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Help Pages – British Sessional Papers

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Sessional papers are papers presented to Parliament and may have bearing on policy, administration or other business of Parliament. Thus sessional papers are a rich and important collection of printed government records for the undergraduate student or serious scholar.

The library holds three collections of sessional papers: the House of Commons Sessional Papers of the Eighteenth Century, the complete set published by the British Parliament, and a selected set of papers published by the Irish University Press.

House of Commons Sessional Papers of the Eighteenth Century

Format: A bound set in 147 volumes.

Coverage: 1715-1800

Location:Government Documents Book Stacks. UK1 PA1 P000 v. -

Editor: Sheila Lambert, Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, 1975.

A facsimile edition of all eighteenth-century House of Commons papers to survive the 1834 fire, arranged by session, then by bills (public and private), accounts, and reports and papers.

Indexing: The volumes are arranged chronologically. The first two volumes of the set have "List" on the call number; these are the index volumes. Here a researcher will find a ist of sessional papers by date, a numerical list of papers ordered to be printed, an alphabetical index by document title of document, and a subject index (the latter is the last item in the second "List" volume):
  • Vol. 1: 1715-1760
  • Vol. 2: 1761-1800

British Sessional Papers

Complete set of House of Commons Papers.

Format: microfiche

Coverage: 1731-1978/79

Location: UK1 PA B67

Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. House of Commons Parliamentary Papers [microform]. Cambridge, England: Chadwyck-Healey, 1980-1982.

British Sessional Papers consist of printed papers related to each session of Parliament, produced in three series: Bills, House of Commons Papers and Command Papers. These are arranged by the House of each Session, in a set of volumes divided into four groups:

  • Bills. "Public Bills." HC Bills
  • Reports of Committees. "Reports from parliamentary committees." HC Papers
  • Reports of Commissioners. "Reports from non-parliamentary committees, commissions, Royal commissions, etc." Command Papers; HC Papers if presented by Act
    • "Accounts, Estimates, White Papers, State papers (i.e. treaties)." HC Papers and Command Papers
    • "Accounts." HC Papers
    • "Estimates of the Public Service." HC Papers
  • Accounts and Papers. "Returns (papers required by Parliament from other departments)." HC Papers
  • "White Papers." Command Papers
  • "Treaty Series, international papers, etc." Command Papers

Indexes

Select the appropriate index. The following indexes cover different topics and/or time period.

  • Cockton, Peter. Subject Catalogue of the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, 1801-1900 [5 volumes]. Cambridge, Eng.: Chadwyck Healey, 1988. GOVREF Z 2019.C63

    Divided into 19 major subject chapters-each chapter is further subdivided by subject and then by type of document (bill, report of committee, report of commission, accounts/papers). Papers are arranged by key word within each section. Each entry provides title, session, paper number, volume number, and page for Chadwyck-Healey's microfiche set.

  • Scotland in the Nineteenth Century (an analytical bibliography of material relating to Scotland in Parliamentary papers, 1800-1900). J.A. Haythornthwaite with the assistance of N.C. Wilson and V.A. Batho; Hants, England: Scolar Press, 1993. SOCREF DA 815.H39
  • Guide to the Principal Parliamentary Papers Relating to the Dominions 1812-1911. Oliver and Boyd: London, 1913. GOVREF Z 2009.A3
  • Gt. Brit. General Index to Parliamentary Papers 1900-1949. GOVREF UK1 PA 60G2
  • Ford, Percy A. A Breviate of Parliamentary Papers, 1900-1916; The Foundation of the Welfare State. Oxford, Blackwell, 1957. GOVREF J 301.M3 1900
  • Ford, Percy A. Breviate of Parliamentary Papers, 1917-1939. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms,1969. GOVREF J 301.M3 1917
  • Ford, Percy. A Breviate of Parliamentary Papers. 1940-1954. War and Reconstruction. Oxford, Blackwell, 1961. GOVREF J 301.M3 1940

Tip: The last volume for each session contains a table of contents and a subject index for all volumes in that session.

How to Find a Sessional Paper

  1. Use the indexes to:
    • find specific citations
    • browse by subject
    • browse by time period
  2. Use the citation to locate the document
    • Return of Boroughs and Cities in U.K. possessing Common or other Lands in which Freemen claim Exclusive Right of Property or Use (1870) (448). LV.93 mf 76.523

      Note: The Parliamentary papers carry a volume pagination additional to, and distinct from, the paginations of the individual papers they contain.

