Bibliography of the Senate Library

February 22, 2022 - May 11, 2022

Bibliography of the Senate Library: focuses on some of the oldest books connected with the Senate Library. Functioning as a law library first and foremost, it serves the Commonwealth by being a reference source for Senators and the residents of Pennsylvania. However, prior to being the library of the Senate, it was combined with the State Library.

Before 1790, the Pennsylvania General Assembly was a unicameral legislative body known as the House of Representatives. Found in the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives of the Province of Pennsylvania on December 5th, 1745, Benjamin Franklin, then clerk of the General Assembly, was ordered to request Statutes and large maps of North America from England to be used by the Colonial General Assembly. That decree played a role in Franklin’s creation of the State Library, which relocated several times before moving to Harrisburg. By 1816, the library had developed three separate collections titled: General Assembly, the House, and Senate, but the Act of 1816 consolidated the three collections into one. Eventually, the Senate collection redeveloped and permanently separated from the State Library.

By highlighting the oldest books connected with the Senate Library, this exhibit tells the origin of the Library, starting from the early stages of the new nation, to being a fixture in the State Senate today. By featuring the “Assembly Bible” sometimes referred to as the “Franklin Bible”, Smull’s Legislative Manuals, and the Published Pennsylvania Archives, Bibliography of the Senate Library strives to explain the historical significance of the Library. We hope this exhibit provides an understanding of how the Library functions as a law library as well as its role in preserving the Institutional memory of the Pennsylvania State Senate.

The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments. Newly translated out of the original tongues and the former translations diligently compared and revised. By his majesty’s special command. Appointed to be read in churches. Oxford: Printed by John Baskett, Printer to the University, MDCCXXXIX [1739]. State Library
Votes and Proceedings of the House of Reps of the Province of Pennsylvania, December 5th, 1745/46. State Library
Senate Journal in German Language. State Library
Legislative Journal recording the Senate of Pennsylvania’s inaugural session in 1790. State Library
Pennsylvania Archives Collection Books: Colonial Records Vol. I. Senate Library
Pennsylvania Archives Collection Book: First Series Vol. III. Senate Library
Pennsylvania Archives Collection: Third Series Appendix I-X. Senate Library
Pennsylvania Archives Collection: Fourth Series Papers of the Governor. Senate Library
Laws of Pennsylvania, 1802. Senate Library
Laws of Pennsylvania, 1812-1813 and 1813-1814. Senate Library
Laws of Pennsylvania, 1897. Senate Library
Laws of Pennsylvania, 1906. Senate Library
Statutes at Large Vol. VIII 1770-1776. Senate Library
Vetoes, 1893. Senate Library
Vetoes, 1889. Senate Library
Debates of the Constitutional Convention Pennsylvania Vol. II, 1873. Senate Library
Debates of the Constitutional Convention Pennsylvania Vol. I, 1873. Senate Library
Smull’s Legislative Handbook 1870. Senate Library. Senate Library
Smull’s Legislative Handbook 1872. Senate Library. Senate Library
Smull’s Legislative Handbook 1874. Senate Library. Senate Library
Smull’s Legislative Handbook 1875. Senate Library. Senate Library
Smull’s Legislative Handbook 1875 w/map of PA Wm. Calder. Senate Library

Pennsylvania Academic Standards (met in whole or in part by the Senate Library's exhibitions)

Note: *The text for the standards are written (with the occasional exception of field-specific language) at the sixth grade level, hence the Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Grade 6 are used to support the exhibitions.