TIP
To find Sessional Papers in any format: know the sessional year, volume, and page number of the item.
Citation elements: Session date / Bill, Paper, or Command number / Volume number - page number.
Sample citations:
Bill or Paper: 1884 (181) LXII 395
Command Paper: 1881 [c.2802] XCVIII 367
Bill and Paper numbers appear in (round brackets).
Command Paper numbers have no brackets or [square brackets].
See also how to read a citation.
Sessional Papers - Overview
Sessional Papers (aka Parliamentary) papers are the working documents of each session of Parliament. The more important papers are usually considered to be those presented to the House of Commons.
- Bills: Proposed laws submitted to Parliament for approval. These can be of two kinds: public and private. Only public bills are available in the Sessional Papers.
- House Papers: Papers that arise out of the deliberations of the House and its Committees or are needed for its works. This includes Select Committee Papers, Minutes of Proceedings of Standing Committees, Accounts, and certain annual reports.
- Command Papers: Command Papers do not originate in the Parliament but are "presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her (or His) Majesty". Royal Commission Reports and treaties are the most common Command Papers. See separate section on Command Papers.
Holdings and Finding Aids at UVA Library
Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Sessional Papers
Micfich S-424 (through 1850) and Micprnt S-1 (1851-1979)
Find citations in the General Index to Parliamentary Materials in the Periodicals/Microforms Room (J301.K61 and J301.K611).
Find the roman numeral to locate the section and the arabic numerals which follow the roman to locate the page within the section. Most often this page will be handwritten on the microprint frame.
You do not have consult these print indices for the years before 1979. There are indices for fiche editions and the print edition at the end of each session. (The headings on the sheets or cards, however, will not indicate this.)
Additional indices for the 1851-1900 years of the microprint edition are in boxes at the beginning of the print card set marked indices and organized by year.
Micfich S-424 1979/1980 -
Use the index at the back of each volume of Government Publications, a HMSO catalog publication in the Reference Department, (Z2009.G822).
For these later years only the paper number (referred to as H.C. #), the bill number, or the command number [Command papers are papers, often ministerial or commission reports, presented to Parliament at the command of the Sovereign], along with relevant pages are needed.
See also the following:
Sessional Index for Sessions (1960/61-1996/1997)
Call Number J301 .K612 1996, Alderman Stacks
Z2009 .A1 R6, Alderman Library Reference
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Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords. Sessional Papers
1714-1805, Alderman Library Stacks, J301 .J6
Finding Aid: General Index ...J301 .J6, Alderman Library Stacks
1806-1859, Alderman Library, Micfilm S-146
The microfilm has indexes at the end of each session. The index refers to a volume number (in roman numerals) and to a page within the volume. The page number corresponds to the handwritten numbers on the film.
1940-1970, Alderman Library, Micprnt S-6.
This set is not indexed. Go to the table of contents at the beginning of each session. See also indexes and breviates in Reference, eg.,Ford, P. and G., Select List of British Parliamentary Papers (J 301.M3.)
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