      The session number — 1870 — is in bold. The bill or House of Commons number is in parentheses. The volume within the session is written in roman numerals — LV. Within each sessional volume page numbers are handwritten. In this citation the volume page is shown after the volume number — .93 (a microfiche number is given but our library does not file the microfiche using this numbering sequence.)

      To locate this paper go to the binder of microfiche with the following call number. The microfiche are organized by volume. Look in volume 55 for the handwritten page number (93) in the upper right hand corner.

      UK1
      PA
      B67
      1870
      v.55-60

  3. Cite the sessional paper:
    • author/title/article title and description/session/paper no./volume/volume page no. such as:

      Gt. Brit. Parliament. House of Commons. British Sessional Papers. Game Law. Sel. Cttee. Rep.; 1845 (602) xii, 331.

      For reference to a statement on a particular page of a paper include the printed page number:

      Gt. Brit. Parliament. House of Commons. British Sessional Papers. Finance and Industry. Cttee. Rep. p. 134; 1930-31 CMD.3897, xii, 219.

    Note: Each paper has its own printed page numbering but the papers collected in the British Sessional Papers are then given a continuous pagination for each volume (handwritten in the top right hand corner). References should include the printed page number of the paper. The volume page numbers are useful for showing users where a paper is place within a know volume and should be included in citations.

Irish University Press Series of British Parliamentary Papers

Format: paper bound volumes

Coverage: 1801-1899

Abridged Collection: A selective reprint collection of 19th century papers

Location: Government Documents Book Stacks. UK1 P1 B ...

Irish University Press Series of British Parliamentary Papers. Shannon, Ireland: Irish University Press, c.1968

The IUP set of parliamentary papers was selected from the British Sessional papers and grouped by subject. This 1000 volume set includes papers from the 19th century only and covers thirty-two subject areas.

Agriculture & Animal Health, Anthropology, Colonies, Famine, Fisheries, Fuel & Power, Government, Health, Industrial Relations, Industrial Revolution, Insurance, Inventions, Legal Administration, Marriage and Divorce, Military and Naval, Monetary Policy, National Finance, Newspapers, Poor Law, Population, Posts & Telegraphs, Religion, Shipping, Slave Trade, Social Problems, Stage & Theatre, Trade & Industry; Transport, Urban Areas

Indexes

  • Checklist of British Parliamentary Papers in the Irish University Press 1000-Volume Series 1801-1899. GOVREF UK1 P 72C31
    • Part I – a chronological list of all papers reprinted by IUP, with references to where a particular paper may be found in the IUP 2000-volume series
    • Part II – an alphabetical subject set list of these papers (Both parts I and II cross-reference from the original session and Paper number to the IUP volume number.)
    • Part III – a key word title index to Part II and an index to chairmen and individual authors of reports and papers.

How to Use the Index to Find a Parliamentary Paper

  1. Use of the following methods to locate a paper:
    • Browse all the papers listed chronologically (Part I). The index indicates the IUP volume and number, eg. Australia 3.
    • Browse the papers in alphabetical order by IUP subject set. This section shows the contents of each volume.
    • Search by keyword. Part III contains the indexes to Part II. The keyword title index (eg agricultural statistics, 95) refers to the appropriate pages in the Checklist where papers on this subject are listed.
  2. Use the information in Part I and Part II to find the IUP volume and Page.
  3. Cite the paper from the IUP series:
    • Title and description/ IUP Series Title and vol. no/place of publication/publisher/year such as:

      Report from the Select Committee on Transportation Together With Minutes of Evidence Appendix and Index. p. 1. Crime and Punishment Transportation vol. 2. Irish University Press Series of British Parliamentary Papers. Shannon, Ireland: IUP, 1968.

      Index to British Parliamentary Papers on Children's Employment. GovRef UK1 P 73C32

      The documents indexed are "information papers" compiled by Select Committee of the House of Commons on the subject of Children's employment. They consist mainly of reports and minutes of evidence.

      Industrial Revolution — Children's Employment. UK1 P1 P14A001 - UK1 P1 P14A015

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Last updated July 16th, 2007 by E.B. (details)