Published annually since 1972, the Historic Documents series has made primary source research easy by presenting excerpts from documents on the important events of each year for the United States and the World.
Each volume pairs 60 to 70 original background narratives with over 100 documents to chronicle the major events. Various records may include:
- official reports
- surveys
- speeches from leaders and opinion makers
- court cases
- legislation
- testimony
- and much more
Historic Documents is renowned for the well-written and informative background, history, and context it provides for each document. Organized chronologically, each volume covers the same wide range of topics:
- business
- the economy and labor
- energy, environment, science, technology, and transportation
- government and politics
- health and social services
- international affairs
- national security and terrorism
- rights and justice
Each volume begins with an insightful essay that sets the year's events in context, and each document or group of documents include:
- a comprehensive introduction
- background information on the event
- full-source citations
- easy access to material
- detailed and thematic table of contents
- references to related coverage
- documents from the last ten editions of the series