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Presidential Documents

Proclamations & Executive Orders

Proclamations and executive orders are two forms of executive fiat and are issued in separate, numbered series. While they both have the same legal effect, executive orders "usually involve an exercise of presidential authority related to government business, while proclamations are announcements of policy or of matters requiring public notice."
[Source: Legal Research in a Nutshell. 1992]
  Proclamations and executive orders have been published in a variety of places since 1789
  1789 --

  United States Statutes at Large.
  Contains proclamations only.
  Online: 1789-1951 (Library of Congress);    1951 -    (govinfo.gov)
  In the Library: 1st Floor - Reference f KF47 .U5  1789-1941; 2000-

  1789 --

  American Presidency Project  University of California, Santa Barbara
  Proclamations 1789-   ; Executive Orders 1791-  

  1845 - 1936

  Presidential Executive Orders Numbers 1-7403 (1845-June 1936).
  In the Library: 1st floor - Government Information micro KF70 .A48 (microfilm)
  Index: Presidential Executive Orders: Numbered Series (1862-1938)
          1st floor - Government Information Reference KF 70 .A5 1981
          v. 1: List ; v.2: Index
  Use the index to identify the date of an executive order, and look it up by date in the microfilm. 
  (The numbering systems in the index and the microfilm do not correspond.)

  1929 - 1933

  Herbert Hoover: Proclamations and Executive Orders, March 4 1929-March 4 1933.
  In the Library: Lower level - J82 D5 1974
  Online: HeinOnline US Presidential Library (Fresno State access only)

  1936 --  
 

  Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Title 3: The President.
  Online:  1997-  via govinfo.gov    Select year, then Title 3 - Presidential Documents

  1936 --
 

  Federal Register.
  In the Library: On microfilm and microfiche: 1st floor - Government Information micro
  Online: : 1936-  via govinfo.gov  
  Index:
The Public Papers of the Presidents gives Federal Register page numbers
              of proclamations and Executive Orders. 

  1941 - 2003

  Codification of Presidential Proclamations and Executive Orders [1945-1989]. National Archives
  In the Library: 1st floor -  Reference KF 70 .A473 1945-89
  Contains selected Proclamations and Executive Orders

  1937 - 2017

  Executive Orders Disposition Tables Historical Index  National Archives
  Status of Executive Orders from EO 7532 , January 8, 1937 through EO 13764, January 2019
  (Roosevelt-Obama)
  About the Codification

  1977 - Jan 1989

  Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States
  (Carter & Reagan only)

  1993 --

  Compilation of Presidential Documents