STORMS, MINING REPORTS, AND OFFICIAL SURVEYS: THE U.S. SERIAL SET AS A SOURCE FOR HISTORICAL GEOSCIENCE RESEARCH

Generally speaking, publication, indexing, and retrieval patterns reach their greatest level of complexity and development in the sciences. The geoscience fields rely on a wide variety of sources and indexes. In this respect, they are little different from other sciences. Two of the most distinguishing features of the geosciences are the importance of historical literature, and the heavy reliance placed on government-generated reports.

GeoRef and other major indexes address both of these points by the extensive chronology of their coverage and inclusion of state and federal survey publications. Even so, their coverage of historical material is incomplete. Highly specialized sources must often be consulted for this material.

The U.S. Serial Set is an ongoing collection of publications issued since 1789 under the direction of Congress. This set is now in excess of 14,000 printed volumes. It is a rich source of historical scientific data and reports. The Congressional Information Service has published an excellent multi-part index to this set. One portion indexes the estimated 50,000 maps in the Serial Set. Most of this presentation consists of textual and cartographic examples illustrating the potential the Serial Set and its index has for historical geoscience research.