Library Guides: U.S. Foreign Relations and the Department of State: Major Publications

Current Publications

Bilateral Relations (previously called Background Notes) (Current Only)
Facts on the country's land, people, history, government, political conditions, economy, and its relations with other countries and the United States.
Annual Reports to Congress: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. (1993 to present)
HC59.C735 Latest Doe Reference Prior Years in Main Stacks: 1979-
Country reports on economic policy and trade practices.(1993 to present)
HC59.C735 Latest year in Doe Reference Prior Years in Main Stacks: 1989-
Annual report, international religious freedom. (1999 to present)
BV741 .U55 Latest year in Doe ReferencePrior Years in Main Stacks: 1998/99-
Country Reports on Global Terrorism (previously Patterns of Global Terrorism) (1996 to present)
HV6431.U53 Latest year in Doe Reference Prior Years in Main Stacks: 1989/90-
Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000: Trafficking in Persons Report (2001 to present)

Department of State Dispatch (and later press releases)

U.S. Department of State Dispatch continued the Department of State Bulletin. It provides the major speeches and congressional testimony from the State Department. Since around the year 2000, the State Department has published most of its press releases to its website and maintains a web archive.

Dispatch via HathiTrust
State Department Archive (1997-2001, not all called Dispatch)
Paper version at JX232.A281 in MAIN (1(1990)-10 (1999))
Current State Department Press Statements (2001-Present)

Department of State Bulletin (and previous titles)

Department of State Bulletin includes information on current developments in the American foreign relations and the work of the Department of State and Foreign Service. It includes press releases, official statements of policy, texts of important documents, the United States position in the United Nations, articles by department officials, and information on treaties. The Bulletin replaced the weekly publication Press Releases and the monthly Treaty Information Bulletin.

Department of State Bulletin -- JX232.A28 MAIN (July 1939)-89:2153 (December 1989)
- Also available via HathiTrust
Press Releases -- JX232.A3; 1(1)(Oct 1929)-20(508)(June 1939)
- Also available via HathiTrust
Treaty Information Bulletin -- JX232 .A35; 1(Oct 1929)-117(June 1939)
- Also available via HathiTrust

Monthly Consular and Trade Reports

U.S. Bureau of Manufactures(Dept. of Commerce and Labor). Monthly Consular and Trade Reports.
REPORTS: Main HC1.A23 1-357, 1880-1910 Shelved off campus: v. 1-357 INDEXES: < >Main Stack HC1.A23 Index, no.1-59 (v. 1-17) (1880-1885) Main HC1.A23 Index, no.60-111 (vols. 18 to 31) 1886-1889. Main HC1.A23 Index, no.112-151 (vols. 32 to 41) Main HC1.A23 Index, no.152-203 (vols. 42 to 54). Main HC1.A23 Index, no.204-239 (vols. 55 to 63).

U.S. Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. Commercial Relations of the United States with Foreign Countries.HF105.A25 MAIN Library has: 1-66, 1855/56-1912.

Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS)

Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity. Produced by the State Department's Office of the Historian, the series began in 1861 and now comprises over 350 volumes. The volumes published since 1980 increasingly contain declassified records from all the foreign affairs agencies. FRUS is usually published 20-30+ years after the events, so the most recent volumes cover events from the early 1980's.

Foreign Relations of the United States via the University of Wisconsin Libraries (1861-1958/1960 -- all full-text)
Department of State, Office of the Historian (1945-1980ish -- not all volumes are full text)
Paper version in MAIN at JX233.A3 (Indexes for 1900-1940 shelved in DREF). 1861-current

Hein Online This link opens in a new window
FRUS is also one of the many government documents available in HeinOnline.
Provides full text to the early issues of many legal journals and law reviews, the Federal Register (1936-six months ago), US Supreme Court Library (1754-present) and treaties and agreements.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service

The Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) can provide you a wealth of information from foreign news sources. The U.S. State Department ran the FBIS to translate foreign language newspapers, wires, and broadcasts into English. FBIS only translated information relating to U.S. interests, and only distributed to the public a select amount of what was translated.

At UC Berkeley, we have 2 databases for locating FBIS documents:

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports This link opens in a new window
The Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Report includes radio and television broadcasts, newspapers and periodicals, government statements, books, and other sources of unrestricted information such as databases and gray literature from non-English sources around the world. The original mission of the FBIS was to monitor, record, transcribe and translate intercepted radio broadcasts from foreign governments, official news services, and clandestine broadcasts from occupied territories. [1941 - 1996]
Information from thousands of foreign media sources, including political speeches, television and radio broadcasts, newspapers, periodicals, and more, offering an extensive collection of military, political, scientific and technical reports from countries around the world, translated into English. The original mission of the FBIS was to monitor, record, transcribe and translate intercepted radio broadcasts from foreign governments, official news services, and clandestine broadcasts from occupied territories. Coverage is global with the exception of the FBIS Annexes (a supplementary publication created by the U.S. intelligence community to benefit analysts and policy makers from April 1974 through September 1996) and Western European regional broadcasts.
Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Electronic Index This link opens in a new window
Daily Reports issued by the US Government covering political, economic, scientific, and cultural issues and events throughout the world. Translations of broadcasts, news agency transmissions, newspapers, periodicals, and government statements from various nations are the sources of this information. [1975 - 1996]
Indexes the FBIS Daily Reports issued by the US Government covering political, economic, scientific, and cultural issues and events throughout the world. Translations of broadcasts, news agency transmissions, newspapers, periodicals, and government statements from various nations are the sources of this information. Reports since 1996 can be found in WorldNews Connection.

Foreign Policy Bulletin

Foreign policy bulletin (Washington, D.C.). Washington, D.C. : Paul E. Auerswald
JX232.F67 MAIN Latest 2 years in DREF 1(1990-91)-
"...the documentary record of United States foreign policy.... A private publication, using the same format as the discontinued Department of State Bulletin and maintaining continuity with that publication while offering additional materials as well."

Current Policy and Digest

Current policy. Excerpts of key statements found in: Current policy digest.JX232.A26 MAIN (2-1076, 1078-1148, 1150-1153, 1155-1176, 1181-1182, 1184-1185, 1187, 1189-1193, 1195, 1197-1206, 1208-1214, 1216-1219, 1221, 1223-1225, 1227-1232, 1235-1239, 1241-1247, 1249, 1251-1269, 1271-1272, 1274-1275, 1279, 1281-1283, 1286-1292, 1295-1296, 1299, 1301-1303, 1305-1309 [1990])

Current Policy (via HathiTrust)

Current policy digest. Washington, D.C. :Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs.Contains "exerpts of key statements from selected Current policy texts".JX232.A261 MAIN BOUND 15(Apr 1986)-30(Aug 1987)

Current Policy Digest (via HathiTrust)

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U.S. Foreign Relations and the Department of State: Major Publications

Major Publications from the Department of State