United States Foreign Relations: Official Documents

The Department of State Bulletin was the official record of U.S. foreign policy. It was established to provide Congress, other agencies, and the public information about U.S. foreign policy and the work of the Department of State and the Foreign Service. It was published weekly between 1939 and 1977 and monthly between 1978 and 1989. The gaps from 1969-1972 not scanned by BPL are available from the Hathitrust Digital Library here.

The full title is Register [containing a list of persons employed in the department and in the diplomatic, consular and territorial service of the United States, with maps showing where the ministers and consuls are resident abroad : also a list of the diplomatic officers and consuls of foreign countries resident within the United States], which is the best description of the contents.

• 1870
• 1871
• 1872
• 1874
• 1892
• 1893
• 1910
• 1911
• 1912
• 1913
• 1914
• 1915
• 1916
• 1917
• 1918
• 1922
• 1924
• 1925
• 1926
• 1927
• 1928
• 1929
• 1930
• 1931
• 1932
• 1933
• 1934
• 1935
• 1936
• 1937
• 1938
• 1939
• 1940
• 1941
• 1942
• 1946
• 1948
• 1950

Other important published materials of the executive branch include Foreign Relations of the US (FRUS), published continuously since 1861. It contains official materials documenting American foreign policy. It include materials declassified by the US Department of State.

The Foreign Relations of the United States series presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity. The series, which is produced by the Department of State's Office of the Historian, began in 1861 and now comprises more than 450 individual volumes. The volumes published over the last two decades increasingly contain declassified records from all the foreign affairs agencies.

Foreign Relations volumes contain documents from Presidential libraries, Departments of State and Defense, National Security Council, Central Intelligence Agency, Agency for International Development, and other foreign affairs agencies as well as the private papers of individuals involved in formulating U.S. foreign policy. In general, the editors choose documentation that illuminates policy formulation and major aspects and repercussions of its execution. Volumes published during the last three decades have expanded the scope of the series by including documents from a wider range of government agencies, particularly those involved with intelligence activity and covert actions.

Volumes in the series since 1952 are organized chronologically according to Presidential administrations, and geographically and topically within each subseries: 65 volumes cover the Nixon and Ford administrations (1969-1976), 32 cover the Carter administration (1977-1980), and about 49 are scheduled for the Reagan administration (1981-1988). Volumes on the George H.W. Bush administration are now being researched, annotated, and prepared for publication.

United States Department of State, Office of the Historian FRUS portal 

All volumes can also be browsed and searched via the University of Wisconsin's FRUS portal.

Treaties in Force is published annually by the Department of State to provide information on treaties and other international agreements to which the United States has become a party. Texts of agreements to which the US is a party is available via the Treaties and International Agreements Series. You can also search pending and ratified treaty documents back to 1949  at Congress.gov.