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In this module we will show how to use the British Parliamentary Papers to conduct historical research.

Introduction

The British Parliamentary Papers contain a wealth of information about both domestic and international issues and events affecting the British Empire. Research libraries such as Fondren Library provide a variety of resources for using the British Parliamentary Papers, including guides, summaries, indexes, and an extensive collection of the papers themselves on Microform. Here we will begin by acquainting ourselves with these resources and then begin locating specific information in the papers themselves.

Fondren's resources for the british parliamentary papers

Let’s begin by taking a look at the resources available at Fondren Library, our example library (other research libraries have similar resources). First, we will perform a very basic search of the catalog for anything relating to the Parliamentary Papers. For a brief tutorial on how to use this resource, please visit our WebCat module . Visit the WebCat online catalog, enter the words parliamentary papers into the text box, select the keyword option and then select Search Everything. Your query should look like this.

Among the items in the collection at Fondren we find everything we need for our introduction to the Parliamentary Papers, including:

a comprehensive guide to the Parliamentary Papers and how to use them that is shelved under reference
and a copy in the stacks in case you would like to check it out and take it home,
an electronic index to the House of Commons Papers that allows you to search the papers in a variety of ways,
a complete set of Parliamentary Papers from 1801-1900,
from 1901-1921,
and from 1922-1944/45,
as well as a bound index categorized by subject for the entire nineteenth century.

Fondren also offers an online Guide to the British Parliamentary Papers , including a comprehensive list of the resources available on line and in the stacks. Let's begin with the bound guides.

Guides to the parliamentary papers

Here we will take a look through a comprehensive guide to the Parliamentary Papers to give you an idea of what you can expect to find in them. This type of publication has proven invaluable in the creation of this module and should come in very handy as a reference source in any research project involving the Parliamentary Papers.
Percy and Grace Ford are the authors of our preferred guide to the parliamentary papers entitled "Guide to Parliamentary Papers; what they are, how to find them, how to use them." A quick browse through the contents will show that many of the questions you might come up with in your searches have their answers in these pages.
Let's have a look at the table of contents to get an idea of how the book is arranged. We find that we are offered exactly what we were promised:
What they are,
How to find them,
and How to use them.

Take notice of the headings here. You will see many familiar terms from the The British Parliament and its Papers section of this course. These terms were introduced there for the same reason that they appear as headings here. They represent documents of a specific type, each with its own purpose in the business of Parliament. Their significance as headings is determined by the role they play in the daily operation of the Parliament in relation to other documents, represented by other headings. The function of a document in the legislative process, the location of that document in the Papers, and the type of information contained in its text are all closely related in ways you will become more and more familiar with as your research brings you in contact with a wider variety of them.

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Source:  OpenStax, Conducting research with the british parliamentary papers. OpenStax CNX. Jun 12, 2006 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10289/1.3
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