitable for serious researchers in all academic disciplines, including history and political science, social sciences, physical sciences and engineering, and business. It is of value to genealogists, as it includes many lists of names.

Collections Overview

Executive Branch Documents 1 (1789–1932)

This collection targets the entire range of executive branch publications listed in the authoritative 1909 Checklist and for the period of 1910–1932, content came from 1.2M catalog cards from the GPO Shelf List. The content was acquired from just under 100 institutions.

The 1909 Checklist was the only systematic effort to provide a complete listing of all documents published by the U.S. Government in its first 120 years. Despite the importance of the documents listed in the Checklist, the contents have been inaccessible to most researchers due to the lack of a subject index. It is also rare to find a complete collection of the Checklist documents at any single institution. ProQuest Executive Branch Documents presents a complete annotated bibliography and full text of all Executive Branch Documents listed in the Checklist indexed by subjects, names, agency report numbers, and SuDocs Classification.

Executive Branch Documents 2 (1933–1939)

This second collection of the Executive Branch Documents series boasts a wide array of documents produced by the Federal government during the New Deal and the years leading up to World War II. The New Deal agencies sometimes referred to as “alphabet soup agencies” were established by Congress, others by executive orders or were part of larger programs, such as the Works Progress Administration. Some of the agencies still exist today, while others have merged with other departments and agencies or were abolished and found to be unconstitutional.

Executive Branch Documents 3 (1940–1942)

While continuing to address the issues that concerned the country, the Federal Government grew exponentially during the Second World War.

This module covers how the United States paid for the war through a massive increase in the tax base and war bond drives. As war production ramped up, the effects were obvious in the workplace, particularly for women, farming, and labor. Profound effects on industry resulted from harnessing the power and innovation of American capitalism.

The Federal Government assisted through campaigns on worker motivation to increase production, propaganda, and the curation and dissemination of public information on the war. The draft, rationing, blackouts and other aspects of civil defense such as the Civil Air Patrol and Coast Guard Auxiliary also brought the war into the homes of every American.

Executive Branch Documents 4 (1943–1945)

While continuing to address all of the existing issues that concerned the country, the Federal Government grew exponentially during the second World War, and this is reflected in this module’s content. This collection covers how the U.S. paid for the war through a massive increase in the tax base and war bond drives which permeated every sector of American society. The workplace fundamentally changed as war production ramped up with profound effects on women, farming and labor. The American industrial experience during the war was unique and in many ways dependent upon harnessing the power and innovation of American capitalism. The Federal Government assisted this total effort through campaigns on worker motivation to increase production, propaganda, and the curation and dissemination of public information on the war. The draft, rationing, blackouts and other aspects of civil defense such as the Civil Air Patrol and Coast Guard Auxiliary also brought the war into the homes of every American.

Continuing these themes of war finance, production and efforts to harness the Home Front, this module starts to turn its focus to the needs of the postwar world. There are handbooks on the Axis and German occupied countries, analysis of the Japanese administration of wartime territories, and armed forces manuals that were designed to lessen postwar social disorder in liberated countries.

Executive Branch Documents 5 (1946–1948)

ProQuest offers unique insight into American society in the immediate post-war period with its fifth installment of Executive Branch Documents. Content covers the 1946–1948 timeframe which included the postwar readjustment of former members of the armed forces and interned Japanese Americans, the Marshall Plan, the National Security Act of 1947, the Truman Doctrine, the occupation of Germany, the creation of the Atomic Energy Commission, and many other topics.

Executive Branch Documents 6 (1949–1952)

ProQuest offers unique insight into American society in the immediate post-war period with its sixth installment of Executive Branch Documents. The content covers the 1949–1952 timeframe. This installment completes the coverage of the Truman Administration. It also includes topics such as the postwar readjustment of former members of the armed forces; the Marshall Plan (European Economic Recovery); the National Security Act of 1947; the Truman Doctrine; the military government of Germany; the Berlin Airlift; the formation of NATO; the status of Korea before and during the Korean War; the activities of the Atomic Energy Commission; and much more.