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Presidential Documents Online

By Thomas Baer •  February 14, 2019
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Presidents’ Day, the day celebrating George Washington’s birth, became a federal holiday in 1879. The day was celebrated on February 22nd each year, until a 1968 law mandated that many federal holidays be noticed on Mondays. We now celebrate Presidents’ Day on the third Monday of February. In celebration of Presidents’ Day, check out the many Presidential resources available freely online.

The Public Papers of the Presidents compile Presidential writings, addresses, and remarks. These documents have been published by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration since 1957. Access the Public Papers of the Presidents online at GovInfo or the National Archives.

The Law Librarians’ Society of Washington, DC has compiled links to major sources for materials including Presidential directives, proclamations, signing statements, executive orders, memoranda, and other documents.

The Library of Congress Digital Collections: American History includes papers and essays from or about select U.S. Presidents.

The collection includes:

George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe
Andrew Jackson
Martin Van Buren
William Henry Harrison
John Tyler
James K. Polk
Zachary Taylor
Franklin Pierce
Abraham Lincoln
Ulysses S. Grant
Theodore Roosevelt
Woodrow Wilson

For more ways to find Presidential documents, including Jenkins membership databases, see our Presidential Documents research guide.

Need help finding Presidential documents? Ask us!

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