The ''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress'' (Bioguide) is a
biographical dictionary of all present and former members of the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...
and its predecessor, the
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...
. Also included are
Delegates from territories and the
District of Columbia
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle (Washington, D.C.), Logan Circle, Jefferson Memoria ...
and
Resident Commissioners from the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
and
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
.
The online edition has a guide to the research collections of institutions where member's papers,
letters
Letter, letters, or literature may refer to:
Characters typeface
* Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet.
* Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alpha ...
,
correspondence, and other items are archived, as well as an extended
bibliography of published works concerning the member (a shorter bibliography is included with the member's biography). These additional resources, when available, can be accessed via links at the left side of the member's page on the website.
History
Charles Lanman
Charles Lanman (June 14, 1819 - March 4, 1895) was an American author, government official, artist, librarian, and explorer.
Biography
Charles Lanman was born in Monroe, Michigan, on June 14, 1819, the son of Charles James Lanman, and the g ...
, author, journalist, and former secretary to
Daniel Webster, gathered the first collection of biographies of former and sitting members of Congress for his ''Dictionary of Congress'', published by
J. B. Lippincott & Co. in 1859. Lanman intended his ''Dictionary of the United States Congress'' to serve as a guide for sitting Members of Congress, similar to the modern ''Congressional Directory''.
In 1864, the House of Representatives and the Senate approved the publication of an updated version of Lanman'
''Dictionary of Congress''by the new
Government Printing Office. In the late 1860s Congress offered
Benjamin Perley Poore
Benjamin Perley Poore (November 2, 1820 – May 30, 1887) was a prominent American newspaper correspondent, editor, and author in the mid-19th century. One of the most popular and prolific journalists of his era, he was an active partisan for the ...
, a journalist and clerk of the Senate Committee on Printing and Records, the job of preparing a ''Congressional Directory'' with biographical sketches and the kind of reference information found in the ''Dictionary of Congress''.
In anticipation of the centenary of American independence and in search of a market not served by Poore's ''Congressional Directory'', Lanman prepared th
''Biographical Annals of the Civil Government of the United States'' published by James Anglim of Washington, D.C. in 1876. This volume combined the biographies of the ''Dictionary of Congress'' with entries for other governmental officials since 1776 and expanded reference tables. Poore offered a competing historical volume in 1878 with hi
''Political Register and Congressional Directory'' published by
Houghton, Osgood and Company, Boston.
Joseph M. Morrison's revision of Lanman'
''Biographical Annals''(New York, 1887) was the final directory of congressional biography to be prepared and published privately. In 1903 Congress authorized the publication of ''A Biographical Congressional Directory, 1774 to 1903''. Compiled under the direction of O. M. Enyart, this was the first volume prepared by congressional staff who drew on the Lanman and Poore editions as well as biographical information printed in th
since the
40th United States Congress
The 40th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1867, ...
(1867). The most thorough and systematic revision of biographical entries attempted prior to the Bicentennial Edition (1989) was conducted in preparation for the ''Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774–1927''. Ansel Wold, chief clerk of the
Joint Committee on Printing
The Joint Committee on Printing is a joint committee of the United States Congress devoted to overseeing the functions of the Government Publishing Office and general printing procedures of the federal government of the United States. The author ...
, directed the compilation of this volume published in 1928.
The 1920s survey yielded more detailed and consistent biographies than those in the nineteenth-century editions or in the earlier volumes compiled by congressional staff, but its frequent reliance on family legends and personal recollections introduced dubious information. Although Congress authorized updates that were published in 1949–50, 1961, and 1971, the entries from the 1928 edition remained virtually intact in the three subsequent editions. The creation of the
Senate Historical Office in 1975 and the
Office for the Bicentennial
The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to historical events leading up to the creation of the United States of America as an independent republic. It was a central event ...
in the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
in 1983 provided the first opportunity for professional historians to revise and update the Biographical Directory. Earlier editions of the Biographical Directory and their nineteenth century predecessors offered little information on congressional careers other than terms of service. The bicentennial edition (1989) provided a more complete record of the individual Members' years in office. A 1996 edition was published by
Congressional Quarterly, but did not achieve wide circulation because of its much higher price.
House Document 108-222, p. xii
/ref> Congress issued an updated print edition in 2005.
The development and growing use of the Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...
in the 1990s led to the creation of websites for the House of Representatives and the Senate. Ray Strong, House Historian and Assistant to the Clerk of the House
The clerk, chief clerk, or secretary of a legislative chamber is the senior administrative officer responsible for ensuring that its business runs smoothly. This may encompass keeping custody of documents lain before the house, received, or produ ...
, advocated publication of the entries from the Biographical Directory on the Internet. Through the efforts of Joe Carmel, Cindy S. Leach, and Gary Hahn of Legislative Computer Systems under the Clerk of the House, and Cheri Allen of the Office of the Secretary of the Senate, the entries of the Biographical Directory became available online during the week of November 9, 1998, at http://bioguide.congress.gov/ under the auspices of the House Legislative Resource Center and the Historian of the Senate. Internet technology offered the capability to update the Biographical Directory on a daily basis. Besides the biographies, the online database includes extensive bibliographies and a guide to all available research collections for Senate and House entries. The project was the first SGML
The Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML; ISO 8879:1986) is a standard for defining generalized markup languages for documents. ISO 8879 Annex A.1 states that generalized markup is "based on two postulates":
* Declarative: Markup should ...
/XML
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. T ...
project for the House and Senate and paved the way for the drafting of legislation in XML in both chambers.
The publicly available online directory has benefited from updated information provided to the House Office of History and Preservation and the Senate Historical Office from scholars, librarians, genealogists, and family members. Senate entries are accompanied by an image of the Senator, when available. Online House entries include images for Members and Speakers with official oil portraits and members since the 109th United States Congress
The 109th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, from January 3, 2005 to January 3, 2007, dur ...
(2005). The records are maintained by staff in the House Office of History and Preservation and the Senate Office of the Historian.
Internet details
The index value in the URL is a unique value for each member of Congress. There are some duplicates for name changes
index# 380
an
index# 1039
refer to the same person. The same ID is used in XML
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. T ...
versions of House legislation at http://congress.gov and http://xml.house.gov.
References
Citations
Sources
''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress''
Official Internet website
House Document No. 108-130
''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–1903''
House Document No. 108-134
''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–1911''
House Document No. 108-142
''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–1927''
House Document No. 108-153
''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–1949''
House Document No. 108-159
''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–1961''
House Document No. 108-164
''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–1971''
House Document No. 108-173
''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–1989''
House Document No. 108-176
''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–1996''
House Document No. 108-181
''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–2005''
External links
*
"Retro" version of the site
{{Authority control
United States biographical dictionaries
Publications of the United States Congress
Reference works in the public domain