Government Information

Government Printing Office

Your gateway to many government documents and other multi-media is the Government Printing Office. This office's charge is to provide the American people with authentic documents originating from all branches of the Federal government.

The GPO's home page has a link to FDsys, or Federal Digital System, that "provides free online access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government."

Types of Presidential Documents 

As explained by the National Archives & Records Administration

Executive Orders 

• "Signed documents, numbered consecutively, through which the President of the United States manages the operations of the Federal Government."
• An example:  Executive Order 13607 - Establishing Principles of Excellence for Educational Institutions Serving Service Members, Veterans, Spouses, and Other Family Members
• Where to find them:
  • For the current administration, Executive Orders are available digitally from the Briefing Room page of the White House web site.
  • "Executive Orders, Proclamations, and certain types of Administrative Orders appear in the Federal Register, the official daily journal of the Federal Government."
  • "Executive Orders, Proclamations, and all Administrative Orders are also published in the Compilation of Presidential Documents prepared by the Office of the Federal Register. . . . Documents appearing in the Compilation of Presidential Documents collection are edited for accuracy and annotated with additional information to provide an authoritative record of the Presidency. . . . [D]ating from 1993 onward; in digital format."
  • See the Executive Orders Disposition Tables for information on finding pre-1993 Orders in Federal Depository Libraries.
  • Executive Orders and Proclamations are codified in Title 3 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

Proclamations

• "Signed documents, numbered consecutively, through which the President of the United States communicates information on holidays, commemorations, special observances, and trade."
• An example: Presidential Proclamation National Information Literacy Awareness Month 
• Where to find them:
  • The White House web site's Briefing Room
  • The Federal Register 
  • Compilation of Presidential Documents 
  • Federal Depository Libraries 
  • Title 3 of the Code of Federal Regulations

Administrative Orders 

• "Unnumbered signed documents through which the President of the United States conducts the administrative operations of the Federal Government. Administrative orders include but are not limited to memoranda, notices, determinations, letters, and messages."
• An example: Statement by the President on Curiosity Landing on Mars 
• Where to find them:
  • The White House web site's Briefing Room
  • Compilation of Presidential Documents 
  • Federal Depository Libraries 

Federal Register, the official daily journal of the Federal Government

Compiliation of Presidential Documents

Government RSS directory

Videos from the US Government

Blogs from the National Archives

Podcasts from the US Government

C-SPAN - Telecasts of the Federal political process

US Government International Radio and Television

State Governments' Images & Multimedia

Original documents and records relating to the federal Executive Branch can be found in a variety of archives and libraries.

For one-stop-searching about a specific administration, the Presidential Libraries would be the best option. See the box below for more information. 

Other repositories include:

• National Archives & Records Administration
• Library of Congress

For State, County, Tribal, and Municipal documents try:

• Links to States' Archives
  • Colorado Governers' Collection at the Colorado State Archives 
• Tribal/County/City web sites
  • Colorado City/Colorado Springs Historic District Maps
• Local historical museums' or societies' web sites
  • Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum collections
• Local history collections of local libraries
  • Denver Public Libraries' Western History & Genealogy collection
• College or university archives in the area of interest
  • Colorado College, Tutt Library's Special Collections, including the Colorado Springs Century Chest