The U.S. depository collection, which began in 1895, has provided
the systematic supply of the regular output of the Government
Printing Office; over the years, titles extending back to the
Continental Congress have been added to form a substantial documentary
resource of the early government of America.
In addition, several agencies have become the focus of the Collection:
• Agriculture Department
• Commerce Department
• Congress
• Interior Department
• Office of the President
• State Department
• War Department
Many smaller agencies with a limited output of publications are
also very significant because of their historical context: for
example, Panama Canal, Censorship Office, and the Children's
Bureau. Their publications are also systematically collected.
Active book selection for the United States Federal collection
has brought in government agency publications which are not issued
by the Government Printing Office. Still more importantly for
the researcher are the special resources of unpublished archives,
usually in microformat.
Other special resources include the microfiche series of declassified
documents, titles in the American Statistics Index, technical
reports of the Atomic Energy Commission, and a typescript copy
of the hearings of the National Recovery Administration (1933-1935).
Finally, a note on the physical size of the United States collection
underscores its significance: there are in excess of 130,000
volume equivalents of publications, 160,000 technical reports,
thousands of reels of microfilm of archives, and more than
300,000 microfiche.
