Legislative Documents Plus
From 1820 to 1829, legislative documents were published in their entirety in the Journal of either house (see Legislative Journals, below). The most important component of our historic New York State documents collection is the bound series of collected documents known as the "Legislative series of documents," covering 1830 through 1976. These series include not only legislative documents but also some publications of the executive and judicial branches.
Legislative Series of Documents
- Legislative documents of the Senate and AssemblyCall Number: Law Library KFN5005 .N53Years covered: 1830
Also located in RMC. - Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York.Call Number: Law Library KFN5005 .N531Years covered: 1831-1918
Available online via HathiTrust.
Also located in the Library Annex and RMC. - Documents of the Senate of the State of New YorkCall Number: Law Library KFN5005 .N532Years covered:1831-1918
Available online via HathiTrust
Also located in the Library Annex and RMC. - Legislative Documents. (Senate and Assembly)Call Number: Law Library KFN5005 .N533Years covered: 1919-1975 (Cornell's set stops with 1975. Only the New York State Library and New York Public Library received the volumes for 1976.)
Available online via HathiTrust.
Also located in the Library Annex.
Similar documents following this set were received and cataloged individually either as serials or monographs; search the Cornell Library Catalog for individual titles. Cornell has some documents which are included in the collected series cataloged separately as well.
Indexes to Legislative Series of Documents
Olin Reference has print guides to the Legislative Series of Documents which are invaluable for locating individual documents in these large sets.
- General Index to the Documents of the State of York, from 1777 to 1871, InclusiveCall Number: Olin Library Reference Z 1223.5 .N56 A2Albany, NY: The Argus Company, 1871.
A subject and name index for Assembly and Senate documents issued from 1777 to 1871. - Annotated Lists and Indexes of the New York State Assembly and Senate Document Series 1831-1918Call Number: Olin Library Reference Z 1223.5 .N56 C319 1992Three volumes. Volumes 1 (Assembly) and 2 (Senate) list individual documents first by year and then by report number. Volume 3 is the index volume: subject index; index of special legislative and executive committees, commissions, etc. by keyword; index to special committees and commissions ... by names of chairmen; miscellaneous reports on individual
persons; index to geographical names; more. - The New York State Legislative Document Series, 1919-1976Call Number: Olin Library Reference Z 1223.5 .N56 C32 1986Seven volumes. Volumes 1 - 3 are numerical document lists by year. Volumes 5 - 7 are index volumes. Use these to access the documents published in Legislative Documents. (Senate and Assembly), listed above.
Legislative Journals
"Journals of the New York State Assembly and Senate have been published since 1777. The text of a journal consists of summaries of floor proceedings, some resolutions, and some bill amendments introduced by the opposite house. The text of the bills themselves is never included." [Butch, 32] These journals are listed in the Cornell Library Catalog; search "new york state legislature assembly" AND journal. For the Senate version, substitute senate for assembly. The Journals are an important resource for establishing legislative intent.
- Journal of the Assembly of the State of New YorkPrint:
- Law Library KFN 5018 .N53: Incomplete holdings from 1834-2006
- Library Annex J 87 .N7c: Incomplete holdings from 1871-2008
- Olin Library Microfiche 932
- Library Annex Film 5030 A1b Incomplete holdings from 1692-1821
- Film 630 1789-1798
- Journal of the SenatePrint:
- Law Library KFN 5018 .N535: Incomplete holdings from 1830-1974
- Libary Annex J87 .N7b: Incomplete holdings from 1871-1974
- Olin Library Microfiche 932
- Library Annex Film 5030 A1a and Film 631: Incomplete holdings from 1777-1882
Legislation: Assembly and Senate Bills
- [Bills] byCall Number: Law Library KFN5006 .N531942-1945, 1948, 1950, 1952-1994; unbound after 1994.
Slip bills received and bound by the Law Library. - [Bills] byCall Number: Law Library KFN5006 .N5351844, 1939-1950, 1952-1994; unbound after 1994).
Slip bills received and bound by the Law Library. - Calendar of the Assembly of the State of New York byCall Number: Law Library KFN5008 .A84; Olin Library J87 .N7eAlso called the Calendar of Bills. Descriptions, but not the bill text. For details on finding earlier bills, see Butch, pp. 34-35.
- Calendar of the Senate of the State of New York byCall Number: Law Library KFN5008 .S47; Olin Library J87 .N7eAlso called the Calendar of Bills. Descriptions, but not the bill text. For details on finding earlier bills, see Butch, pp. 34-35.
- Guide to records of the New York State Legislature in the State Archives and Record Administration AvailabilityCall Number: Library Annex Z1223.5.N56 G94The Guide to Records of the New York State Legislature in the State Archives and Records Administration "describes selected records, dating from the colonial period to the 1980s, which are preserved and made available for research by the New York State Archives and Records Administration (SARA)." [Introduction] This guide lists the kinds of legislative records held by SARA.
Executive Documents: The Governor
- Messages from the Governors comprising executive communications to the Legislature and other papers relating to legislation from the organization of the first colonial Assembly in 1683 to and including the year 1906, with notesCall Number: Law Library Bennett Collection KFN5019 1683; Olin Library J87 .N716Check the shelf; the catalog records for Olin are incomplete. We have all 11 volumes of this set plus additional, later volumes under a different title.
- Public Papers of [governor's name, i.e., Alfred E. Smith] (or) Governor [governor's name]Call Number: Olin Library J 87 .N7 or J 87 .N717Papers of Dewitt Clinton and other governors since the colonial era. Twentieth-century governors completely represented.
- Annotated list and indexes of reports of New York State Governors' committees and task forces, 1925-1985Call Number: Law Library Z1223.5.N56 C319 1986; Olin Library Reference Z1223.5.N56 C321 1986
Reference Help
New York State Historical Literature Collection
The New York State Historical Literature collection contains electronic versions of scattered 19th century NYS documents among its 655 browseable and searchable online titles scanned and indexed by CUL. Browsing the titles beginning with "New York State" is one way to see what's available here.
Subject Indexes to Legislative Journals
There are no subject indexes to the Journal, per se. However, the New York Times Index (1851 to date) and Historical Index to the New York Times [online] (1863-1905, 1913-September 1922) can serve as a surrogate subject indexes. Legislative proceedings are often discussed in the newspaper.
For More Information
For detailed information on historic New York state documents, consult
Butch, Dorothy. New York State Documents: An Introductory Manual. Albany: University of the State of New York, State Education Dept..., 1987.
(New York State Library Bibliography Bulletin 89). (Olin Ref Z 1223.5 .N7 .B97 + Also ILR, Law Reference, Annex, Mann, Uris).