GPO Launches Public Access to 1.2 Million Historic Government Records Dating Back to 1895

  • Last Updated: July 09, 2026
  • Published: July 09, 2026

The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) has launched public access to more than 1.2 million newly available records of historic U.S. Government publications, making it easier than ever to find documents published between 1895 and 1976. The records are now live in the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP) and are available to the public at no cost. This launch improves search and discovery and opens the door to decades of Government publications that were previously difficult to locate online.

“Making these 1.2 million records available is an investment in the future of public access to Government information,” said GPO Superintendent of Documents Scott Matheson. “Researchers, students, librarians, and the public can now more easily find and use historic Government publications, and we look forward to seeing how the library community puts these records to work.”

Historic highlights from this launch include:

  1. Hearings on the causes of the Titanic disaster, 1912
  2. “Plant a Victory Garden, Our Food is Fighting” World War II poster urging Americans to grow their own food to support the war effort, 1943
  3. Hearings on the Apollo 13 accident, 1970

The new records come from the Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications, often called “MoCat.” They were converted from the print catalogs to a searchable form and freely licensed to the public by Proquest, part of Clarivate. For many years, MoCat served as the official list of publications produced by GPO. Published from 1895 through 2004, it helped libraries and the public track Government publications. After MoCat ended, the CGP became the primary tool for finding Government publications. While newer publications have long been searchable online, many older publications had limited or no digital records.